Cracks in loft beam - advice needed

[K-Man100]

Hi,
Just been up in my loft and noticed that one of the horizontal support beams has a crack running almost the entire length. The crack is also visible on the other side.
Should I be worried?? Does this require work or additional support?

TIA

 

[martygturner]

Its just dried out...nothing to worry about imho

 

[K-Man100]

Thank you, that's reassuring!

 

[Dereekoo]

Thank you, that's reassuring!

Don't be. Assuming the crack has gone all the way through so instead of having a beam 50 x 200 (say) you have now got 2 beams 50 x 100 on top of each other. Just assuming some nominal loads and spans shows that one large beam can take twice the bending moment force that 2 smaller beams can take and the deflection is 4 times greater on the smaller beams. Of course the original beam may have been oversized in the 1st place or is structurally still homogeneously intact (doubtful) and the chance of the actual design snow loading on the roof occurring is small (but may one day happen). Just don't take things as gospel because someone says IMHO and cannot base that on any theoretical back up. Not what you want to hear but that's how it is.

 

[Why Not Indeed]

Assuming the crack has gone all the way through

Why?

 

[Dereekoo]

Why?

Cos it's on both sides, may as well say why not