Cracked support beam across ceiling

Hello,

I’m a first time home buyer in contract for a 1979 CBS/Frame house (2nd floor is frame). Got a home inspection. The inspector found a crack in one of the wood beams that runs across the ceiling (2nd floor). We then had a roofer/G.C. look and he said it shouldnt be cracked since it only supports the roof, and to have a structural engineer look at it. Looking for a second opinion of sorts, before we shell out the $$$$$ for a structural inspection.

Is it definitely a concern that this beam is cracked?
Is hiring a structural engineer the only way to really figure this out?

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Proper terminology is needed and it doesn’t appear to have been used in this report. Look at this pageand then tell us what is present if it does not answer your question.

I tried to reply but I guess I can’t post a picture. Anyway, in the inspection it was described as a ‘rafter’. The house is two stories but the second story is only on half of the house. So the rafter we’re talking about is the high ceiling in the living area with only the roof above it. I have a pic I can email since its not able to be posted.

Email it to me fastreply@nachi.org and I’ll post it for you.

Here are his 2 PICs:

rafter2.png

A note on the two pics above - that crack you see extends about 2/3 the way through the rafter toward the ceiling. Its the only one out of all of them that has any crack at all. House is 35 yrs old.

The wide rafter spacing puts more load on each rafter, so IMO that rafter should be repaired.

Would it be a concern for a structural issue? Curious why it would have cracked in the first place like that…

Read post 8 again.

I’m not there, I’m looking at two pictures but, as a former (actually still) finish carpenter…these appear to be “false beams”. I am looking at the Tongue & Groove and noticing that it appears to run behind and all the way through/across; suggesting to me that these are false beams.

Again, I am not stating this as fact but, that’s what they look like to me based on what I can see in the pics which granted, is limited.

What is the T&G nailed to? My guess is that they are blind nailed to rafters…which might very well indicate these are false beams.

I only mention this as I would hate for you to recommend an SE and then my hunch turns out to be correct.

You were there on site. I was not.

ETA: Sorry, I just caught that you are not the inspector but a buyer/owner. But still…