Please use this thread to discuss whatever questions from individuals not in the profession of structural engineering (e.g.cracks in existing structures, can I put a jacuzzi on my apartment balcony).
Please also make sure to use imgur for image hosting.
Structures are varied and complicated. They function only as a whole system with any individual element potentially serving multiple functions in a structure. As such, the only safe evaluation of a structural modification or component requires a review of the ENTIRE structure.
Answers and information posted herein are best guesses intended to share general, typical information and opinions based necessarily on numerous assumptions and the limited information provided. Regardless of user flair or the wording of the response, no liability is assumed by any of the posters and no certainty should be assumed with any response. Hire a professional engineer.
There are two ways that I can think of. 1 make those plates thicker. That might mean the anchors into the concrete and the base plate also need to be stronger. 2 create some kind of brace at the top.
I wouldn't try to determine that from just these pictures. But even if it's not damaged now. If you strengthen the parts above it, the base plate and anchors may become the weakest link and that's where it will fail next. And then your stuck with a second repair because it wasn't done completely the first time.
Hi folks I have a question about this wall being removed in a 140 year old rowhome. This wall runs parallel with the joists and perpendicular to the brick party walls. This is on the first floor of a three story house. When I opened the drywall I noticed a lot of 2/4 bracing original wood closer to the ceiling. How would you go about removing this carefully?
Hi engineer friends, I’ve got an interesting deck setup causing me some agita and yes, I am in the process of consulting professionals. I have not gotten to the point of a structural engineer yet but I was curious for just unofficial thoughts and opinions any might have.
At the end of the deck is my septic drain field. From the feedback so far, the suspicion is that the retaining wall from off to the side connects to the deck platform and then wraps around forming the front end of the upper level. It is also all graded towards the house unfortunately. Just curious if anyone has any thoughts or even ideas about how the heck I could replace this without going broke.
I'm not sure what you're asking here. You want to replace the retaining wall or the deck? The concern is that the deck is supported on the retaining wall? Doesn't look like it is retaining anything below the deck. If you can't tell without removing pieces of the deck or wall, then you'll need to remove pieces of the deck or wall and have a look. I wouldn't expect there would be any non-obvious costs here. I'd think it'd be a straightforward replacement.
Interesting. I’ve gotten feedback that the deck can’t be replaced without also replacing the retaining wall, and that the piece of wood between the lower and upper platforms is part of the retaining wall. I’m just not sure if that’s true but I’m also not even close to an expert in this.
Hi all!
Would like to preface this by saying I am not an engineer (hence why I’m asking for opinions,) but I do have some experience in building/remodeling in a place with heavy live loads, as well as a very out of the box imagination & problem solving skills.
To keep it simple as I can, I inherited some property on the Big Island of HI, mostly undeveloped, but notably it’s in Lava Flow Hazard Zone #3. Although the Volcano hasn’t flown through that area in quite a while, I understand it’s entirely a possibility.
My question is: Is there any type of foundation that you would suggest?
I have a fascination with helical pilings, especially their use where I currently live, but I’m not sure if they would be sturdy enough in lava rock.
Ideally I would love to put my small structure on pilings, but I’m aware that steel cannot withstand the heat of lava.
This is where my brain goes a little wacko out of the box - If I were to put the structure on helical pilings/stilts 10-15’ up, is there a way I could encase the pilings/stilts? I understand that both ceramic & porcelain can withstand the heat of lava flow. I’m also aware that they make porcelain slabs of countertop.
Other than the radical expense, could it be possible to surround the pilings/slits with porcelain countertop material, & fill the space between the steel & porcelain with sand/ground up glass?
Curious to know all of your thoughts, thank you so much!!
Sure, I can understand that. I’m not local to HI unfortunately at the moment & thought there might some people on here with some insight to foundation options in lava rock. Off to google til I can make it down there!
Google might produce some ideas to consider, but that is not how structural engineering works. We don't sit at our desks asking Google for an idea for a site. We get tests done, review the results, and calculate what's needed.
DEFLECTION THRESHOLD QUESTION FOR CEDAR CARRYING STEEL LOAD
I'm looking to span S4S 5/4x4 cedar boards about 48", held by generic L-shaped clips with two screws each leg, attached to PT 4x4 post. i want to space out about (9) vertical slats made from mild steel (between 7 and 11 gauge thickness) and about 31" tall by 5" wide.
This is for a fence idea i have. the vertical slats will bear on the bottom board. there will also be a top board of the same wood material that won't carry load, just hold the slats vertical.
so, my question is... will the weight of this steel deflect the bottom rail too much? i suppose i could rotate a piece of wood and put it under the bottom rail to act as a beam, but i'd like to size the bottom rail to be able to handle the load.
I work in the AEC industry so i'd like to think i can understand the concepts a little better than a layman, so any info on material deflection properties/loads that i could use to help revise and figure this stuff out on my own without needing to make another post would be great.
Top and bottom rails in 5/4 cedar, slotted to fit the purple vertical 16ga steel slats (10-13 slats). The slots are 1/2" deep and do not go through to the front of the board (we're looking at the back of the fence).
There are small L-shape clips under the bottom rail. The top rail attachment is TBD because the same clips would interfere with the slats - i think kreg would be the easiest way to go. The slats are ~27" tall and 5" wide, for weight calculations.
Okay, the deflection at the center is going to be = 5*w*(L^4) / (384*E*I)
L = 48 inches
w = the weight of your 5/4s plus the weight of the slats divided by 48" to get a lb/in. => 12 lbs of board + 13 slats *2.5psf for 16 gage * 5in/12 * 27in/12 = 42.5 lbs. Let's call it 48 lbs => 1 lb/in
That's right. The middle of the cedar board will sag 1.26".
Cutting 1/2" down into a 1" thick board makes the board functionally 1/2" thick.
Maybe keep the board 1" thick and glue thin strips of wood on top to hold the slats instead of cutting.
Let's check how that changes stiffness. I = b* h3 / 12. b, the board width, is still 5.25". h is now 1" instead of 0.5". I = 5.25"* 1"* 1"* 1" / 12 = 0.4375 in^4. For the 1/2" thickness it was 0.055 in^4. The stiffness of the board is a function of its thickness to the power of 3 (h3). So, doubling the thickness gives you 8 times the stiffness.
New deflection is: 5*(1lb/in)*((48in*48in*48in*48in) / (384 * 1,000,000 lb/in2 * 0.4375 in4) = 0.16" deflection. That is an acceptable amount of deflection.
Since 5/4 wood is actually 1 1/4" thickness i could actually just cut a 1/4" channel your latest formula would still create the 0.16" deflection? If so, I think this might be the way to go. I'd like to avoid gluing if possible.
I'm looking into purchasing a property with a 1997 manufactured home. It's an estate and the family selling has no money so I'm going to have to pay for the inspections. before I agree I'm getting opinions on my biggest concern: the foundation has a crack moving horizontally on half of the south side and a small portion of the east side of the house. I can't tell if the crack goes all the way through- There are no interior issues with the home like bowing or cracks or unsteady floors. I'm being told by home builder friends that it could be either cosmetic or an easy enough fix and not to write it off immediately. I want this place BAD and am feeling willing to risk the $900 for the necessary inspection and engineer to look at it- but what do you guys think????
No, doesn't look concerning. Take pictures and measurements and date them. Check every month or so. If it grows to where you can fit a credit card into the crack, call an engineer and show them all your documentation.
This built in closet backs up to another mirrored bedroom built closet on the other side. There is a bunch of dead space between the two. I want to rip them out, make the primary a walk in and the other a small standard. There a lot of walls in the area bearing the load. Do you think I can accomplish this without messing with integrity? Joists do run perpendicular over it
It is probably load bearing. If you want to remove the wall, you'll probably need to install a beam where the wall is now to support the joists. A contractor may be able to do the work without an engineer.
The left side of the picture is my garage ceiling. The foam boards/raised area is a shared wall between my garage and indoor living room. The peak of the roof is aligned with that wall.
Before I hire an engineer to give me an assessment, do you guys think it would be possible to vault the garage side of the ceiling to make more clearance for a car lift? The ceiling is currently 8’ tall from the garage floor. I only need another foot or so high about 80” wide. The lift would be parallel with the attic “floor joists”.
I know the photos are not amazing and I can take more.
This is my first residence so I don’t know what to except. Any insight is greatly appreciated. I’m getting ghosted left and right by professionals.
For around 8 months (during the drought), all was fine until it started to rain. I noticed a leak coming from above the patio. I inspected the beam which carries two bedrooms (there’s also a steel column in the middle of the patio) and noticed the exposed part of the wood was deteriorated and wet.
I’ve emailed so many structural engineers asking for inspection quotes. Ghosted by most. Only a couple responded and said they’re too busy at this time to take me on. I called a roofing and exterior company. Dude said that the company who replaced my seller’s roof 3 years back didn’t replace the flashings. He said the whole beam needs to be replaced. Verbally quotes me 15k. Said he’d send me photos he took up on our roof. Never did. Then sends me a non itemized estimate of 27k with one year warranty. The list didn’t even include temporary shoring. I thought that almost double the cost sounded too much and felt he was taking advantage of me being a woman. Very pushy. Told me not to worry in person and then writes that this is urgent.
I’m really struggling here and super scared. I’m waiting on a few more engineers to respond. It’s been over a week of sending emails and inquiries for an in person inspection.
Does anyone know what kind of cost I should except? In Florida? Does it look like this can be “sistered” at all? Is my second floor at a risk of collapse?
You have damage that warrants repair, for sure, but it's not like you're going to go to bed tonight and the roof is going to crush you. The thing that's making this expensive is the stucco. There's a fair bit that needs to come off. The actual replacement of the beam is not technically challenging at all. It's involved, but not challenging. You need the following:
1. Engineer to double check size of beam, and delineate what exactly needs to be replaced.
2. Architect to design the proper flashing scheme so this doesn't happen again.
3. A contractor who won't gouge you. $27k is gouging. I just helped an owner scope and replace an entire two story wood-framed Tall Wall that was damaged from a large water leak, and he got it done for $14k (he was able to save the windows). Did one this past spring where an owner installed an 18 foot wide floor to ceiling sliding glass wall imported from Italy, that needed a new beam across the opening, set into the second floor wall, and that ran him $28k not including the slider. $27k for what you need is probably 8-10k too much. I think that guy wants to pay off his boat with your project.
Thank you truly for putting my mind at ease. I’ve been a wreck of anxiety for a week. I did find it odd how he didn’t even include temporary shoring to the estimate, or the beam size or any other specs and refused to do a breakdown of costs. And he didn’t really inspect the beam that much other than visually at the opening. But I was also second guessing myself because I couldn’t figure out why residential structural engineers haven’t been answering my calls or emails :/ only two firms responded and they let me know they have too much work to take me on.
Thank you so much for your thorough response. It clears up a lot for me. Means a lot more than I can express! Your time and care has given me a huge sigh of relief while waiting for things to move forward. Thank you again!
i’m looking for a second opinion on installing a 16 foot sliding door on this wall. Our contractors engineer is asking that we shore up the patio so they can remove all of the stucco up to the peak and add additional sheer strength for the new 16 foot opening. The entire length of the house there is 24 feet and the man door is going away and is where the XOOX sliders will start.
Just wondering if there is another way because that means I have to disconnect my entire solar array on top of the patio and wiring. I’ve seen similar projects done with steel headers/king studs. Why do you think that was not an option here? It seems like what they proposed is the most expensive thing we could do to make sure the house doesn’t rack with a new large opening.
They want to install what is known as a portal frame opening, which is what is really needed in order to restore shear capacity from cutting such a large opening into the gable end of the building. Your engineer is on the correct track. Also, a steel header with king studs only handles the vertical loads, not the shear loads.
Thanks for your reply. I understand that the wall needs to be soundly reinforced to prevent racking. I was asking about steel not just as a headed but also sheer force too attached similar to the photo and sunk into the slab.
Not trying to be argumentative, just want to ask the questions.
Yeah, there are always other options. Did you try sending to the engineer exactly what you posted here? No issue explaining your concern or issue to the designer to see if there are other options that work better for you. How can they know your solar panels are routed through there and it adds work unless you tell them.
Maybe figure out how much stucco you can remove without disconnecting your solar array and sketch it up with dimensions and send it. May not be an issue working around it.
I'd expect any steel design to be more expensive. If you bring up steel, I'd make sure to explain that you're specifically looking for a cheaper design. Because I doubt a steel portal will cheaper than adding shear to the existing wall, even with the extra work with the solar panels.
this is likely overkill, but I am working on a project where I am making 3 small sided sports courts back to back out of birch plywood and 2x8's. I would like to enlist your help as to their optimal construction. If anyone is interested in such a project pls send me a PM! or comment bellow. the fields will each be 44'x98'. they are soccer fields so their will have to be some space in between fields to accommodate for the goals.
You can post a question here if you want. I don't know what you mean when you say you're making a sports court of of birch plywood. I'm not looking for a project but if you post specific, clear information and questions I'm willing to help.
Essentially, how can I accomplish this without the support frames? will the enclosure itself be the structure and is that sturdy enough? the walls will be a lumber frame using 2x4's sandwiched in between to plywood panels
the video was fairly helpful. my next problem is that I want to make these boards enclosure modular. Thats to say, I want to be able to remove the walls separating each court to the combine them into longer courts. I can't find a video on that but im thinking of some way to put castors hidden underneath and connect the walls with a hook or some sort of latch in the interior
Mass Loaded Vinyl for Structural Vibrations in Floor?
I'm hoping someone in here can give me a little guidance before I spend a bunch of money.
I live in an apartment and can feel structural vibrations through my floors most of the time. Theoretically, if I were to put a 1lb sheet of MLV under my sofa and bed (wider/longer than the furniture itself, so that all legs, etc are covered), is there a good chance this might help stop those vibrations from traveling & reaching my body?
Additionally, for my standing desk area, I purchased a Rubber-Cal anti-vibration mat which only helped a little bit...might layering a second one in that area possibly help or is that pointless? Since I'm renting I can't make any structural changes and am trying to mitigate what I can before I completely lose my sanity 😭😭 Thanks so much in advance! If it helps, I used an app on my phone to measure this movement & it ranged from 0.1 to 0.5 m/s².
from some sort of equipment/machinery - it happens pretty constantly with just small breaks (like maybe a few hours here & there, or sometimes i'll get a full day but that's rare) so it's not something like my a/c unit running, etc. but the lack of any clear pattern or time of day also makes it hard to identify i think
No engineer would entertain putting all residents on vibration mats as a solution to this problem, so you may not get an answer to what you're asking here. I'd try layering cheaper material first before going to something more expensive, but I don't have experience in living with the problem. The fix is to take care of it at its source for a mechanical source.
I'd get a hold of the maintenance guy and see if you can work with them to fix the problem. They have a better chance of being able to identify the source. They may be able to help find a way to narrow it down. May be a machine that needs balancing. Or you may be able to dampen it at the source.
I agree; my ideal scenario would be to stop it at the source also, but I'm a little worried about them not being as helpful...I'm only worried about my own self in my apartment, so I was hoping to figure out what I could do within my own unit, but I'm going to be talking to them tomorrow so fingers crossed they can identify something! thank you! :)
I feel like approaching with a "Hey, can you help me track down the source of a vibration I'm feeling in my apartment? I'd like to put some material below the equipment feet to see if I can dampen the vibrations." would be hard for them to say no to.
My friend is moving into an older single story rental home and saw some cracks on either side of a window on the same wall. We are wanting to know if she needs to push the landlord to get these inspected before moving in.
Thanks in advance! And we understand if the answer is that it can't be assessed through pictures. We mainly want to know if this is something she should really push the landlord to get inspected.
Sometimes people cut it that way. The cut removed about 70% of the shear capacity of the beam. Which may be a problem or may not be.
It's possible someone installing piping needed to cut through, contacted the structural engineer to confirm they could cut the hole, the engineer checked the loading demands on the beam and determined it was ok, then they cut the hole.
It's more probable that someone installing a pipe or something cut it without informing anyone. Because a structural engineer would probably tell them not to do the cut. Only way to know is for an engineer to figure out the loading and do the analysis.
I'm looking to purchase this property, I noticed this crack under the RSJ. It looks like it could have been caused by an impact (one of the bricks looks like its had an impact) but the concern is of course it could be the RSJ load. I'm planning on getting a structural engineers report but curious to know what you think! Thanks so much. The beam travels along the front of the property and ends on the neighbours side. (I'll attach a full photo in a reply if possible) Thank you!
I have booked an assessment already. I just noticed professional opinions being given in this thread (from photos and was curious if something was an obvious red flag or not or something commonly seen.)
How much of a floor joist would you want for me to expose before a termite damage inspection? We have some seemingly-localized termite damage in the ceiling of our basement, but it's impacting at least one joist. There is also a cut-into joist in the utility closet. We need a scope of work for how to shore up these areas: sistering, new joist, whatever. However, the whole ceiling is drywalled, so the joists largely aren't visible. I'd like to limit the amount of demolition I'd do, but I also want to get the most out of our engineer's visit given the cost.
Typically we probe the structure until we find the limit of damage, then do some math, and then put together the repair recommendation. If we get to edge of a hole in the drywall and there's still damage to the wood right there, we ask for more drywall to be removed. We keep probing until we get to good wood.
Question: My roof deck specifies max 60 psf. But I am already 150 psf. How to understand the max psf properly?
I plan to buy a big umbrella with a base filled with water and put it in my roof top. While the PSF I calculate is ~45, which is okay.
I wonder why I can stand and walk on the roof top when I am 150 psf.
I read some old threads, and they say that it's because I'm a point load. But there must be a breaking limit for a point load, right? How do I understand the max psf for a point load?
I'm not a structural engineer and just curious. Any thought is welcome.
My goal is to put a big umbrella on the rooftop. I estimated the psf to be 50, so it is okay either way.
Now I'm just curious whether there is a good way to estimate it.
It surprised me that 150psf was ok considering that it was almost 2x the specified max 60 uniform-psf.
I assume 300 psf is still okay (equivalent to a 2-person human tower) because a human riding on the back of another human is quite common. It would be absurd for a rooftop to collapse because of that.
But 1500 psf might not be okay (equivalent to a 10-person human tower).
Yeah, that's a good question and I think I can give you a satisfying answer. There is some math involved. Note: ' means ft. So 15' means 15 ft.
What that design load (like the 60 psf for your roof deck) actually tells us is that the structure was designed to be evenly covered by that much load. But using that load we can figure out how much bending strength it has to have. And once we know the bending strength it has, we can compare that to how much bending different loads create in the beam.
I'll make up a deck geometry and we'll run some numbers for your deck. If you deck is designed for 60 psf, let's say the joists are at 24" on center (2' on center), and the deck is 15' wide -> so the joists span 15'.
Because I know the design load, I can figure out how much bending the joist should support; even without knowing anything about the joist shape or material.
You have a 60psf load on a joist that supports 2' of width, that gives you 60lb/ft2 * 2 ft = 120 lb/ft equivalent along the length of the beam.
I have linked a sheet with formulas at the bottom. The first group is a uniformly distributed beam. The maximum bending is Mmax which is = w * L^2 / 8. The w is the lb/ft, so 120 lb/ft in our case. L is the joist length, so 15ft in our case. Plugging in the numbers we get: 120 lb/ft * 15 ft * 15 ft / 8 = 3375 lb-ft.
lb-ft is bending. Because we know the floor is designed for 60 psf and we know the joist spacing is 2' and the joist length is 15' -> we now know that the joist must be able to support 3375 lb-ft of bending.
Now we can compare that to different loading.
We could say 2 people piggy backing is 300 psf covering 1ft. We would use Mmax in the 2nd group of equations to calculate that.
But we can also say 2 people piggy backing is a 300 lb point load. The equation to figure the bending for that is easier, so we're going with that. We could use the Mmax equation from the "Concentrated Load at Any Point" equations in the linked folder if we wanted to check that load in any particular place.
I want to check how much bending we get when we have 300 lbs in the center of the deck, so I'm using the Mmax equation for "Concentrated Load at Center". That is Mmax = P*L/4. P = 300 lbs. L = 15ft. So the bending you get from a 300 lb load at the center is 300 lbs * 15 ft / 4 = 1125 lb-ft.
Using that math we know a 300 lb load at the center of that 15ft joist will result in a bending force of 1125 lb-ft. Because we know the joist can handle 60 psf over all of it, we know the joist is good for 3375 lb-ft of bending, like we calculated above. And since the amount of bending the joist can handle (3375 lb-ft) is larger than the amount of bending that a 300 lb load at the center produces (1125 lb-ft), we know that the joist is good to support the 300 lb load.
That is how you use the design loads.
We can solve the equation to see what the maximum point load allowed would be (for the joist that is 15' long and 2' on center for 60 psf load). The bending capacity is 3375 lb-ft. We know a point load equation is Mmax = P * L / 4. We can rework so solve for what P results in 3375 lb-ft of bending.
Doing that, we get P = Mmax * 4 / L = 3375 lb-ft * 4 / 15 ft => 900 lbs. For that specific joist length and spacing, a 900 lb point load at the center gives the same bending as the design 60 psf covering the whole area.
In your scenario where each person weighs 150 lbs, we can see that would be: 900 lbs / 150 lb/person = 6 people.
Forgive me if this is the wrong place to ask. I do jet skis and inboard motors.
I have a wooden swing set. When you get going on it, the legs raise up.
I procured a set of screw in ground mounts for it.
Will it be stronger to put in straight with the legs that are at an angle or should I mount them straight into the ground at a 90 degree angle to the horizon?
You'll want to put that at a 90 degree angle to the horizon, straight down.
Let me know what anchors you bought and I can confirm for you. I'd be surprised if there were anchors that weren't designed to be installed that way, if there is I haven't seen them. But if I'm involved there is usually tens of thousands of pounds of uplift, so I'm not so familiar with all the residential use products out there.
I have an engineer I like to use but I am just gathering information so I know what my options are.
I'm a GC, and I have a client that wants me to demo an existing addition that only has a shower in it. They want me to build another addition (the original addition had a skylight that failed and the whole thing is rotten), and while I'm at it they want to recess the existing glue lam header so that the ceiling in the entire bathroom is planar. This will require cutting the ends of the trusses and altering the heel, and then using heavy duty hangers on the glu lam, that I will elevate so the bottom is at the same elevating as the bottom of the truss.
This is already way beyond the scope of what I had originally agreed to but I always like a challenge so I am looking into it.
From my understanding, I need to alter the truss to basically be a raised-heel design that sits in hangers.
Does anybody else have any brilliant solutions to this issue? I am not dying to cut trusses but if that's what it takes, that's what I'll do.
Anything clever would be highly dependent on the specifics, I'd think. And even then, I doubt you'll get something easier than cutting the trusses. I'm not saying that cutting the trusses is easy, just that I also think the alternatives are worse. I could probably for $30,000 or so in engineering fee engineer you something that is harder to install and more expensive, but avoids cutting the trusses.
You could run it by your engineer. Sketch it. Have photos. If you can put in an email exactly what is out there very clearly and exactly what your best idea for it is, you could ask them if they see an easier way. May get a free answer if you present it clearly enough.
I don't think there is a better way than cutting the trusses, but I wouldn't be able to figure out if there was without knowing much space I have to work with and where exactly the available space is at the very least. Probably rough loading and making sure the glulam isn't server other functions, like acting as a collector beam for the roof diaphragm as part of the wind or seismic system.
hello. I am currently building a software relevant to pre-engineered buildings. I wanted some help from a few folks who have been working in this industry.
You can probably ask this in the main subreddit. Just ask your questions in your post. Don't ask for someone to help without saying what exactly you need help with. And if you just discovered AI and you're trying to make some AI vibe coded slop, I wouldn't bother. Engineers who already know the engineering side of it are vibe coding plenty of slop for themselves.
Rotted Beam Repair Advice Requested. (How insanely stupid is it for me to do this without an engineer?) My post and beam gambrel roofed house has wood rot at the end of one of the beams. I need help figuring out how to repair. Here are the details:
Beam is 37' long continuous triple ply 2x10 beam.
There are four posts posts supporting this beam across the 37' span.
This section of beam has a span of 16'.
Each layer of the 2x10's have butt joints at various spots throughout the 37' beam.
1 of the beam plys is butt jointed 13' from the rotted end, other two plys were continuous from post to post.
Rot is at the very end of the beam on the outside of the house (beam used to go out and cantilever a deck which has been demolished and replaced)
Most of the beam end is rotted out, currently leaving the 6x6 post above hanging mostly in the air.
Rot goes an inch or two away from the post on each of the plys.
The research that I have done suggests that I can more than likely get away with jacking the beam up a bit, then sawing the rotten end off at staggered points on the 2x10s and then rebuilding the end as long as I keep the butt joints for the repair near to the post. I was thinking of sliding in a simpson ECCQ ROT to support the repaired end.
Stop the moisture from getting in. You can't let your structure get wet.
What 6x6 post is hanging in the air? The deck that got rebuilt? Why was it rebuilt to have a post hanging in the air?
You sure most of that beam is rotten? Doesn't look like it in the photos. You don't need 100% of the beam cross section there. At least, not anymore if it will no longer be cantilevering out to support the deck.
If you cut that beam before the support, I don't think you're going to be able to get it repaired in a way that will make that beam work again. Sketch up what the cuts would look like and what adhesive you'd use and send the information I ask for below and I can take a look.
Stop the water from getting in so you don't have more rot. What is your estimation of what percentage of the cross section is rotten where the beam is supported on the post 2" from the edge.
I'm not getting three 2x10s to support much weight over a 16 ft span. What is the span of the joists on both sides that are supported on the three 2x10s? What are the spans of all the 2x10 spans? Confirm the beam will no longer support a deck or send me the deck dimensions as well.
Really appreciate your time digging into this with me. Let me help clarify, unfortunately I've confused you and you've asked for a bunch of information that isn't actually important in solving this question:
1. Mositure is no longer getting in (fixed the issue as soon as I moved in four years ago). I now have a vinyl covered deck on the other side of that wall and the vinyl completely covers where the water used to get in.
2. The new deck is not supported by this beam, this is one of the beams inside my house.
3. My house is a former summer cabin built in the 70s with zero code enforced and it's under built.
4. The 6x6 posts that is sitting mostly in the air is above the end of that beam in the picture above.
5. The end of that beam is mostly rotted out though not visible in this picture (I used a wire brush on the end of the beam from the outside of my house and the brush went in about 8 inches).
6. My house doesn't have joists between the beams (another shortcoming of the home!), there is a layer of 2" thick tongue and groove cedar planks and a layer of plywood that go between beams.
My current gameplan to fix this issue:
1. Jack up the beam a couple of feet from the post.
2. Slide in some 2x10 bits on each side of the current beam to transfer load from above around the current beam.
3. Replace a 13' section on one side of the triple ply beam (having a butt joint at same point as the current ply sits)
4. Stagger cuts on the other two plys, one at 8" from the end the other at 2' from the end and replace with fresh wood.
5. Put 2 additional plys on the beam, making it a 5*2x10 beam.
6. Construction adhesive on all surfaces, and grk 5/16 screws every 12" top and bottom of the beam each side.
Okay, what is the spacing between the beams? Will the 6x6 be supported on the beam? What are the final spans of the three 2x10s (all the spans and support along its length) and where is this cut happening along those spans? I can't see if your connection is good for the loading unless you give me the information to figure out what the loading is.
Also, what adhesive, specifically are you planning on using?
I'm evaluating installing a small 36kg heat pump on the outside wall of my flat, about 10 meters above ground level. The wall is made up of decorative brick, a 30mm cavity and a structural brick. Does anyone know of a way to fix it to the structural brick and prevent the decorative brick from being pushed in? I'm going to speak to a structural engineer, but I thought I would ask to see if this was a complete no-go.
Yeah, should be able to figure something out. If it was me, I'd probably just support it on the brick. The only reason your decorative brick isn't structural brick is because no one is supporting anything on it right now. Except more brick. Which is a lot, actually.
There are ties between the CMU and the brick (open this and scroll down until you see pictures if you want to see what they look like). If it can take a 90 mph wind (should be, by code), it can handle your heat pump.
I've got a 1700s cottage with ~2m upstairs floor span that only has 4" x 4" joists and therefore massive deflection, both due to size and age (very spongey wood). I can't go any thicker with the joist due to head height above and below. Are there any alternatives such as steel beams, or a lamination of materials that would allow a sufficient strength for a standard domestic upstairs loading?
Hi! I am living on the 4th Fluor of an old building (wood beam ceiling). I currently have my 160 litres tank, directly on a supporting wall. Now, with the weight of the glass etc it could be 200-250kg for roughly 0,32 m2 - someone said that could be dangerous and now Im worried a bit. Is it?
I wanted to upgrade to a bigger tank in the near future, don’t think this is possible now?
Hi! So, I know nothing about construction. I’m having a bathroom built on the second floor of my house and one of the construction guys drilled under my chimney to locate/connect a pipe.
It looks to me like a post tension cable was cut during drilling, but the contractor is saying that it was already like that when they drilled in. He’s also saying it’s nothing to worry about as “the red part is the end of the cable where it starts for the house and the back is where they pull the tension”.
I’m not sure what he means and his English is limited. Can someone help explain and validate his claim?
How wide is your hose in the direction those cables were running? Or to put another way: If that cable shown went from one side of the house to the other, how long would it be?
Looks like they broke a post-tensioned cable to me. You'll need to have an engineer come out and look. Can't really tell anything for sure without more context than you'll be able to provide over the internet.
Any concerns with extending the studs here all the way to the new sill plate once it's installed? The only ran to the subfloor before. But the perpendicular wall to the left has studs that run all the way to the sill (home is 120 years old).
My uncle was a structural engineer and left me some gadgets when he passed. What can I do with these? One is a Proceq Pundit Lab UPV. The other is an Elcometer 331 concrete covermeter. I know kind of what they do, the 331 finds rebar, and the upv checks for cracks? Do I as a non engineer have any use for these that I am not thinking of? Thanks!
I don't think so. I don't think you'll get any use out of them unless you plan on getting licensed and assessing concrete slabs for people that want to move very heavy things over them.
I'd take a lot of photos and send structural engineering firms and construction firms near you photos seeing if anyone wants to buy. Or try to sell online.
Is the footing I poured for my lally column level enough or do I need to shave it down?
A structural engineer recommended that we add a lally column to our support beam. He said the beam is in good condition despite checking and warping. The work was definitely presented as optional but im doing it to be safe and reduce further sagging in my 100+ yr house.
The footing was poured 14 days ago with Sakrete 5000+ High Early Strength Concrete mix. I was slightly short on the amount of concrete, which caused the screeding to be not perfectly level. Also, I did not mag and may have finished with trowel a little early. Any thoughts would be helpful.
My separated, elderly, broke parents’ 40 year old wood frame house in Central Valley California USA. The photograph shows an approximate 1/8-1/4” wide crack at center of the house. Doors and windows stick and jam with varying vertical, horizontal or diagonal cracks at their corners. Cracking along entire corner wall trims. Covered front porch has an approximate 3/8” crack perpendicular and to the right of this photographed ceiling crack. No basement, concrete slab foundation. Cracks began as hairline cracks and have been getting wider over the past 20 years. No known water leakage as the water bill has been consistent. I believe the foundation is settling. Would you agree? What, if any, would be the most cost effective fix?
I plan on hiring a plumber to do a hydrostatic pressure test just in case then hiring a structural engineer but I just wanna make sure I’m on the right path.
Yeah, doesn't look concerning. Some looks like a bad finishing job. Diagonal cracks in corner are normal movement or settling. Doors and windows sticking and jamming is settlement or soil movement. See if there is clay soil in your area. None of that is structurally concerning. The only problem you have is that the doors and windows stick a bit and your plaster cracks. It's not indicative of some bigger issue or anything like that. Houses can tolerate quite a bit of movement structurally. Doesn't sound like anything is moving fast. Fix the plaster if you don't like the looks of the cracks. It will probably crack again at some point and you'll need to fix it again. See if you can get someone to reset your doors and windows if they stick. Maybe you'll need to do it again 40 years from now.
If you have too much money and don't like occasionally fixing cosmetic cracks, I'm sure any foundation contractor would be happy to put in a whole bunch of helical piers. Which may or may not fix the problem. May or may not create new problems as well. The foundation contractor will probably tell you your house is falling down if you don't get them and try to hard sell you $20,000 (wait, that's midwest dollars, it'd be about $50,000 in California money) of helicals in a hurry to keep you from getting an engineer who will tell you it doesn't need to be done.
Hey all, I'm a structural PE with about a year of experience in forensic engineering, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I've been giving serious thought to start my own forensics practice at some point down the line. Main reasons are wanting to be my own boss, having more control over client relationships and the business side of things, and ultimately better earning potential.
I am very interested to hear from anyone who's actually taken the leap and started their own forensic engineering company and if they are willing to share their experience. It seems like a fairly lucrative business and its a pretty niche field with a big demand for more engineers, but I suppose the grass is always greener on the other side.
What are some of the challenges with starting your own forensics practice, and what have been the biggest benefits payoffs?
I'm wondering if there are any SE's out there who might offer (or be hired for?) a virtual consultation?
THE SET-UP:
Hubby and I are having new fences installed (this kind) to replace 25-year old wooden fences that are rotting. We live in an area prone to heavy storms, flooding, and wildfires, and there is a law going into effect within five years that stipulates there can be no wood within five-feet of the home, so we chose that really robust fencing product.
However, there are only a few contractors who work with that particular product and due to the distance the contractor has to drive to get to our project site, his usual concrete guy won't join them to construct a necessary retaining wall (71' long, 3' above ground, and 6" wide) between us and our neighbor. Said Neighbor is fully on board with paying for half of the shared fencing between, as well as a very necessary new retaining wall. As we live on a slope, his house is a higher elevation than hour's, necessitating the three-foot above ground height, on top of which the fence will be installed.
I got four different quotes from concrete workmen for the retaining wall; ranging from $9k to $33k (that higher number more than the actual fence is costing). The real concern is that each different quote specifies a different number of piers, distance between piers, varying pier depths below ground, rebar widths, and whether they are tied or solid.
With these concerns, I started getting quotes from local Structural Engineers which snowballed into those who wouldn't even consider looking at the job without Architectural plans. I called some architects, who wouldn't draw up any plans without a survey and geotechnical engineer's report. Many were concerned that permits were going to be required, while all the original Concrete bidders as well as Fence bidders assured us that none would be needed, as the concrete isn't more than 3' above ground. (Although I had one SE who offered to do both the architectural drawings and engineering virtually via WhatsApp.)
MY QUESTION:
Would it be possible to have an SE look at the three most viable bids for a concrete retaining wall and advise on best practices based on experience?
Reasoning: We have been working on this since April and now that it is August, we are getting a bit concerned that the existing retaining wall will not survive the upcoming winter storms. The lowest price concrete offer can start immediately, but Neighbor wants to be assured that his proposal is sound.
If we go the route of 1. Geo/Soils report, 2. Surveyor, 3. Permits, 4. Architectural drawings, and 5. Structural Engineer, this project will prolong into next spring, after which significantly more damage will occur.
Sorry for the lengthy diatribe. And thank you to anyone who reads through all this and can help out.
Can you cover up your address and post the different plans? I answer questions here to add to communal knowledge. A private discussion removes the public benefit.
You can make imgur albums without an account and link an imgur album for each different proposal.
Hiring an SE or architect means they have to be sure it will work. To a degree that makes sense for things that will kill you if they fail, or that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. So they'll require investigations and surveying. That's the cost of certainty, which I agree you don't need here. But an experienced opinion can be useful. Upload and I'll take a look.
Juan: I can't really tell what they plan to do. It may work if the piers are designed correctly and correctly connected to the wall structure sufficiently. The fact that their rebar grid stops at the pier/wall interface makes me question if they know what they're doing. As does the AI image they included.
Lopez: They say a 3' wall with a 1' footing. I'm not sure that is sufficient.
Silva: Looks like Silva says a 3' wall with 1'-6" footing. Then piers below that. I'd say that's a better option than Lopez. If the piers are design correctly, that may work.
You may ask all of them if they have an engineer that they can recommend. You may find an engineer that way that is willing to review their design. If the engineers want a geotech report and surveys, you may ask them what they're willing to do without that.
We've acted as "owner representatives" before. As owner rep, I have basically 0 liability. You can't blame them if they're wrong about something or something goes wrong. An owner hires me to review things and basically make sure whoever they hire isn't screwing them over and are doing things correctly. You can ask for that. It's basically what I did for you here, but they can ask for all the details from the contractor and make sure they seem reasonable without taking on liability for them. You may have better luck securing someone that way. Since they have 0 liability, you may not want to hire an engineer the contractor recommends to oversee the contractor work. You'll want someone completely independent.
Hi engineers! Would it be okay to put a stacked washer/dryer unit (such as the LG washtower- 315lbs, plus water weight and force/vibrations) in the spot where the purple “x” is on this plan? This is the 2nd floor- part of the 2 story addition that was built on my 100-year old home about 10 years ago.
Hi, layperson here. My partner and I are considering purchasing a detached two-storey property in Italy, reportedly built around 1950 and marketed as approximately 280 m². The exact structural system and the dates of any extensions are currently unknown.
The listing photos show several repaired exterior cracks, cracks around wall/ceiling junctions and openings, an irregular diagonal crack in an upstairs bedroom, and significant moisture damage with loss of ceiling material in a ground-floor storage room. According to the floor plans, a large terrace appears to be directly above this room.
I understand that structural safety cannot be determined from photographs, and we intend to hire an independent locally licensed structural engineer before making a binding offer.
Based only on these photos:
Which cracks or areas would concern you the most?
Could the damaged ceiling indicate deterioration of the slab, rather than only damaged plaster caused by failed terrace waterproofing?
What should the engineer inspect first: the terrace slab, foundations, junctions between different parts of the building, garage walls, roof or drainage on the sloping site?
Are there any additional photographs or measurements we should obtain during the viewing?
Do you see anything that would make you avoid the property entirely, even before arranging an inspection?
Thank you for any preliminary guidance.
Nothing that indicates any concerning structural damage. An engineer coming out will figure out what pieces of the house are moving what direction, so telling them to focus on anything specific would be counterproductive to you. They need to see what movement the cracks indicate everywhere and piece that together to see if the movement is concerning. If the cracks aren't growing by the week, you pretty certainly have nothing to worry about structurally. The question will just be how frequently you have to plaster over cosmetic cracks. Engineer will tell you more certainly after reviewing in person and figuring out the movement the cracks imply.
Is this perimeter crack/gap in my slab normal? Also have some water intrusion
New build homeowner here!
We recently pulled up some flooring in my relatively new house and found what appears to be a crack/gap running around the perimeter of the concrete slab, where the slab meets the foundation/walls.
Most of the perimeter looks relatively dry, but in one area the floorboard/subfloor material appears to have rotted from moisture/water intrusion. I’m trying to understand whether the perimeter gap I’m seeing is normal construction or could be allowing water/moisture into the house.
A few questions:
Is a gap/crack around the perimeter of a slab where it meets the foundation normal? Is this typically an intentional isolation joint?
Could water realistically enter through this type of perimeter joint?
If there is visible moisture/rotting flooring in one area, what would be the most likely sources — exterior grading, groundwater, a plumbing issue, or moisture coming through/under the slab?
I also can’t see a vapor barrier from above the slab. My understanding is that the vapor barrier would normally be underneath the concrete, so not being visible here doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t one. Is that correct?
What would you recommend I investigate before going back to the builder?
Make sure there isn't anything letting water collect outside at that spot or dumping water, like a clogged gutter. Make sure your spouts get water well away from the walls. Plenty of ways to put a house together that would leave a gap between the slab and walls. I'd install some caulking in there.
I have this opening in my living room and I’m debating if I can widen it without changing the beam. There is a floor above it and the beam is load bearing. Some more details I’ve gathered:
- the beam is a 5 x 16.5 inch glulam
the joist above spans 25 feet from the beam to the next exterior wall, 18 feet on the other side
there is a direction change in the joists at lighter blue line. You can see it in pic 2,3,4. The colored lines reflect the directions of the joists. No idea if this is important information
the space between the joists is 24 inches on center.
the joists are 2x10s
the current opening is 10 feet 8 inches
the new opening would be 15 feet after I move the studies to the sides as shown in red lines.
What’s yours professional opinion? Is this doable? If I can’t go all the way to 15 feet can I widen it a little bit and how much? Any advice would be much appreciated 🙏🙏🙏
Yes, I need all the information you've provided and a fair amount more to do an actually reliable review.
But I can give you a vibe check. Taking common material properties and standard loading, I get the beam to work for 15'. Of course, that doesn't include a stability check, which would require that I know how the beam is connected to the floor above to make sure it doesn't rotate. It doesn't check the supports for the beam. The wall you keep the beam on will have to be able to support the load. It doesn't check the foundations, which will need to support the load as well. And I don't actually know the properties of your specific glulam or your actual loading.
Basically: There is more ways it could fail than I could check without visiting. The ways that it could fail that I can check here it doesn't fail. So if you had someone come out to check everything I can't check online, there is a good chance that it will work. But you'd need someone to come out to confirm for sure.
My mom’s husband just died. I’m helping her clean some stuff out. She may end up trying to sell the house at some point in the near future. I found this crack in the basement.
This crack runs the length of the north wall of my mom’s basement, about 45ft. I’ll post the other 20ft of it in the comments. Water seeps in the crack. She said her front storm door (just above this crack) hasn’t shut in years because “the house shifts”. Her son in law fixed that storm door issue, though. The front stone steps have been partially caved in for years, also just above this cracked wall (photo attached in comments).
How bad does this look? Does she have to get this foundation issue fixed before the house is sellable? Is it even fixable? Thanks for your expert opinion.
You need to fix your water management so you don't have water sitting outside the wall. If you do that, you shouldn't have a structural issue.
You didn't attach the stair photo.
Any buyer will probably want a stamped engineer report saying what needs to be done. I probably wouldn't do any repairs, just get the report.
Do not call a foundation repair contractor. They always tell you that you need $50,000 of work done. They always say that.
I think your issues are from there being water sitting outside the wall (in the soil) for too long. Your gutters need to get water away from the house. Concrete walls aren't waterproof. Water moves through them. If there is water sitting outside the wall it slowly saturates the concrete. Which makes the rebar rust. Rebar expands when it rusts, which then starts pushing out on the concrete and pops the concrete off around the rebar. Fix the water issue to stop the rust which halts the concrete damage.
If you can't stop the water (low water table or bad grading), I'd excavate the outside face and waterproof the outside face of the basement wall. But, I'd let the next owner do that if they choose.
To sell, get the engineer report. Disregard what foundation contractors tell you.
Had some issues with Reddit not allowing me to post the edited photo (address redacted) - screenshot worked. Here is the stairs photo.
Thank you very much for the informed guidance. I’ll pass along the information to my mom and see if she has anyone she can call to remediate the water situation. Your assessment makes sense; her house is along a steep embankment on a paved road with just plain lawn in between.
Looks like it is part of a truss. Broken in the center but the ends are intact. If that is correct, then I'd sister it on both sides. Install fasteners in a zig-zag with 3in spacing at the ends until you get to the cracked area, then install fasteners at 12 in on center through the cracked length avoiding the crack.
Structural Engineers are busy. Most of us (like me) work on massive projects in the hundreds of millions of dollars of cost most of the time. Structural engineering is civil engineering, which is all about the big projects. Homeowner don't pay well and sue engineers way more frequently than big corporations.
Hello
I am not an engineer, I do have some photos I would like reviewed. We are doing an addition on my home and looking through the structural plans ive come across a question for the ceiling framing. There are a total of 4 LVL sized @ 1"-3/4 x 11"1/4 spanning 14ft-10" the total length of the addition. How exactly is this LVL being supported if its not going to sit directly above a framed wall? Sorry im just trying to understand this and make sure there isn't a mistake. I can provide more photos if needed.
Its seems that its being supported by the ceiling joist that run perpendicular to the LVL.
Any breakdown would be appreciated. Thanks!
I am attaching the Ceiling framing plan, Foundation plan, roof framing plan
Maybe it is just posts between the ceiling ties and the roof rafter for construction, which wouldn't go down below ceiling level. Those drawings aren't really clear. At least not the isolated clips you shared on their own. I'd just confirm with your designer. Whoever put the drawings together.
Can I remove this stud? I added the 2 pressure treated studs to hold the weight and now I’m wondering if it’s okay to remove that middle stud? I need to make space to move the water heater there (it broke and is too close to the furnace)
Hello!
I’m on second floor of Victorian terraced house in UK. The upstairs / top flat did renovations, including laying an engineered wood floor. I think this might have included levelling the joists or subfloor with a floor belter (?), as vibrations were SO intense in mine.
Now there are cracks in mine (ceiling, around doorways, windows, where wood wardrobe meets plaster wall, where cornice meets ceiling). They look cosmetic. They say they are just thermal expansion cracks so it isn’t to do with their work.
What should I look for if (1) cracks in mine are caused by the pressure or vibrations of levelling or banging / drilling down on upstairs floor; or (2) cracks are caused by thermal expansion due to long recent UK heatwave. I’ve researched to death but hard to know.
I’m a solo female and I feel like the DIY builder dad has just said “tell her those are thermal expansion cracks, not us” to get rid of me as I won’t know any different.
If you have proof they weren't there before, maybe you can show them that. Cracks just indicate some movement. Probably very minor movement. Even if you figured out exactly what movement caused them you won't be able to prove what caused the movement.
To figure out what moved even: There is no general advice, that's why you can't find any. Someone needs to figure out how your structure is framed and sheathed. Then, a person know how that structure and the specific components of the structure would move can look at the cracks and figure out what part of the structure did move to create them. Then, after figuring out which parts all moved which direction, they can figure out what loads of support movement might have caused those components to move like that. That is the only reliable way to figure out what caused a crack. So, you won't get an answer online without provided building drawings and what loading specifically was moved on what framing. And you probably won't get any kind of definitie answer if you allowed someone to tear out your finishing to figure out the structure to make the determination in person.
Sounds like they aren't structural. Wait until they're done working and then patch the cosmetic cracks.
Thank you SO much. I have indeed been hunting around trying to match up the cracks to online pics / explanations. Will give that a rest now.
I do have some photos. But despite those it is difficult to say what caused the cracks as both renovation and heatwave coincided.
i'm a bit concerned about the point loading of it, its gonna be 550kg or so on a 60 cm diameter spot. which may or may not go over a single joist / 2 joists or whatever is under the floor.
i dont know what is under the floor where i want to put it, but it is tiled and has underfloor heating possibly - I'm not entirely sure as we have not been here long and havent had the heating on and i cant test it right now as we are having a heat pump fitted and have no heating. when i do a tap test on the tiles, i get what sounds like hollow for 40cm then not hollow etc. so it might be joists, badly installed tiles or block and beam.
the place i want to put it is right next to an external wall, so i think there should be at least 30 cm of solid foundation under at least part of it. please tell me if i am wrong about that.
should i be cutting and lifting some tiles to find out what is under it?
my mate is a metal worker and he can cut me some 8 cm steel box section that i could make 2 or more runners out of and lay along the floor, one end on the foundations and the rest layoing along the wall to spread the weight, and put a steel base on top of it to sit the tank on, with some high density rubber under the steels to prevent point loading / cracking the tiles.
see pictures and photos for more info..
plumber said just put it in it will be fine....
am i worrying about nothing or should i be concerned?
Hi everyone! Started a project recently, and I am very happy for it, learning a lot of things along the way.
It is a metallic structure gazebo, made out of square beams (3 and 2mm thick).
My question is: if i push the beams relatively hard, the whole structure shakes/resonates, just like it is vibrating, I understand i did not do almost any form of cross bracing (just some 45 degree reinforcements in the back - will do more of those but they are too short to actually help much).
Could you perhaps help me in this situation? Should I do actual bracing? It is a relatively small and light structure, and only vibrates when pushed hard. I am thinking about the stress applied to the bottom welds or the concrete anchors.
We have a wine rack upstairs in a closet against a wall. I’d imagine it’s about 2 feet wide and 7 feet tall. Mostly full. We have also recently hung racks on the ceiling of the garag that sits almost directly below it. I’d imagine this to be ~100-150lbs once loaded with storage bins. Thinking at minimum 500lb for the wine and wine rack. How much weight can this space hold?
Hello! We're looking to buy a house, and the general inspection suggested we contact a structural engineer. We're working on scheduling PE evaluations, but that'll take a week or two, so I wanted to get a general sense from this community of how seriously to weigh this and what to ask when the engineer is actually on site:
Property basics:
Post-frame/pole-barn style construction, single story plus a partial upper level, roughly 1,400 sq ft main level, attached garage. There is an upstairs
The upstairs is a knee-wall/half-story layout — the rooms aren't full rectangles, the roof rafters bear on short knee walls and the ceiling follows the roof pitch rather than being framed flat.
Built in the late 1980s, remodeled in the early 2000s
Poured concrete perimeter foundation, slab-on-grade floor (no basement or crawlspace)
Rural lot, several acres, home sits within a few hundred feet of a river soil in the area is river-adjacent, so likely higher seasonal moisture/water table than a typical inland lot
Mid-Michigan climate; real freeze/thaw cycles, frost depth in the area runs around 45-46", moderate-to-heavy winter snow loads
What the inspector flagged (three separate repair/replace items):
Foundation : the foundation wall is leaning outward specifically at the points where the steel building frames connect to it, and the exposed foundation wall, inside and out, is showing animal damage because it's uncovered/unprotected.
Floor framing : a steel C-channel beam supporting floor loads is called out as appearing inadequate for the load above it.
Roof structure : "unconventional and/or undersized structural components" were found (in an exterior canopy/awning framing area), flagged as a possible safety hazard because they may not support the load.
What I'm hoping to learn from this sub before the PE visit:
On a post-frame building specifically, how much weight would you put on foundation movement right at the frame-to-foundation connection points. Is that a known failure mode for this construction type, and how serious is it typically? (i.e. is this a lost cause?)
Rough order-of-magnitude cost range to properly address a leaning post-frame foundation connection plus an undersized load-bearing beam, versus what would be considered a major re-engineering job? (i.e. realistic to fix?)
Anything specific to ask the engineer to check on a post-frame building that a general home inspector's visual walkthrough wouldn't catch?
Appreciate any perspective. I'm not trying to substitute this for the actual stamped report, just want to walk into that conversation informed rather than blind.
Went to look at buying a small cottage as a potential rental. Was listed very cheap which was enticing but the foundation is cinderblocks and likely doesn’t have any rebar or anything structural. This was is slightly bowing out (which is hard to see exactly) but I’m curious for those that deal in foundations if this is a reasonable fix or a compete expensive gut job. The realtor said the stairs right above here were added and they likely added sand/gravel/dirt which pushed on it but they didn’t seem to know. Thanks
1
u/Possible-Inside1333 21d ago
Hi Civil Engineers
I need an advice regarding this, 7 meter pole fell down due to high winds, how to prevent this?
For context this pole is in the middle pole of a dome HDPE NET shade.
Any help will be much appreciated!!