OT home buying issue

[cbrennan4]

I'm in the process of buying my first house and after the inspection we noticed the crossbeam in the garage, holding up the master bdrm, had been notched. Some engineers say its fine and the patch is ok. a family friend that is a structural engineer said its a big issue that would take thosands to asses and fix. Wanted to see what some of you guys thought that may have expertise with this.

Thanks!

 

[Grant W]

Without knowing how big a load is on it it really is hard to asses the issue but gluelams should never be cut. The cut does not look deep enough to cause an issue thou. What kind of load is on it and how long of a span is it supporting. What was the reason for the notch, it is not apperant from the pic.

 

[cbrennan4]

@Grant- this support beam spans the length of the garage and the master bedroom is above it. The notch was made to make room for the garage door track to fit in when the door raises. The notch is also in the very middle of the beam.

 

[woodnaquanut]

More questions!

What is the purpose of the three bolts going up into the gluelam? That seems odd. At least I think I see three! One seems to be right in the middle of the notch.

Do you have any idea when this was done? I'd check to see if the beam is sagging. If it's been YEARS since the mutilation and there is no sagging you are probably good to go. I say this assuming you have no plans for having a huge tank or water bed above it.

At the very least this should be in the disclosures about the house. Perhaps the seller would be willing to cover the cost of an evaluation?

 

[kodiak23]

Looks okay to me. There's plywood on both sides and two big lag bolts on the bottom. There should be no problem. This wouldn't stop me from buying the house.

 

[Dragonvale]

I'd get another opinion and hire a qualified individual to asses the situation.

 

[cbrennan4]

Thanks everyone for your input!

@Woodaquanut- Not sure of the the purpose of the bolts.

Not sure when it was cut. The house was built in 1983 but the current seller bought it as a foreclosure and has no info on the house. The seller is a group of realtors that forrmed a LLC which makes this trickier in dealing with issues like this.

 

[northbay-reefer]

The notch doesn't look that deep so it's should be ok. Just to be safe ... you might want to avoid having rough s-x above it LOL

 

[AMAYEU]

The notch doesn't look that deep so it's should be ok. Just to be safe ... you might want to avoid having rough s-x above it LOL

lol. Oh no you didn't. Aka. Onyd.