Originally Posted By: roconnor This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Okay Jeff … I will take a crack at this one …
Per IRC R502.5 and Table R502.5(2) a girder with (3) 2x10 DF#2 supporting two floors on a house 36' wide is good for a span of 4'-10" ... yup, that is 4'-10" and not a typo [about 5"-0" max spacing for a 32' wide house] ... that is a lot of load, and probably should have been a steel beam, microlam, or flitch beam. Add roof load to that, and you can see why those girders are sagging ... no snow load yet and probably not fully loaded from the floors either ...
Plus the IRC and NDS requires blocking or other lateral support at the ends to prevent rotation. Plus those do look like screw jacks and not pipe/lally columns that are usually ordered to fit. Plus I doubt those screw jacks have a footing. If the base is just sitting on the floor then the column doesn't extend down to a footing (required), although a thickened slab is possible but not likely. I agree some of the stuff looks like an afterthought ...
The allowable deflection of typical wood girders under full load is around 1/4" to 1/2" in the center depending on the span ... which doesn't stand out too much. Usually, if you can see a pronounced deflection of a member, it probably has some issues. You can also check this out by putting a big marble on the floor above. If it immediately rolls to the center or one side you might have a problem.
I would punt to a building official or an engineer.
-- Robert O'Connor, PE
Eagle Engineering ?
Eagle Eye Inspections ?
NACHI Education Committee
I am absolutely amazed sometimes by how much thought goes into doing things wrong
Originally Posted By: roconnor This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Are you sure those are not temporary supports installed until more permanent supports can be installed? I just cant believe that anyone would think that is adequate from what you describe and the pics …
– Robert O’Connor, PE
Eagle Engineering ?
Eagle Eye Inspections ?
NACHI Education Committee
I am absolutely amazed sometimes by how much thought goes into doing things wrong
Originally Posted By: jremas This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
No Rob, these are permanent, the bottoms are concrete encased and the other beams in the home look exactly the same. Like I said the guy who built the home 10 years ago was an electrician and the girls who live there have been there for 5 years and are selling. It was a suprise to them.
By the way, I have not heard anyone refer to a flitch plate on this forum until your post. I used them in the past to help span garage doors. The local steel company was always nice enough to have the holes drilled for us when we bolted the wood framing members together. You know I never see them except on my old jobs. I asked a contractor one time if he was going to use a flitch plate and he had no idea what the heck I was talking about.
Hey Joe M,. I know my cocky reply above sounded a little harsh but I was really suprised to hear that from you. You always bring some great technical info to the discussions but that one threw me off. But to see that contractors are thinking that some glue and lots of nails is ok is exactly why we need AHJ to keep everyone in line. There are enough guys out there who held a hammer in their hand for the first time while working as a laborer for 6 months and decided they could go buy a pickup truck and call themselves contractor. They cause enough problems to keep many lawyers busy all year. Lack of knowledge & oblivious to it. OK I am stopping now...
--
Jeff Remas
REMAS Inspections, Inc.
Northeastern PA & the Poconos
www.NEPAinspector.com
Originally Posted By: dvalley This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Jeff,
The support posts are now flipped around the proper way and I had a professional carpenter extend the 2x10 beam to catch the floor joist. No more sagging at that end! What's next?
Originally Posted By: roconnor This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Ouch … if those are permanent light-gauge zip columns it really doesn’t matter which end is up (usually the threads can either be damaged or embedded in conc) since it may be overloaded anyway. Most zip columns have about 1/3 the capacity of the heavier Sch-40 lally/pipe columns.
Where was the building inspector on this one ... did they get a CO? The "contractor" is lucky he didn't have a continuous girder with just one of those light-gauge zip columns for a 36' wide house (or is it 32' from the earlier post) ... because the floors above would probably be in the basement ... 
Jeff ... I still spec Flitch Beams sometimes for both new work and repairs. The local builder supply here can still deliver pre-drilled pieces for easy field assembly. But contractors like to sub LVL's for new work since there is less fabrication. Usually requires a larger LVL beam since you can get more out of a flitch beam for a given depth, but I allow that as long as it's not an exposed beam or in an unfinished area where moisture and fire exposure can be issues.
-- Robert O'Connor, PE
Eagle Engineering ?
Eagle Eye Inspections ?
NACHI Education Committee
I am absolutely amazed sometimes by how much thought goes into doing things wrong
Originally Posted By: jremas This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Where was the building inspector for this one? You ask. Haahhh, there is none. Right now, over half of PA’s municipalities have no form of code enforcement at all. The legislation for adoption of the ICC codes has been on hold since July. The enforcement was suppose to start in Jan 2004 and I already got my IRC certification as a 3rd party inspector. So far I think I should have waited. Typical politics…there are more building code and contractor problems in PA than you can shake a stick at. Hopefully some a$$wipe legislator will have their own house buckle in the center so they get a wakeup call. (as long as no one gets hurt)
–
Jeff Remas
REMAS Inspections, Inc.
Northeastern PA & the Poconos
www.NEPAinspector.com
