Lightning Strike ??

[SteveSarasota]

Hello,

I did a job Friday on a house built in 2003, concrete tiles roof, one of the ridge tiles was missing. Not cracked, like something heavy stood on it and the parts of the tiles were at the bases of the valleys. The roof was fairly steep 7/12 or so.

When I went inside the attic and looked up, I saw what seemed like a moisture stain under the missing tile. The sheathing had the radiant heat barrier attached to the underside of the sheathing and that little section was missing.

The tenant claims that the house was hit by lightning while they were away in GA. The pool panel was also fried and they found 4 burned kitchen bulbs when they came back.

Does this look like lightning strike to you? See there are no burn marks whatsoever on the ridge and on the visible 2x4.

Thanks for your time and patience.

SteveR

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[Jesse]

Lightning will do some wicked stuff, traveling along gutters/downspouts, conduit, flues, etc. I'd expect, though, that there'd be some evidence of heat on the lumber just below the broken shingles. As it is in the photo, it just looks like a broken shingle. Perhaps they did get a lightning strike, but not at that location.

I was on the roof of a suburban high school after a storm. Their lightning detector (for the athletic fields) had taken a direct strike. The damage and the irony were beautiful.

[Eric B]

Looking at both pictures I'd say it likely was lightening but I'm amazed that there is no scorching of the wood.

[Mike Lamb]

Maybe a rodent (or man). Not likely lightning. Lightning strikes measure 15,000 to 60,000 degrees F.

Jesse ain't kidding when he says, "wicked." Even "cold" lightning would leave a mark. The gussets would be fried. Nope, not lightning.

[kurt]

Well, I don't know on this particular one, but I've seen 3 houses and 2 trees that have been hit by lightening.

None of the houses showed any burn marks, and only one of the trees showed any burn at all. Saw a chimney once that was blown to blazes by lightening; no scorch, no burn, no nothing.

I have no idea why(?). I remember all of us wondering why they didn't have burn marks......

Same thing w/some folks that get hit by lightening. They don't necessarily burn up, or even have any marks.

Anyone got an explanation?

[SonOfSwamp]

A couple times, I've been close enough to a lightning strike to hear the pre-bang sizzle, smell the ozone and feel the concussion.

But no burn marks.

WJ

[randynavarro]

Happened to catch 5 minutes of the local newscast last night . . .

House had been struck right through the roof. Video showed burned and charred roofing all around the 24" diamater hole.

They also showed firemen on the scene dumping buckets of ashen debris from the upstairs window - most of the upstairs was toast - pun intended. Homeowners weren't home, but they indicated if they were, there'd be serious injuries if not fatalities.

[randynavarro]

By the way, regarding grounding / earthing.

Not that we all necessarily inspect to make sure that the phone service is bonded adequately to the home's ground system, but the phone box and relevant components were blown off the walls and also fried.

Mr. Hansen has stated that folks have been killed while holding the phone during a lightning strike.

Grounding is important (more so at the earth than the outlet).

[Mike Lamb]

I was at my Mom and Dad's when the tree in the back yard got struck. My goodness. The window I was looking out of turned all white from the flash.

They had a metal cable tied from the tree to the back porch for the dog to run on. The nails used to hold the stops on the porch screens were all burnt.

[Jerry Simon]

Lightning turns copper water pipe black.

[fqp25]

Originally posted by Jesse

Lightning will do some wicked stuff,

I have a friend who suspected their house got struck by lightning this weekend. A bedroom AFCI breaker was tripped, the A/C didn't work, the garage door opener didn't work, and his router for his computer didn't work.

A/C didn't work because it knocked out the programmable T-Stat. Liftmaster garage door opener has a big electronic board in it. And the router has electronics in it.

Couldn't find any damage from a direct strike. I strongly believe a surge came through his SEC and did this damage, especially with the tripped AFCI breaker. However, if lightning struck close to this house, is it possible that there could be enough EMF or Static Energy (or something along those lines), to knock out these electronics?

Frank

[Rob Amaral]

Looks like lightning to me. My house got hit when I was a kid and the damage was similar. It doesn't always cause a char folks.

[hausdok]

Hi,

I remember when our home in New York State was hit when I was a teenager. We were all having dinner when the storm passed over and the house shook like a truck had hit it and the noise was deafening. We went outside to see what had happened and found the corner trim blasted off the corner of the house and split. No charring of any sort.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Eric B]

Perhaps this was not from the primary strike but rather a branch of the main bolt. It seems to me that l've heard that a secondary bolt can travel UP from the ground to the main bolt. I'm not sure about this - but it sounds like great inspector BS.

[Brian G]

Originally posted by Eric B

It seems to me that l've heard that a secondary bolt can travel UP from the ground to the main bolt. I'm not sure about this - but it sounds like great inspector BS.

Actually, that's entirely true. They call it a "leader", and I've seen both film and photos of them; very cool stuff. Whether it bears on this particular circumstance, I have no idea. [8]

Brian G.

DON'T Follow the Leader [xx(]

[RickSab]

Here is more than you want to know about lightning.http://wgntv.trb.com/extras/wgntv/tornado/index.html

See the second program from John Jensenius