ORIGINAL REDDIT POST
How much would this worry you...
First time buyers, Grade II listed house in the UK. One of the roof beams has a large crack in it, patched as seen, but not sure exactly how much of a fix that is in the long term! Agent said a previous potential buyer's survey had flagged it, but it was…
First time buyers, Grade II listed house in the UK. One of the roof beams has a large crack in it, patched as seen, but not sure exactly how much of a fix that is in the long term! Agent said a previous potential buyer's survey had flagged it, but it was considered safe... (Felt like she wasn't really sure) Thoughts?? What would you want to know before getting locked in or would you avoid altogether?
Collected discussion
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Yeah I would be concerned as to what made it crack like that, from either shifting or weight bearing down from above. The metal bandaid is concerning enough to warrant a pro.
Into crumbly, worm chomped wood too 🥲
That shit would fail inspection in US so fast.
Around 230 years old, haha. That's a supporting beam in the attic room, it's alarming just how deeply cracked it is! The woodworm is historic, but maybe bad enough to have weakened the beam over time? There's a roof window about 3 ft away which felt as though it were made of iron, so heavy! Not your typical modern, velux window. I wonder if it had slammed shut at some point and caused this...
There is no pass/fail in inspections when buying a property. The purpose of the inspection is to inform the buyer of the condition of the property and they can then decide if there is anything they are not willing to deal with. They can then either walk away, negotiate repairs or concessions from the seller, or accept the issue and deal with them after the purchase.
There's an extremely heavy roof window about 3 ft from the beam, not your typical modern, velux type, it felt as though it were iron framed!! I wonder if it slammed shut at one point and caused the massive weight on the beam...
Thank god the home owner used all 12 screws to secure the plate 😭
1,000 pounds per screw is typical holding power. It will be just fine
I would worry me enough that I would get a professional estimate before moving forward.
Is that house 150+ years old? there is a lot going on there. If those are not cosmetic beams, I would be surprised. If they are real, yeah, concerning. A very very old home can be a money pit. Ask what the seller has done in the time they have owned it.
A lot.
This looks like it will need more than a little plate like that. That was never going to be the fix.
Is this an actual structural member? Looks almost decorative to me.
eeek I am not sure. Is this an A frame ceiling? I am worried to replace that beam you would have to ask if you need to hold up the home with supports when replacing it. This would scare me enough to not buy it. I am sorry.
You want an engineer. In a timber frame house in the US, the cheap fix would probably be to sandwich up a couple nice fat steel mending plates on either side (3/8" thick x height of beam x a couple feet past the crack in each direction) and bolt them together right through the wood beam with carriage bolts to lock everything in. Alternatively you could sister up super strong dimensional lumber way beyond the crack (I'd guess min. 2x8, but am not an engineer, which again, you definitely need). The "right" fix is probably to replace the beam altogether, but that's horrifically expensive. Key questions: how long has it stood like this? Include how long before the ridiculously undersized mending plate was added as well as after. Do we know what caused the crack? (e.g. someone took up piano and put a full size Steinway right above it, someone installed a soaking tub, nearby road work...something caused this).
I’ve only had my house for a year but my understanding is to sister it you need to extend significantly beyond the length of the crack… this obviously does not. It seems like a “buy ourselves a few months” fix more than a long term fix.
The entire beam should at least be wrapped in a bracket of some kind. tacking that strip underneath is a joke. can you put a column there? sigh. i wouldn't stand under it.
There's a ton of water staining on the top of the perpendicular beam too, you can see the white mineral line and discoloration. Possibly still damp.
Why would you buy that
Das ist nicht so gut!
Call a structural engineer and don’t buy thing until they see it, and the way they attempted to fix it and listed the house like that thinking it’s okay makes me fear for the rest of whatever they fixed while living there
To me it looks like a decorative beam. That metal isn’t doing anything for it in case I’m wrong and it’s supporting beam.
Hi Engineer here, you should worry if thats meant to be a fix that’s not a fix….
Paint it grey and call it a day