Broken roof joist mystery

[NicKarla]

I have discovered a roof joist that has gone wonky in a house we have recently moved in to. What’s annoying is that I completely missed this when looking round. Looking through photos I took prior to buying I can see that it was like that before we moved in.

Nothing seems loose, is moving, etc. but it is very disconcerting. What’s bizarre is that there are no signs of damage to anything else, in particular the roof and tiles which are all attached to the runners nailed onto this.

Does anyone know how this might have happened and whether it is an issue? The mystery to me is why there is no evidence of consequential damage.

 

[blup]

Can you post a pic showing the whole roof structure from inside the loft.

Blup

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

From what little I can make out, that looks as if it was two sawn faces, rather than a break. It looks as if it was originally joined by the metal and the metal has been torn apart by the stress. There is a second bit of timber placed along side it - I wonder if that is just a loose piece which they intended to fix across the original sawn/faulty timber?

Whatever, the error in construction was made by the original builder and it needs to be rectified. How old is the place?

Rectifying may be as simple as wedging the timbers into line, then through bolting what I assume to be the intended sister joist to it.

 

[^woody^]

It's been built like that as the plasterboard is nailed to it.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It's been built like that as the plasterboard is nailed to it.

I interpreted the photos as looking at the (white material) underside of the roof. Now I'm not sure!

 

[NicKarla]

That’s strange the picture has rotated in the link. My pictures are all turned around.
The plasterboard is actually the roof lining. It is not the ceiling. The photo needs rotating 90 degrees clockwise.

 

[NicKarla]

You can see it standing back. Hopefully this one won’t rotate round.

The house was built in 1999/2000.

 

[mattylad]

As the roof battens will also be nailed into it, perhaps consider putting cross members from the adjacent timbers to prevent it ever moving sideways.

 

[NicKarla]

I thought about that but was concerned about putting sideways force against them. If this would be ok then that’s a fairly easy option.

Im guessing it was made like that (otherwise that much movement would have seen tiles come off) which means it’s been in that position for 20 years so hopefully it’s not a major issue anyway.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

You can see it standing back. Hopefully this one won’t rotate round.

The house was built in 1999/2000.

Thanks, so I was right after all, it is a roof timber.

Looking at that last photo, it looks as if all of those timbers in the photo have been joined with a metal joiner. The timber in question must have been damaged during installation, before the roof battens and tiles were put on. The builder, instead of bothering with a proper repair, has used a complete botch by spraging it with a similar piece of timber alongside it.

My guess is that particular area of roof is very delicate indeed, much weaker than the rest of the roof. As a minimum I would want to reinforce it by adding a similar piece of timber between the near side of the broken joint and its neighbour, to give it better support. Ideally, it needs the roof tiles and battens disturbing, the timber made to meet straight then a similar piece of timber bolted alongside it to sister it / keep it straight.

 

[blup]

Did you have a survey done?

Blup

 

[NicKarla]

No, we used to get surveys done but decided not to on this occasion due to previous experiences of having lots of things missed. I thought that rather than spending £500 on a survey I would keep the money and put it towards any repairs that need doing, such at this. We also got the house for £20,000 less than what we would have paid so even if a survey flagged this up we would still have bought it and just repaired it.

 

[NicKarla]

Thanks, so I was right after all, it is a roof timber.

Looking at that last photo, it looks as if all of those timbers in the photo have been joined with a metal joiner. The timber in question must have been damaged during installation, before the roof battens and tiles were put on. The builder, instead of bothering with a proper repair, has used a complete botch by spraging it with a similar piece of timber alongside it.

My guess is that particular area of roof is very delicate indeed, much weaker than the rest of the roof. As a minimum I would want to reinforce it by adding a similar piece of timber between the near side of the broken joint and its neighbour, to give it better support. Ideally, it needs the roof tiles and battens disturbing, the timber made to meet straight then a similar piece of timber bolted alongside it to sister it / keep it straight.

Thanks, yes you were right with regards to the orientation.
Bolting on a similar piece of timber and additional supports around it is something I could do relatively easily.

I’m amazed that it has survived 20 years like that and it passed building regs. It does look like someone has made an error in alignment. There is a beam quite close 50cm next to it so I’m wondering whether this is doing the supporting and this beam was just left in situ. The beam the other side of it is around 110cm.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I'm surprised none of the experts in this area have offered any advice on how to repair it (Woody excepted).

I suspect when the time comes to resell, unless a proper repair is carried out and it is spotted, it will knock a lump out of the asking price.

 

[bernardgreen]

To me it looks like all the rafters are affected. Did the builder use two offcuts of rafter timber for these rafters as a money saver instead of buying timbers long enough for all the rafter to be continuous timber.

If this was my house I would want all those rafters sistered.