Your thoughts on this framing job

[EddieWalker]

Friends of mine North of Dallas are adding on to their house. I don't know anything about their contractor. They asked me to do the job, but it's two hours each way and I'm not going to drive that far with so much work available close to home. Take a look at the first picture and share with me your thoughts. Look close at how it's framed. I've offered my thoughts to them and why it failed, but would appreciate input from those that know framing and engineering.



This happened last night. They are blaming the wind from the storm that went through there last night. From what I've seen on the news, the wind wasn't anything too extreme. Mid 20's seem to the the strongest that the weather and news websites are posting.



Thank you

 

[hawkeye08]

I can't speak the engineering, but if I was at that point when I quit for the day, I would have put a bunch of bracing on that.

 

[widefat]

I am nowhere near an expert or that knowledgeable about framing. But, I would ask where the lateral supports are for the roof members. IE, it looks like they knew nothing about proper truss design. Without the lateral support, even a small wind will get the frame rocking.

 

[ArlyA]

There was no visible lateral bracing in the end wall. Without see more complete photos, that's why it fell over. More questions... The header has no hurricane clips in it, which could be added later. And the header looks to be grossly under sized. Hummmm

 

[turnkey4099]

No let-in gable end braces, no collar beams showing to keep the sidewalls from spreading. Collar beams maybe out of the picture but they would be too high to be reliable. I agree with Arly on the undersized header. Only a shade tree carpenter but...Wow!

 

[mostly_gas]

If you are talking about last night in the Dallas area, winds were peaking from 70-80 mph recorded at various airports.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks, that must be what hit them.

 

[kcflhrc]

I think it looks fantastic, but I'm not a framer.

 

[bigtiller]

The corner looks weak to this amateur and there looks to be a lot of weight pushing out on the short wall from the rafters.

 

[TedReese]

The vertical walls were built with a hinge in the middle, of course it failed. Continuous framing members are required from the floor to the roof. They built in a sill plate in the middle. Are building permits required where this was built?

 

[ovrszd]

Why are the vertical wall supports all spliced, some in more than one place?

Is the result what's known as racking? I've heard that term used where horizontal wall purlins are cut and fitted between the studs rather than spanning across them

 

[muskieken]

My question is why are they building on a patio
It wasn't made to have something built on it
You have no idea How thick that concrete is
So now you're putting all the weight of a building on it
It doesn't seem smart,, is rebar in their .. Was the grown properly conditioned for a building on.
Looks like a whole kind of fail all around
of course it could be new concrete I'm just assuming it's old because I see The round circle which looks like a tree in it. Then again Color up the dirt Just outside The concrete does look Recently disturbed So it could all be new engineered Concrete And that they just Wanted The patio connected to the house

I thought that when you built something you had to have reinforcement Underneath the wall No idea how you do it down there,, We have all the freeze and thaw cycles up here so building like that would never work Without cracking in leading to all kinds of problems.
Just an observation I could be way off base But you asked for opinions

 

[ArlyA]

Why are the vertical wall supports all spliced, some in more than one place?

Is the result what's known as racking? I've heard that term used where horizontal wall purlins are cut and fitted between the studs rather than spanning across them

Good qestion! I missed those joints in the photo.

 

[KennyG]

As shown, there is no lateral strength (and minimal vertical support). I suppose if it was completely sheathed in plywood it might of been OK but I don't think it would fit into a code. It would probably need a specific engineering calculation to meet code.

 

[EddieWalker]

I dont.know about the concrete. I hope it's right. I see a seam at the door that makes me hope its correct. With the catastrophic failure of the framing, everything should be checked. The house is outside city limits, so there is no permit required, which means that there is no code.

 

[Deere Dude]

I dont.know about the concrete. I hope it's right. I see a seam at the door that makes me hope its correct. With the catastrophic failure of the framing, everything should be checked. The house is outside city limits, so there is no permit required, which means that there is no code.

You dodged a big bullet on that one. That would have sucked all your time redoing it, especially if you did it and it also fell flat like it did. Lucky!!

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm hoping that they fire the contractor that did the framing. I asked if they had an engineer design it, but haven't heard back from them. I k ow that they didnt and I'm guessing that they just trusted their contractor in knowing what he was doing.

Here in Tyler, 100% of every house that I've seen with foundation problems have actually been roof framing issues. Undersized lumber is almost always the issue. But AC ducting and plumbers have caused a lot of issues by cutting out what was in their way.

 

[BHD]

no bracing, (even temporary), and the use of a form of westen platform framing, and not ballon (or continuous from floor to top sill),

 

[ovrszd]

The end wall had three braces that can be seen in the pic. I'd assume that many more out of view. Maybe duplicated at the other end?

 

[WM75Guy]

Eddie,

Like was said before when the front went through the Metroplex there were short periods of sustained winds of 50-60 mph with gusts to 80 mph. The Grand Prairie airport tower clocked a gust at 108 mph at the top of the tower. That's tropical storm, Cat 1 hurricane, or EF0 to EF1 tornado wind speeds. The National Weather Service has a chat room for emergency management and we saw many documented reports of straight line wind damage. That damage would be consistent with the reports. Several 18 wheelers, airplanes, and modular homes were blown over along with building damage, such as the hanger doors blown in on the planes at Grand Prairie.

From the north side of the Metroplex to the Oklahoma line had the more intense weather. By the time it got to us it had fizzled out.