Fire Damage

[John Evans]

House constructed 1930, no evidence of fire damage at the basement or crawl space. The neighbor informed the buyer of the fire that apparently occured over 40 years ago. Damage was confined to the attic/roof structure. Most of the rafters were sistered, and some sheathing had been replaced. The "purlins" appeared to have been added, post fire. Their installation appears to be incorrect and ineffective. The jack rafter shown, along with a few others, have little structural stability. I was surprised to still be able to smell the burned materials after 40+ years. Never know what you may find, helps to keep the inspection work interesting.

[Chuck Evans]

Pretty heavy charring on them. Most times charred wood will be painted silver to encapsulate the odor and reduce the potential for it to catch fire again. My understanding is that previously charred wood will ignite at a much lower temperature than uncharred wood, if left untreated.

Can't see the purlins, but the struts are pretty poor with improper orientation. Those are long enough that they would benefit from stiffeners anyway (longer than 8ft requires stiffeners)