9000 sq ft nightmare

[mathew stouffer]

This place was a spec home and the builder ran out of money. The roof was a complete mess among other things. So when I was in the attic this caught my eye. Just making sure I don't miss anything. Looks like they sandwiched three trusses together and tied in three 2x6's, but I could not tell where they went. This was obviously altered. Any thoughts, I know the pics are limited.

[mathew stouffer]

One more pic.

[Gunnar Alquist]

Matthew,

As far as I know, multiple trusses is acceptable. No different from doubling a joist. It would have been specified in the plans and you are not likely to have access to those during a standard home inspection.

The additional framing on top of the trusses is weird. Seems to me that that would be a good thing to get an engineer to look at.

[Matt Fellman]

Without plans, engineering, etc. the best you can do is guess and speculate. Some of it certainly looks odd but there's not much you can do other than tell your client to chase down the paper trail (plans, city inspections, etc.).... or you could calculate and design the entire house from the roof down which I'm guessing you haven't charged enough to do.

[mathew stouffer]

Here is a little insight to what was around the next corner.

[scott wright]

It looks to me that those trusses were designed that way, and were fabricated at the truss yard. Way too clean for an on-sight alteration. The plywood you see on the face of the far truss that is trippled up appears to be an outside wall, and the perpendicular 2x on top are the outriggers for the varge rafter.

Scott

[Valerie Gillespie]

Get the owner/builder to hire a structural engineer to review the truss manufacturer's detail sheets for all the trusses. They are typically submitted to the developer or architect for review. Have the engineer verify that the trusses are fabricated and installed correctly. Triple trusses are common on large houses with varying roof pitches and configurations.

[mathew stouffer]

Thanks. They are in the process of tracking down that info.