I guess this is what happens when the steel is delivered too long, and the crane is on the clock: hang it now and “re-size” later. What you can’t tell from the photo (it’s a camera phone) is that the studs are deeply charred to the point the the surface is eroded. I can’t see it from my house, and neither will whoever buys this McMansion once the drywall is up. I’m sure there are no structural problems, but it seems like poor workmanship to have not shielded the studs when they fired up the acetylene torch.
This house also had all the flashing installed over the top of the Tyvek Homewrap (yet another “feature” that won’t be visible once the siding is up – at least not for a few years).
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What ever happened to a little forethought? That's nuts. And if I did do something like that, I wouldn't leave it in there.
zak
That's going to cause an odor problem.
happy?
Because Enlightenment is bliss. (and getting even)
I added the world's largest laundry room to the back of a garage last year. When I stripped siding off the garage to bring new courses in, something similar was behind the siding. It was pretty lame looking, and it created a bump in the original siding.
a.
Rule of thumb in my area is that charring can be as deep as 1/10th of the width of the strcutural member beforte needing replacement.
And the odor can be sealed in.
Is it Fine Homebuilding?
"Hey, we ain't framin' a pianer here"
If one had the loading on that big beam, I'll bet that the compression load on the 8 studs exceeds their capacity.
One would normally expect to see a steel post under such a beam.
Wonder what the framed floor and foundation specs were?!..................Iron Helix
I don't know for sure, but it seems like charred and well heated wood would have less strength than "raw" wood. Like someone else said, the smell will always be there--hard to seal such damage with shellac!
A product called "Bin" or "KILZIT" will get rid of the smell. WE did a firejob on a house that was pretty much totaled. We replaced alot of the
burned studs, but most we just scraped the charred black stuff off, sprayed everything with "BIN", the drywallers did the rest. It wasnt
my job....I was just a laborer way bac then.
It was all inspected by city so I guess it was ok.
I know about BIN and Kilz, but didn't think they could go over something charred so badly. I suppose if they scraped the char off--but it looked pretty deep.
Another point, if it is not cleaned up somehow imagine adding an outlet or switch or any other penetration/repair years later and finding that. Without knowing the history one might be concerened that there was something currently going on.
>>Like someone else said, the smell will always be there--hard to seal such damage with shellac!I've been in plenty of houses where there were significantly charred framing members with no sealants but no smell: typically in attics.My experience is that it just isn't true that "the smell will always be there."OTOH, I don't know how long it takes for the smell to fade, and high humidity will accentuate it.
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Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
I would find the person the home is being built for and let him know. If I can afford a McMansion, I shouldn't have to afford idiots in the construction trade. And if this were me, my $0.39 solution would make sure the 'so called builder' no longer could build again.
Whoever did that is a complete hack/idiot/a-hole/ and everything else and an I-beam would never pass inspection around here sitting on 2x4's like that. They have to sit on steel columns with welded plates on the top of the column bolted to the steel and welded plates on the bottom of the column bolted to the foundation.
Send the picture to the building department with the address and let them in on the fun.
A builder once had me cut a steel beam in-place like that (for similar reasons). I actually cut it off with a sawzall and about two-dozen metal cutting blades...touched up with a RA grinder. Took all afternoon, but I was just a grunt--no doubt cheaper than a crane or re-ordering a proper length beam.
I should have saved the beam cut-off as a door-stop or boot scraper...and a reminder of the "measure twice, cut once" mantra.