Lee Schierer
03-10-2003, 10:52 AM
This has to do with wood, but really isn't wood working. Just wanted to pass along something we learned this weekend.
My son made an offer on a house he wanted to buy in a city far removed from where he currently lives. He decided to have a house inspection done and the offer was contingent upon the inspection not revealing anything significant.
We were inspecting the house this weekend with a house inspector and found a major problem. The builder had constructed the one end of the house with a truss for the roof and rafters. Nothing wrong with that except that the truss was supported on one end by the back wall of the house. The other end rested on a false beam that was 3-1/2 feet beyond the outside wall of the house. This false beam was not supporting any of the load. All of the roof load (with snow) was being supported by the bottom member of the truss where it crossed over the outside wall of the house.
The result was that the 2 X 4 making up the bottom of the truss was bowed down 5 inches in the last 3-1/2 feet of the truss beetween this wall and the false beam. Two of the bottom truss boards had already fractured and the others were under severe loading and were significantly distorted.
If the false beam had in fact been a load bearing member, the roof design would have been fine. they also could have mad e the bottom member 2 X 8 or larger and it would have taken the load. Either the architect that designed the house or the general contractor who built it, made a grave error on this house.
Unfortunately the current owner failed to get an inspection when they bought it 1-1/2 years ago. To repair this damage will cost them thousands of dollars (estimated to be $15-25k).
If you're buying a house, pay the fee for the inspection, it may be worth every penny you pay.......
My son made an offer on a house he wanted to buy in a city far removed from where he currently lives. He decided to have a house inspection done and the offer was contingent upon the inspection not revealing anything significant.
We were inspecting the house this weekend with a house inspector and found a major problem. The builder had constructed the one end of the house with a truss for the roof and rafters. Nothing wrong with that except that the truss was supported on one end by the back wall of the house. The other end rested on a false beam that was 3-1/2 feet beyond the outside wall of the house. This false beam was not supporting any of the load. All of the roof load (with snow) was being supported by the bottom member of the truss where it crossed over the outside wall of the house.
The result was that the 2 X 4 making up the bottom of the truss was bowed down 5 inches in the last 3-1/2 feet of the truss beetween this wall and the false beam. Two of the bottom truss boards had already fractured and the others were under severe loading and were significantly distorted.
If the false beam had in fact been a load bearing member, the roof design would have been fine. they also could have mad e the bottom member 2 X 8 or larger and it would have taken the load. Either the architect that designed the house or the general contractor who built it, made a grave error on this house.
Unfortunately the current owner failed to get an inspection when they bought it 1-1/2 years ago. To repair this damage will cost them thousands of dollars (estimated to be $15-25k).
If you're buying a house, pay the fee for the inspection, it may be worth every penny you pay.......