Inspected a renovation yesterday and noted two beams added in the attic. I’m used to seeing the LVLs so was a little intrigued when I saw these guys sitting there. I’m not fluent in construction so I figured I’d ask if these beams are legit. I suspect they’re not since they’re nailed together, however, as I mentioned, I’m still learning. On one of the beams the attached joists are not on joist hangers. Go figure. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Lamented header beam. Its find.
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It depends on the span, it looks over spanned in the pic.
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Did it look like a wall had been removed below this?
Hey Michael, yes, a wall had been removed. A couple of walls actually. Here’s another photo showing a little more of one of the beams. Part of my concern is the separation between the boards along with the pulling away of the ceiling joists. Normally when I see these they’re screwed together with more screws instead of being nailed together.
The separation within the beam could be a problem. I know I’ve seen old work like that which hadn’t moved so it may not be a terribly big problem. However it all looks a little “off” from the photos. The lack of hangers and gaps from the joists to beam don’t look good and who knows what the beam is resting on. Be looking for cracks or deflection in the ceilings below and kick it to a “good” framer or engineer. If the current owners possibly did this (or it’s a flip) I’d put a note in the comment to have the buyers ask them for engineers plans for the work as well.
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Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, it’s a flip. I appreciate the tip regarding the engineers plans. I hadn’t considered that.
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I also include a note in my summary informing my clients to check for permits for modifications done after the date of construction.
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That first one doesnt appear to be an issue, as long as the ends are resting over load bearing walls.
The second one should have hangers installed. The two beams can be just nailed together, thats pretty typical, even with the piece of plywood in the middle as a spacer.
However, I’m not so sure about that 2x4 that a couple of the joists are nailed to. Those joists should be attached directly on the beam, because now the hangers would be undersized, for a 2x4.
It looks like they removed walls or columns and handled the load with that beam. Agreed with checking permits. Look for any deflection in the ceiling.
You could have looked for deflection of the beam from the attic,
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At least there’s no insulation in the attic, so you can clearly see 
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Looks to be too small in depth for that span. To design a beam like that you have to go by the code which requires trying several load combinations using dead load, live load, snow load, roof live load and wind load.
Maybe it’s in Hawaii 
The lack of insulation (usually in older/lower-end houses) is actually one of the things I’m still getting used to here. Lots of houses have none. It’s funny because the houses cost 2X+ and are built super-simple lots of times. I was recently helping a friend here install a side venting fan and we had to cut into the wall… no insulation, no paper, no sheathing… just T1-11 tacked to studs!
As for OP, I agree with those advising to look for performance problems. As HIs, going down the design road is often long and winding. Performance is really what we are there to evaluate. Not to say I never talk about design but it sure makes a better case when you can point to a problem as opposed to something that “might” be a problem.
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There looks to be some issues, what is the span of the beam. If it’s only 8 feet then it’s fine. Rule of thumb is for every foot of span the beam needs to be the same in height. A 12 foot span will call for a double 2x12 beam, and so forth.
Then the other issue, the roof supports should sit on top of the beam not under it or wherever they are sitting. Can’t tell by the photos.
It really needs a structural engineer to look at it. As it’s not correct unless the span under it is less then 8 feet. As it looks like a double 2x8