Um, what is keeping up the roof?

The home inspector missed it. Two architects missed it. And for years, we missed it, too.

Thanks to our demolition efforts, something caught my eye and led me to ask Matt, “Um, what is keeping up the roof?”

The drywall installer had done a nice job of accenting the large beam in our wall that went up to the roof ridge beam (click image to enlarge). One would expect that beam to continue bearing weight all the way to the ground. Not so. Instead, where the beam ends, there is a small single-pane glass window.

“Is this a problem,” I asked The Todd during our Friday night architecture meeting on March 28?

“Oh, I don’t like the look of that,” he replied. Like me, he wondered how he could have missed this condition. Of course, I had hoped my fears were unwarranted. Sometimes, it really sucks to be right.

This was another reason why we hired Harry (Harbhajan) Braich, President of Apex Group, Inc., to conduct a structural engineering inspection of our home. The builder we ended up hiring recommended Harry, having worked with him before.

A few of Harry’s observations on our home:

• It is some 60 years or so old, one story house with multiple level basement and crawl spaces.
• The house has undergone multiple renovations, additions and modifications over the years. Most of this work seems to have been done without proper design. Also, the work itself has been done in makeshift ways.
• However, there is no visible settlement or cracking of the foundations. Hence, the foundations do look structurally adequate.

According to Harry, the following structural aspects need attention:

• The deck is worn out and showing signs of age.
• The main center beams in the first floor framing as seen from the basement are deficient. The beam running parallel to the street has a sister beam that is under-sized and has mid-span joints. The main beam is not supported at all on the right side and barely supported on the left.
• The right wall at the basement is appreciably deficient. The wall studs are under-sized and with makeshift material. These are either broken or rotted and are spaced at too long spans. Also, most of them are not even connected at the bottom. The sheathing boards are rotting as well. The rotting is due to moisture penetration from the concrete masonry stairs running along this wall.
• The center beam at the upper level of the basement is under-sized.
• The whole of the framing and walls in the basement needs to be gone over.
• The size of the main beam in the roof framing of the living area … does not have proper supports at both ends.
• There are cracks in the sheet rock under the beam support in the middle. These cracks are the result of the under-sized support beam.
• Also, there are cracks in the master bedroom. These are the result of header fasteners being loose / of less than required adequacy.
• There is a slope in the first floor. The slope is due to modifications not having been done with proper workmanship. Also, the joists and beams being under-sized or less than required adequacy, as noted above.

Addressing these issues adds about $25,000 to the price of the project (in addition to the engineering fee). I’m anticipating we will consider the fixes “priceless” and cannot wait to get started. But wait we will. The town has now had our permit application for 10 business days; they say to expect a 20-day turn-around.