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I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, but I'm hoping someone who knows construction will come across this and help.
We bought our home about 8 months ago and yesterday when I was cleaning the attic noticed that one of the rafters had cracked and was in the process of breaking (I think). This obviously wasn't there when we bought the house (and during the official home inspection). The home was built in 2000.
If you know about these things (construction), I would really appreciate it if you could let me know how urgently this needs to be fixed - is the situation bad or really really bad?
not bad really sometimes wood will crack where you dont want it to. My fix would be to get a jack under it to straighten it back and nail a sister rafter against it to carry the load. a good carp could do it easily
With a split like that, most engineers will want to see a sister board on both sides.
If you are thinking of reselling, even years from now, you might want to have an engineer do a drawing for you specifying the repair.
The next buyer will likely ask for it, upon the advice of their home inspector.
The engineer drawing will cost more than the repair, most of the time.
Did you have a home inspection done when you bought?
Mike is correct. Sister both sides and extend the new boards a minimum of 4' beyond the crack in both directions. Basically just get (2) 12' 2x10's and secure them so the crack is in the middle of the span.
I had the same on a 1927 home... the roof was leaking and when I went to investigate the entire roof sag in that spot... turns out the rafter cracked due to a defect caused by a knot.
Decided to just replace it... costs was about $10 and a Saturday of my labor...
I used a sawall to cut through the nails, removed the bad rafter and slid in a new one... good as new.
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Have you re-roofed? That can happen when a bundle of shingles is haphazardly plopped on the roof just-so. There isn't necessarily a lot of net downward force on a roof rafter that would cause an injury like that, so I think that could be explained by rough-housing labor if you have had work done up there. As others have said, the actual fix is pretty easy.
You may have accurately identified the source of this damage (aggressive roofer) but sometimes we see a defect in the rafter itself. A knot, waning, a small split that later fails are all possibilities.
,,,We bought our home about 8 months ago and yesterday when I was cleaning the attic noticed that one of the rafters had cracked and was in the process of breaking (I think). This obviously wasn't there when we bought the house (and during the official home inspection). The home was built in 2000.,,,,
Since you only bought 8 months ago the previous owner is financially responsible for one year. He may have bought insurance for the one year.
Talk to your realtor.
Since you only bought 8 months ago the previous owner is financially responsible for one year. He may have bought insurance for the one year.
Talk to your realtor.
What are you talking about?
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Carpentry Detective
