Back story: A couple had this house custom built for them in 1996 and have occupied the building since that time. My client is the wife (they are getting a friendly divorce); she is trying to decide if she wants to buy it and continue living here alone. There was no engineering done, the couple gave the “builder” a picture from a magazine and said “build this”. Builder was eventually taken to court over many problems (builder is completely out of the picture). Problems with windows, flashing, bad electrical etc. that the client and soon to be ex husband fully disclose and are aware of. So…I want an opinion on some framing using I-joists. I have a glue lam beam that supports several floor I-joists, the glue lam is supported with a single hanger attached to a single I-Joist. I already know the hanger is not correctly fastened through the web and is only supported from the top flange. I also know that that as long as the single I-joist is “rated” for the load it can be done this way. I have no engineer or assembly drawings to prove it is allowed, this condition has existed for 20 years and there is no evidence of movement or settling of any of the floors and stairwell located above. Any of you guys out there who have framed or are familiar with using engineered lumber care to offer any comments. The second opinion I am looking for is where the stairway uses the I-joist as a header, again no evidence of any movement, i was concerned about rotational movement. By the way the I-joist hangers are not nailed at the majority of the frame, the joists just sit in the hangers. Thank you for your opinions and sorry for the long post.
I’m not an engineer… but that doesn’t look right.
I agree this might be a good place to back away from and recommend they get an Engineer to verified its condition .
Typically a double header is installed for stringer attachment.
IMO I doubt the I-Joist was designed for the added load. But in lieu of paying an engineer a few hundred dollars to say it’s overloaded, just buy a steel column from Lowe’s for $75 and place it under the end of the glu-lam beam next to the I-Joist. The money they would have given the engineer will likely be needed for the lawyer.