A FRIEND OF MINE NEEDS TO KNOW IF HIS HOUSE IS STRUCTURALLY SOUND SO HE CAN DO SOME SORT OF EXPANSION AND/OR RENOVATION. WHAT IS THE APPROPRIATE FORMAT IF ONE WANTS TO CONDUCT A REPORT OF THIS NATURE? WHAT DOES ONE LOOK FOR SPECIFICALLY, ETC?
For my strucutural inspections of this type the ground conditions and the foundation construction loads capacity is most important. Then the supporting wood framing and finally the roof. This ia an over simplified explanation and a detailed report would investigate the structural changes that are needed to construct the added building structure. Best Regards
ASCE puts out a standard called "Structural Condition Assessment of Buildings". I dont think you would need most of the info in it for a house but it should give you the info you need to know. This is not something you can just tell someone what to do. You need a trained Structural Engineer who will know what he is looking at and what to look for. There are too many variables to be able to tell someone what to look for.