Is it necessary to have T tie metal connecting floor girder and support posts? I inspected a crawlspace and the floor girders beam just sit on top of the wood posts and are only toe-nailed, should I recommend home owner to add T tie to secure the girders and posts for seismic concern in San Francisco Bay Area CA. As more and more buyers are flagging this. If we leave it as-is, it will almost certainly show up on the inspection report as “recommended seismic upgrade” and the buyer will ask for a credit or for it to be fixed before closing. Please share your thoughts, Thank you.
I don’t know what a “T tie” is but I don’t recommend reporting what the fix should be anyhow.
In the earthquake prone San Francisco area, if the post to girder connection doesn’t appear adequate, I may recommend that a qualified contractor make the post to girder connection corrections to maintain structural integrity as may be needed for seismic areas. (Let the qualified contractor make the decision as to how to do it.) JMHO
Looks like older construction and “T-ties” or gussets, as they’re usually called, weren’t standard. It’s not a bad thing to mention but realize how many other changes there have been since then and how many of those you’re NOT mentioning.
May I offer a recommendation or two?
1: Prove a picture.
2: Use technical terminology.
“T tie metal” Manufactured Mechanical Fastener.
“floor girder and support post” Girder or Beam Interchangeable. - Column or Post Interchangeable.
To answer your question. It is advisable to observe manufactured mechanical fasteners, easier to see, but not necessarily so. As long as structural connections are properly secured manufactured mechanical fasteners are not required, although highly advised when erecting.
The wood column appears toenailed fastened, toenailing is a standard construction method that involves driving nails at an angle to create a strong, angled connection, commonly used for framing members like studs to plates or joists to beams, at the top and bottom to prevent rotation/rotating.
The footing is suspect for being a manufactured poured concrete pad, and not a required footing being below zone frost line, or generally 12 inches below the undisturbed ground surface when the frost line is shallower than 12".
The soil does not have a vapour barrier to prohibit soil moisture from migrating into the unconditioned crawl space.
Thank you for letting me know the terms. Manufactured Mechanical Fasteners sounds more professional indeed. Thank you for sharing your illustration to prove the point.
I am sure toenailing is used to secure the beam on top of the post, but in CA, earthquakes happen more often than in other parts of the country. That’s why I was recommending T strap. Some home buyers may ask the seller to secure it or ask for a price cut. Your point is well taken about the 12" frost line.
Not your concern. That is not part of your job. Safety is.
Learn to be totally independent of the ‘negotiation phase’ between the seller/seller’s agent and the purchaser. You will be regarded that way, professionally independant’ leading to more referral calls from realtors and their agents enjoy your professional working relationship.
Thinking about costs to repair within negotiations can get you into legal trouble as well. There is market analysis of comparable sales, data-driven insight, and negotiation strategies relator’s study continuously. A moras/morae you do not want to debate. Why bother. You are a home inspector.
You are quite welcome.
That illustration was an example. The best example would be a girder/beam directly placed on top of a column/post. My example was a notched column/post connection. I could not find a bare girder/beam directly placed on top of a column/post without the illustration having a manufactured mechanical fastener connection.
This would be an example of tying all components together with manufactured mechanical fasteners.
This is the T tie metal I refer to
