Good day inspectors of high esteem…Aaaah alas, my daughers new house so I’m extra paranoid but it seems this can yust not be cool. It appears that perhaps the contractors set one end of the joists on one side and zounds! They were off level so they had to notch them into the blocks on the other. This is only a theory since the rest of the basement is finished. I just cant imagine this can be allright but there is always an ‘ok’ procedure I don’t know about. Should these not be without question, set upon a sill plate? Even what appears to be a plate is not…it is sheet foam. Can there possibly be any justification of this setup? I have not ‘seen it all’ like others here.
Many thanks for expert input and opinions.
Mike in MN
They look like top cord bearing floor trusses. The planning wasn’t the best. Are they block 12"? It is hard to determine the bearing from those pictures.
See page 2: http://www.trusscomponents.com/pdf/Floor%20Truss%20Guide.pdf
In pic #2, it looks like the top cord of the truss is cut. Am I seeing that correctly?
Modifying trusses without engineering supervision is a no, no.
I don’t know Mike…as newer inspector i was just initially uptight that the cement blocks were notched out and there was so much storage stuff around that i did not try to climb up and examine the situation closer. i thought the block notching was problem enough to cause dismay but thus far have not neccessarily sensed that response. thats why i come here to find out if my concerns are legit or or i need some more learnin’
thanks for all input
learnin’ in MN
If it was for a client I would call out the truss mods and verify documents.
Since it is for your daughter I would do some additional research.
If you can find out who the truss mfg. is, take some more photos and ask them to comment.
I have seen top bearing floor truss but that cut top chord looks wrong.
First thing I noticed. If one is cut there’s a good chance more have been altered. I would definitely have the flooring/foundation system checked out further.
I’m not a big fan of concrete block foundations either, especially in your climate Mike I.
Does look like a cut top chord.
Installation is wrong.
Whether concrete or block bearing wall, there should be a continuous bearing plate on the wall.
In this case the top block should also be a bond beam block filled with two#4 bars.
Michel they are Plated closed end floor truss.
Was the open ends manufactured with the truss or manipulated on site. If done on site an engineer would have to OK the modification.
Marcel posted open end metal ceiling truss.
Good observation and call out.
It appears to be the same cut in picture #1 behind the romex. It may be the design. Maybe the OP has more pics or info but I agree with no cutting trusses without direction from an engineer.
Maybe,
In pic 2 it appeared to be floating but on further review I see a nail plate on the raw end that is likely attached to what I cannot see. More pics from better angles would help.
Marcel. That would be industrial application.
The top CMU is a bond beam. Anchorage, CMU course unification.
I do not think that engineering principle apply to the thread.
I could be wrong.
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Sorry I forgot this photo.
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More pictures of the plate Mr. Ineards would be helpful.
Thank you.
I saw the plate too, thought it was abandoned. If you closer it looks like there are two 2x4’s. Similar to this photo Robert posted.
Better/more photos would help.
http://www.nachi.org/forum/attachments/f23/59202d1349551121t-custom-fit-floor-joists-5.jpg
Yes Chris, that is what we are seeing, a double 2x4 end. 2nd photo of the OP. 
And Robert, the detail I posted is not Industrial, it is the way it should be constructed.
Still wrong as you said in post 7. No bearing plate and chipped blocks.
No doubt in my mind Chris. 
you guys rock! thanks for all the great replies and info. I’m pretty confident that I should be having my daughter contact a contractor of great repute to take a look at this setup.
many thanks
mike in MN
Marcel. Just an observation.
1# I can not see the “full bearing plate” on the truss.
It starts 2" before the CMU.
It would be berried inside the CMU and the end that sits on the doubled end sill plate much further back.
Look at the plate in the thread photo.
If it extends into the void the bearing plate end extended doubled 2/4’S maybe seated on a doubled sill plate.
Look at the plate in the illustration. Much larger. I suspect engineered too carry more load. Look at the placement of the doubled 2/4" ends.
I hypotheses the bearing ends are deeper inside the CMU foundation wall.
Maybe a modified wall.
The 2/4"s sitting on the CMU maybe there to fill the viod. Act as a draft stop.
The truss disappears into the notched CMU. The notched faces the interior.
1# I see nothing wrong with notching a CMU IMO.
2# On the front or outer side of the CMU may be double plated to accept the trusses bearing end.
What does the opposing wall revile?
The floor trusses were a little too long for the foundation, a misunderstanding somewhere or somebody got a deal on existing floor trusses after the foundation was in.
To make the trusses fit, instead of removing a gangnail and hacking back the web, they chiseled away some of the block and cut back a little bit of the bottom chord to fit between walls, but that bottom chord’s probably ok. It’s probably just a single 2x4 that had a few inches cut off either end.
The top chord that is designed to bear the weight (as has been pointed out several times), does not rest on a flat bearing plate, so instead of the load being spread evenly over the wall portion designed to bear it, point loads were created, not only in the truss, but in the block wall.
The structural integrity has been reduced, but determining to what extent would involve determining whether block is filled and what residual block is left untouched so that at least a portion of the top chord has bearing on something flat, like the top of the block wall.
It’s hard to imagine it failing catastrophically but stranger things have happened. I’d recommend an SE just to CMA.
Also, the graphic in Robert’s post doesn’t see quite right. I’d expect to see the 2x plate fastened to the top of the wall with anchor bolts inserted into grout-filled cells, but most of my experience is with poured concrete foundation walls, not CMU.
That’s my 2 cents.