A-Frame dwelling

[rnewman1]

Hello all,

I am scheduled to inspect a A-Frame house next week. Since it is my first A-Frame structure I wonder if there are any special tips or considerations you have for the inspection of such a structure.

I appreciate any input.

Thanks,

Raymond

[Marcel R. Cyr]

It's like one big finished and conditioned attic.
No different than conventional house. Just no walls and less space to inspect. ha. ha.

Take care to look at the roof anchorage system at the slab, knee wall, or foundation. Also look at what design provisions were made for collar ties or equivalent, these babies get a lot of wind load and uplift.

Vented roof system would be another item to pay attention too. The roof is the walls. Or is it the walls are the roof?

Marcel
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[afrost]

as marcel notes, pay attention to ventilation of the roof. alot of these were built by homeowners building their own vacation "camp" (at least up here in the northeast).
i've never looked at one except for passing. there isn't much snow-wear on the upper part of the roof shingles, but the snow tends to pile up down at the bottom.

there is some force at the sill of the roof -- it wants to spread apart. so you can look at signs of stress there.
"gabel end" walls would, i'd expect, be non-load bearing.

let us know.

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Here, they almost all have a loft with real steep stairs. Yes, ventilation may be a problem since all that heat goes to the peak. They often need a circulation fan of some kind.

[rnewman1]

Thank you guys, that helped me. The scary part however was not the A-framed main structure. The seller actually knew how to use a nail gun and where to buy 2x4's. So he had built himself a double garage with a 2nd floor for his workshop and storage. Just a big box. He used sheating material as subflooring, the floor joists had no overlab and were partially tilted, some of the loadbearing walls where missing headers for openings, some without double top plates, no fire stops etc.