In the middle of buying a house...Do I need an engineer to look at broken roof truss? (engineered, ceiling)
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Hey everyone, I'm in the middle of purchasing a house and just got done with the inspection process. The seller of the house does not want to repair the broken roof truss (I've attached a picture of it) which is a concern for me. They say a handyman can repair it easily and fix it after we close on the house. If that was the case, why don't they just repair it BEFORE I close on the house?
What should I do? I've also heard a structural engineer is required to look at the broken truss first and then I am supposed to get a licensed contractor who is licensed to repair such things. Is this really necessary?
Your advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help!
The seller of the house does not want to repair the broken roof truss...
Look at the board next to the broken truss. It looks like a fix was already done.
eta: This sort of 'minor' but VERY obvious job is the sort of low hanging fruit
that a seller should take care of if only to avoid having this discussion ...
but mostly to avoid having a $5000 deduction to price because of it
and to have every other minor defect looked at for other evidence of neglect and incompetence.
Last edited by MrRational; 06-19-2019 at 05:30 AM..
A truss is an "engineered" product. Any repairs or modifications are supposed to be designed by an engineer. While the actual repair may be very easy to do (the mechanics of the repair), the design must be engineered. Without an engineers stamp, you are now taking ownership of this defect, so it will likely come back to bite you when you go to sell the house.
If it was me, I would not close on the house until an engineer signed off on the repair. But thats me. Your mileage may vary.
The broken bottom chord member has a 2" x 4" "sistered " on to it, which shows an attempt to repair has been made, indicating someone knew about the issue. The truss engineer may find it is not possible to replace the whole truss though, and may just recommend a structural "plate" be it metal or plywood, secured to the side of the broken truss that unlike the "sister" board, will attach to the both bottom chord and the rafter. Just so it will mechanically "bond" both the bottom chord (ceiling joist) and the rafter together again as it needs to be . JMO though
Hey everyone, I'm in the middle of purchasing a house and just got done with the inspection process. The seller of the house does not want to repair the broken roof truss (I've attached a picture of it) which is a concern for me. They say a handyman can repair it easily and fix it after we close on the house. If that was the case, why don't they just repair it BEFORE I close on the house?
What should I do? I've also heard a structural engineer is required to look at the broken truss first and then I am supposed to get a licensed contractor who is licensed to repair such things. Is this really necessary?
Your advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help!
What you should do is ask your agent what is the best option/direction to take. If you don't have a "buyer's agent"- you should! Just for situations like this.
The agent will probably even have a contact. Every state has different laws/rules when it comes to real estate transactions. Everyone has a due diligence period- but, in situations like this an extension maybe necessary.
A truss is an "engineered" product. Any repairs or modifications are supposed to be designed by an engineer. While the actual repair may be very easy to do (the mechanics of the repair), the design must be engineered. Without an engineers stamp, you are now taking ownership of this defect, so it will likely come back to bite you when you go to sell the house.
If it was me, I would not close on the house until an engineer signed off on the repair. But thats me. Your mileage may vary.
It's been repaired. Now, whether the repair was done by someone who knows what he was doing is hard to say, but given the nature of the damage I'd say it happened before installation so it apparently passed inspection (not that this really means much in some situations).
Tell the seller that you want it to be looked at, and let him know that if the existing repair passes muster you'll pay for the inspection but if it doesn't you expect him to deduct the cost of the inspection and estimated cost of repair from the selling price. That's not an unreasonable request.
And keep in mind that this is a hidden structural component. Fixing a truss is usually not pretty; if your OCD won't let you sleep under this roof unless it's repaired by removing the broken board and replacing it with a new one, that's on you.
It’s obviously not a big deal and a repair could be made that would double the strength of its original design strength at that point. The fabricated house trusses are designed so minimally today and the fastening plates are minimal that shrinking and expansion of junk lumber often causes separation and problems.
You had less problems with rafters made of dimensional lumber than the new and less expensive roof trusses.
If that's a repair it's a handyman repair. You may notice the webbing on the next truss that is missing on the broken one. A little plywood, some screws and some Weldwood would fasten a good web replacement, but that was not done. There are no fasteners or adhesive visible on the sistered wood. From the fracture in the original wood, it appears that the truss was dropped hard before it was installed. It would take a wider angle view of the rest of the truss to tell what damage was done to the other clamp nails and webbing.
You know, if the truss was dropped and damaged during construction, but then the builder went ahead and did a jiffy repair and installed it - I have to ask, what else did they do wrong?
I'm not the one looking at this house, but, if I find structural issues and don't already own the house - I'm going to be really hard to sell the house to. Reduced price, stuff like that.
Don't take on the risk for free.
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