I wasn't exactly sure how to pose this question but here goes. My practice of structural engineering, focusing heavily on residential construction with some small commerical thrown in from time to time, has been rapidily growing at a pace that I did not anticipate. I am constantly trying to...
I recently inspected some fire damage in the attic of a very old home. The roof was framed with 2"x6" rafters at 20" on center with a single 2"x6" ridge. On one side of the roof, there was apparent fire damage with some of the rafters and the ridge experiencing charring. I can see the rafters...
I inspected a house on the beach in NJ this past week, which was a 1-story dwelling with a basement, constructed fully of masonry block. When I went into the basement, there was a horizontal crack about 36" above the basement slab (and near outside grade level) which propagated through the...
Completed an inspection on a residential hip roof that had five 2x6 roof rafters on each side scabbed with short 2x6 sister members. The original rafters are 16' long but several of them were either spliced with a scab plate or broken at midspan by a scab plate. In a perfect world, I would have...
I recently inspected a deck for a client where they had a rear deck off of the second story with a double ledger board attached over cedar shake siding. The IRC prohibits fastening a ledger to masonry veneer/stone or to a cantilevered flooring system but does not go over this issue. This just...
This is a unique one...
Looked at a house in a flood zone that was built upon a crawlspace with an ungrouted masonry block wall and four (4) 2"x6" sill plates between the 8"x16" block foundation and 2"x8" floor joists. I also found out that there is no anchor bolts at all so I am trying to...
I recently inspected a large house that had some evidence of trapped water/moisture in the masonry block cores in the basement (staining/efflorescence). There was a channel at the base of the wall and weep holes drilled through the block but the channel between the basement slab and the masonry...
I completed an inspection this week of a small 1 story, 1,250sf home where the client was complaining about their walls. The home is geometrically shaped like a square with a small addition off of the front and back, and the main bearing wall runs from front to back. In her living room, there...
Had a client reach out to me about inspecting their house. Supposedly, they have a garage converted into living space but the crawl beneath it is mostly inaccessible. Home inspector saw that many of the joists under there, which look PT from the picture he sent, are flush mounted with steel...
I completed an inspection yesterday for a client who owns a split level residential dwelling in New Jersey. The house itself sits pretty high on the lot with great, positively pitched grading conditions; additionally, all of the downspouts are extended and none of the air vents are at grade...
I have a client with a home and a rear addition constructed upon a slab. The floor within the interior of the addition is hardwood and he is starting to get some minor cupping of the floor. When I looked over the outside of the slab foundation, there was some consistent hairline cracks which...
I inspected a leaning masonry brick chimney for a client the other day. The house was built in 1930 and the chimney itself is around 25' tall. I noticed some separation nearing the top of the chimney away from the house and when I put my level on it, it appeared as though it was leaning outward...
I have an 11 course masonry block basement foundation wall with a horizontal crack and it's bowing inward by 3/4". An engineer that I used to work for would suggest fixing any bow in a residential basement wall equal to or over 1/2" over its full height but I'm looking for where in the code...
I completed a structural inspection on a waterfront home yesterday that had 4 windows in a crawlspace with high headroom. Each 2'-8" wide window had a steel lintel over the top of it that appeared to be significantly oxidized. I'm assuming the salt water attacked these pretty harshly given the...
I inspected an older house this week with a partial basement and one of the basement walls seemed to be experiencing significant deterioration of the masonry block. On the exterior side, the wall was abutted with a mulch bed and extended downspouts (that were only just recently extended). He's...
I have a scenario where I am taking out a load bearing wall above a basement and installing a steel beam. I plan on supporting the steel beam with steel columns but the issue I have is that the steel columns coming down to footings in the basement are directly in line with the existing timber...
I inspected a house today with a pretty interesting issue. The house is 2 years old and the builder screwed up the foundation. He jogged it outward about 18" for 10' in the middle of the font wall, right below the front door. The town missed it when they went to inspect so the builder tried to...
I inspected a home today in a nearby town that was a two-story dwelling constructed on a poured concrete slab foundation. On the left side of the dwelling existed a masonry block retaining wall approximately 36" off of the side that was 20" taller than the adjacent grade and that also separated...
I inspected a home built on 12" timber butt piles today where the piles extended roughly 7'-4" above grade. My client was concerned about 2 piles specifically which appeared to be skewed and when I placed my level on them, this assumption was confirmed. The tops of these two piles were leaning...
I have a client with a house raised on 18"x18" concrete columns due to being located within a flood zone. They are looking to attach an AC condenser platform to the sides of two columns, which will weigh approximately 2,000 lbs. As I'm not that familiar with these kinds of designs, how would you...
