Cut and burned trusses

[dmccauley]

History, This house had a fire last Nov. the insurance and bank step in and fix the house. The home owners are screaming that the contract is a bone head and does not have a clue. Well they are getting ready to take it to a lawyer and needed a inspections. I do bus with them so they give me a call. Well the house is screwed up big time. The electrial and plumbing is fine but I need an opion about the prefab roof trusses. The contractor patched up the orginal ones and even used the same roof sheathing. Look at the pic and tell me what yall think. The conjoker nailed 1x4 to the trusses to fix the proplem.

[Joseph Hagarty, CMI]

Roof Trusses are an Engineered system.

A Home Fire can/will compromise the Structural Integrity of the Building Materials.

A Professional Engineer, familiar with roof truss systems, is needed to make the arguable point to the Insurance company with regard to additional repair / replacements needed.

[rwand1]

Replacement time if charring is present, not a band-aid repair solution.
If other trusses are smoke damaged only they should be sealed with a special paint solution.

[Patrick Bolliger]

I agree with the guys.

We did an inspection on a house that had a major fire. The roof "hack" repair job was a nightmare.. Not replaced / repaired under the guidance of a PE / structural engineer! The roof sway back was huge!


If they didn't have it replaced / repaired under the supervision of an S.E. Then it's questionable.

[Keith Swift, PhD.]

Read a case, can't remember specifics, but remember reading that "pyrophoric action," even flame-heating wood, can compromise its structural performance. If an engineer was not involved, one should be.

[dmccauley]

thank for all the replies on the truss. I'm thinking the same thing and in the report it is writen the same way.

[Mike Parks]

Get the hell away from any lawsuits unless you have big guns and a lot of money.