Altered roof trusses can cause problems to any type of property if not designed by a professional structural engineer. Penn Valley Engineering inspected the conditions of an existing building, related to the damaged and altered roof trusses. Below is a summary of the findings and recommendations.
Altered Roof Trusses – Findings
The building PVE inspected is a 2-story commercial use structure with masonry perimeter bearing walls and a roof system of fabricated metal-plated connected wood trusses. The ground-level floor is a concrete slab. This is commonly found in our commercial structural engineering inspections.
There were four locations where the roof trusses were fractured or modified. These types of wood trusses are not designed to be modified without a specific analysis designed by a qualified engineer.
Recommendations for Fixing Altered Roof Trusses
In this case, based on the observations, it was recommended to repair the conditions by restoring the trusses to their original fabricated arrangements. The repairs generally consist of adding or replacing missing or damaged chord members and installing plywood gussets at the affected panel points.
Further Findings for This Commercial Property
Ancillary, the perimeter masonry walls exhibited vertical cracking at the right side wall and left rear corner. This type of cracking is indicative of differential foundation settlement. Typically, foundation settlement is caused by poor soil conditions, either during the original construction or changing soil conditions commonly caused by misdirected stormwater drainage conditions. Foundations settle due to the loss of the soils bearing capacity.
Additionally, PVE structural engineers are not always able to determine when these cracks first appeared and are not always able to determine if and/or when they will continue into the future. For this commercial property, it was recommended to patch/seal these cracks to prevent water penetration and to periodically monitor these conditions for any signs of change. If the cracking were to continue, a supplemental evaluation would possibly be warranted which may lead to repair recommendations.
Altered Roof Trusses for Commercial Property
In conclusion, please note that the opinions, recommendations, and construction cost estimates presented in this summary narrative or discussed during the inspection were opinions based on PVE’s observations and engineering experience. They were based on visual symptoms or lack of symptoms of structural problems common to this type of construction. No destructive inspection (excavating, opening of walls, floors, ceilings, etc.) or material testing was performed. Therefore this summary narrative is based on the visual inspection of accessible areas only. The opinions contained within this summary narrative are made with a reasonable degree of engineering certainty.
In conclusion, call us if you believe your commercial property may have altered roof trusses! Our professional commercial structural engineer will inspect your place of business and discover any structural issues. If you need to alter roof trusses, hire us for professional design services. We also service residential properties as well. Call 856-829-8636 in the south Jersey, southeast Pennsylvania area, or 321-394-8026 in Central Florida.