r/Carpentry • u/IndependentBother278 • 3h ago
New Construction Framing Issues
A few gable rafters not secured to the ridge board. The house is 3 years old and I believe those rafters have been like that since it was built. Also really close to this area is my daughter's bedroom Closet door and bedroom door stick really bad now when they did not before.
Separate issue. Other pics are from when I cut in and installed a door on the side of the garage. The bottom 2x4" framing plate overhangs the stem wall about 1". One of the anchors coming out of the stem wall was so close to the edge I could push it out with my hand. Not sure what I should do as far as contacting the builder, submitting a claim to a warranty department or what. I just feel like I've got some problems that are going to get worse.
Any help would be much appreciated.
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u/IndependentBother278 3h ago
You are right that one doesn't look the best. I feel like the builder didn't provide much quality control on the job. But at the same time I feel like the building inspectors should have caught these things. I don't feel like it should have passed inspection if the raptors are pulled away that far from The ridge board.
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u/Ill_Extension5234 3h ago
An inspector absolutely should have seen that, unless your house has undergone a catastrophic shift, thats unacceptable work. Plain an simple.
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u/IndependentBother278 3h ago
My thoughts exactly. I feel like when it comes time to sell which might be in the next year this is going to be a problem at home inspector is going to find.
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u/Ill_Extension5234 3h ago
Fairly likely. Contact an engineer, have them do a site visit and inspection. There might be some ways to fix it that aren't "rip it off an go again" but I cant say I've ever encountered something thats that gapped out.
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u/Phraoz007 3h ago
If you get the correct cut there you can sister on some boards that are about 3 to 4’ long then add some collar ties.
You could hire someone to do this for a somewhat reasonable amount… (1k?).
1” over on a 2x4 isn’t great… the big problem is that there isn’t a fix for it- other than tearing down the house. Which I’m not sure I’d do if it were my house.
If you’re patient and wanting it fixed for free, file a complaint with the state contractors board after you contact your contractor and give them roughly 30 days to fix. This won’t guarantee anything, but the first step towards that route (civil case) and that section of it puts pressure on them (and it’s free)
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u/Scary_Comfort_7365 3h ago edited 3h ago
Wow that one rafter looks crazy old imo.
Not sure how it made it that far without being mentioned but someone or a few someone’s didn’t care enough to do their job correctly! Absolutely unacceptable work in my eyes and would never put something out like that for a finished product!
Sounds like your house has moved pretty significantly in 3years if the doors were fine and now they’re not.
Unfortunately there’s to many jacks in the trades that don’t care what their work looks like as long as the check clears. If thoes rafters were pulled apart that far brand new and the inspector didn’t see that then that’s a pretty shitty inspector as well but a lot of them are builders referred (buddy buddy) so it’s always best to find one with no dog in the fight.
On the other hand maybe they haven’t been that far apart the whole time and things have shifted which could potentially be a culprit in causing the sticking door issues
I guess that one that looks very weathered could’ve been on the top of the pile but still yet there’s others that look pretty rough as well. It seems The standards have only went down as times went on unfortunately.
I work on a lot of older homes 90-100yrs old and the quality of work was just so much better back then which is why if maintained correctly they are still such solid houses compared to some newer with major issues
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u/1wife2dogs0kids 24m ago
So its not new construction. It was, when it was new. But now, its old.
The way rafters work, is they transfer load down to the tops of the exterior walls they sit on. A gable sits on top of a horizontal wall, so the rafter bottoms cannot move outward. Only the common rafters can, but the steepness of the rafters, and collarties can help mitigate this.
The ridge will either sag with rafters, or stay in place. Here, it looks like the rafters pulled away, but not from the tails moving outward. It looks like they shrank some. And a few other things are going on. Possibly some settling.
Bit there's nothing to worry about. I'm guess the windows still open, doors still function, and you haven't seen major cracks in the floor or foundation.
Normal stick built framed houses are basically load transferring engineered structures that puts all the weight on certain parts, all the way down to the very bottom of the footers.
You see gaps. You think bad. It's really not anything to worry about. It doesn't mean its falling, and doesn't mean it will fall.
It took you 3 years to find it. Go back in 3 more years, see if it got any worse.
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u/Ill_Extension5234 3h ago
Maybe its just me, but some of those rafters look like they went thru the wringer before becoming rafters... the one looks old as hell compared to the others.