My girlfriend is currently selling her 120 year old Victorian end terrace and the surveyors report has brought up a problem with her attic room purlin.
The cross section of the purlin is about 10cm deep, 15cm high (exposed area) and about 15-20 feet wide.
It got a long crack along its width about an inch deep, and some old woodworm holes. There's no sign of any bowing at all, although there is some spread present in the roof but I think that's because of two added Velux windows, when they are slammed shut its like someone hammering down on the rafters.
Here's whats on the surveyors report:
"The upper of the two rear slope purlins was noted to have a significant split along the grain of the timber (sometimes referred to as a “shake”) running the full length of its front/upper side face and a further split extending approximately 1.5m out from the party wall end to its rear/lower side face.
The longitudinal splits along the rear/upper purlin are such that its structural integrity will have been compromised and we recommend that it be augmented by mechanically securing a second timber purlin to one side of the original.
The new purlin should be of minimum section size 100mm x 225mm and should be manufactured from Grade C24 softwood. The new purlin should be built-into the brickwork walls at each support and should be mechanically secured to the original timber using M12 coachbolts with “dog-tooth” connecting washers at maximum 600mm centres along the length of the purlin."
The problem I have with this is I'm wondering if they surveyor is just covering himself, just incase the purlin fails, so he doesn't get sued. After all the purlin has been there for 100+ years and isn't bowed, so surely the crack is just a drying crack that's been there for at least 50 years with no ill effects? Also when she bought the house in 2007 her buyers report mentioned the split but then said it wasn't a problem, just a bit of shake.
What do you think?
The cross section of the purlin is about 10cm deep, 15cm high (exposed area) and about 15-20 feet wide.
It got a long crack along its width about an inch deep, and some old woodworm holes. There's no sign of any bowing at all, although there is some spread present in the roof but I think that's because of two added Velux windows, when they are slammed shut its like someone hammering down on the rafters.
Here's whats on the surveyors report:
"The upper of the two rear slope purlins was noted to have a significant split along the grain of the timber (sometimes referred to as a “shake”) running the full length of its front/upper side face and a further split extending approximately 1.5m out from the party wall end to its rear/lower side face.
The longitudinal splits along the rear/upper purlin are such that its structural integrity will have been compromised and we recommend that it be augmented by mechanically securing a second timber purlin to one side of the original.
The new purlin should be of minimum section size 100mm x 225mm and should be manufactured from Grade C24 softwood. The new purlin should be built-into the brickwork walls at each support and should be mechanically secured to the original timber using M12 coachbolts with “dog-tooth” connecting washers at maximum 600mm centres along the length of the purlin."
The problem I have with this is I'm wondering if they surveyor is just covering himself, just incase the purlin fails, so he doesn't get sued. After all the purlin has been there for 100+ years and isn't bowed, so surely the crack is just a drying crack that's been there for at least 50 years with no ill effects? Also when she bought the house in 2007 her buyers report mentioned the split but then said it wasn't a problem, just a bit of shake.
What do you think?