Cut beam

[Phillip]

Friday I went to a home of a young lady that works for the bank that I use.

She was having a leak showing up in here dining room.

She had talked to some of her other friends and they had come over to clean out her gutters where they where thinking that was causing the leak which they where right.

The young lady and here husband bought the house five years ago and it was inspected with an inspector that the Realtor called. House is 11 years old.

The husband is no longer in the scene and the house is for sale.

As I when up in the attic I saw that there was a large gap where the attic access was nail up. The nails where bending and pulling out which I told the lady about.

Then when I look over to the valley where the leak was at I seen this beam.

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How bad would you say this is? There is a wall that runs under the beam.

Here is a photo of the access.

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[kurt]

What's under the wall that's under the cut beam? Can you trace a load path to earth?

[Rocon]

It looks like the access ladder was installed by someone that did not know that it is not good to put a nail into shear at three points. I think this could be fixed fairly easily by removing the nails putting solid blocking in and re securing it.

The beam is definitely not perfect, what they have done is put a large notch in a beam where you should not put a large notch. Is it a problem? that is the question and it completely depends on how mus weight is bearing on it and where the point loads are underneath it. If it is end supported with no bucket extending beyond the notch. It could be a problem if there is an earthquake or high winds. If it has been there for 11 years and there is no signs of fatigue it might be OK. where you typically see a beam fail is when it is in moment not just under load.

I think you should identify it as a problem and suggest the owner have a SE look at it. I believe the SE will say it is a problem. If you do not identify it you own it.

[hausdok]

It looks like it's the end of a strongback. Was the center of the ceiling below hanging from that one clips? If so, the notch probably hasn't affected it much if at all.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[John Dirks Jr]

I'm just curious with this question.

Since the notch is cut in the top side, would that have less of a weakining affect?

[Phillip]

The wall that is under it or close to under it is the wall that divides the garage from the house.

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[kurt]

That's what I figured; the valley comes down at the inner corner of something. Cutting the beam isn't right, but it'd be hard from this vantage point to find anything horrible about it. I'd have to see it a lot more closely, because it might not be anything.

It might move, or not. If it settles, it'll do so and then slow down and stop after a while. Doesn't look like it could be fixed anyway.