Do we have any roofing experts? Dangerous? Needs work? Don't worry? (Picture heavy)

cymruchris

Genuinely asking for a friend, rather than 'asking for a friend'. Someone I know that lives in a traditional Welsh terraced house in the South Wales Valleys bought their current home a few years ago. Had a middle of the range survey done, but the surveyor didn't go into the loft space, and only shone a torch up through the trapdoor. (It's long past being able to claim on anything anyway I'm sure due to the time that's passed since then to now). He was up in the loft recently to have a look at his insulation and spotted that the main beam across the centre of the roof where it meets at the apex appears to be quite out of alignment with what looks to be a bodge a job attempt at putting it right. Would anyone that knows roofs and the associated supports have a quick look at these pictures to say whether this needs 'Urgent investigation/remedial work needed' - 'Could do with a bit of correction' - or 'Nothing to worry about I'd leave it as it is'. 

There's no obvious movement or subsidence in the house looking at any of the internal walls, and google street view goes back to 2008 showing the same roof. There is also a bit of flimsy wood attached to the hatch frame up to one of the beams above, but that couldn't have any structural integrity from what I can see. Looking at the exposed surface of the wood at the join, there doesn't appear to be any 'dirt lines' as such where it's moved repeatedly over time, but would welcome some thoughts from those that have a bit of experience poking around people's attics and looking at roofs. I'm sure when built these two beams would have been more or less aligned. Everything else appears to be in place as it should be - at the end where these beams meet the ceilings/roof edges - nothing seems untoward.

Thoughts welcome on the images below.

The main beam itself from various angles - these are taken looking at the apex of the roof.
















The rest of the roof space (including the additional piece of flimsy wood):

Section62

cymruchris said:

Looking at the exposed surface of the wood at the join, there doesn't appear to be any 'dirt lines' as such where it's moved repeatedly over time...

This is the starting point really, as you say, the exposed end looks relatively 'clean' compared to the surrounding timber, which could be interpreted as that end only becoming exposed to the air in the loftspace relatively recently.  Also the timber nailed to the side of the rafters (functioning as an apex gusset plate) has split along part of the bottom, leaving another relatively clean surface.

It could be that it was damaged when the house was reroofed?

In terms of urgency, it will need attending to at some point, so the question is whether there is a good reason to delay getting it done?  Unless there was an issue of affordability, or other roof works being planned, the only real reason to delay would be to allow some time to monitor to see if there is ongoing movement.  Otherwise, delaying potentially means a bigger repair bill later.

stuart45

I would look at getting it done. The 2 beams are the principal rafters of a truss. These take the weight of the purlins which in turn support the common rafters. It's quite a basic truss, as normally there would be a centre post and a couple of struts to form a King post truss.
As Section62 mentioned, a plywood gusset should be at the joints.
If the principal rafters did completely part company, it would remove the support for the purlins. 
It probably needs a decent gusset fixing to the truss. My daughter's house had a similar problem. 

cymruchris

@stuart45
@Section62

Thanks for both replying - stuart45 - I know there are so many variables depending on where in the country you are and all the rest of it - but was your daughter's job something that cost an arm and a leg - or just a leg, or half an arm?

I know I won't get an accurate price here in terms of repair - but would you give a really rough guesstimate as to whether it might be £1-5k - £5-10k - £10k+ to put something like this right (assuming there are no other underlying problems)

My view echoes yours that he should get it done at the earliest convenience - but I think he's worried it's going to cost £25k - which is money he currently doesn't have. I've also told him to get a roofer in to look at it - but I think he wanted a bit of an independent (non-expert of course) opinion from people that know roofs a little more than I do. 

stuart45

It cost her a bottle of Jack Daniels because I had to fix it. 

JohnB47

I wonder if you could post a few pics of the lower portion of that beam. It looks well twisted at the top to me and I'm wondering if the lower end is also twisted or if it has just done that near the top. Does look recent. Also the material attached to it is under stress and torn, so it isn't in its original position.

I'm no expert but others might get a clue as to why this has happened if they see pics of the rest of that beam.

stuart45

cymruchris said:

@stuart45
@Section62

Thanks for both replying - stuart45 - I know there are so many variables depending on where in the country you are and all the rest of it - but was your daughter's job something that cost an arm and a leg - or just a leg, or half an arm?

I know I won't get an accurate price here in terms of repair - but would you give a really rough guesstimate as to whether it might be £1-5k - £5-10k - £10k+ to put something like this right (assuming there are no other underlying problems)

My view echoes yours that he should get it done at the earliest convenience - but I think he's worried it's going to cost £25k - which is money he currently doesn't have. I've also told him to get a roofer in to look at it - but I think he wanted a bit of an independent (non-expert of course) opinion from people that know roofs a little more than I do. 

A roofer may not be the best trade to look at it. They are generally more concerned with the roof covering. A chippie is the trade that deals with the roof structure, although a structural engineer is sometimes called in to determine the correct remedial action. 
In my daughter's case I fixed 18mm plywood gussets each side of the rafter apex and bolted them together. There are a lot of various loads placed on the roof timbers from wind and snow apart from the dead loads of the timbers and tiles. The principal rafters on a truss should have a better fixing than those in the photo.