Partially Rotted Top Chords Repair Advice Sorted
Partially Rotted Top Chords Repair Advice Sorted
(OP)
Last night I found another area of my house with severe rot damages. From the look of it there must have been a roof leak and the top chords of the trusses were damaged by water. It is also quite apparent the roof deck was replaced and while they had the roof opened up and accessible, why they did not attempt a better repair puzzled me.
First, here is a picture of where the serious of trusses are tied to the concrete exterior wall. The top chords actually extends four feet beyond the wall. The trusses are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 from right to left.

This is a view of the trusses from another angle.

First let me provide an overall sketch. Each of these trusses have varying degrees of damages. The rot happens at the top chord where the trusses are attached to the wall.

Replacing them is impossible unless I remove the roof deck, all the tiles above it, as well as the T1-11 soffit panel below, and the three layers of fascia and header on the end. Above all, the top chords are all held down by this very thick metal strap that is buried into the solid concrete tie beam. For these reasons I would prefer to repair/patch/mend if possible.
Now I will show the rot from trusses 1 to 4.
* TRUSS 1 - OK
This one is on the far right. It has no rot and appear to be in good shape.


* TRUSS 2 - BAD ROT
This one is rotted pretty bad. As you can see a repair was done previously when the roof deck was opened. The roof deck is new. The back side of this piece of rotted 2x4 wood is sistered with a 2x6, extended all the way to the header at the end of the overhang. It is not really tightly attached to the rotted member due to the thick metal strap in between. The bottom 2/3 of the top chord seem solid as I examined it.




* TRUSS 3 - MINOR ROT
This one seem to be only slightly rotted on the top edge. Not too bad and there has been no previous repair done.


* TRUSS 4 - HANGING BY A SHOE STRING ROT!
This one is really bad. The rot is almost 50% of the top chord and extends from two feet back of the concrete wall all the way to three feet on the overhang. Must of the top is "mushy" and badly damaged.




I am thinking some repair is needed for trusses 2, 3 and 4.
My current thinking is to use wood epoxy to fix the existing members. Probably using Abatron products to first soak the rotted areas with penetrating hardener or consolidant, then use liquid epoxy thickened with saw dust to the consistency of toothpaste and pack in the rotted area tightly. Once they cured I will then use triangular shaped plywood gussets covering the top chord to the bottom chord.
Any thoughts and comments? Thanks in advance!
First, here is a picture of where the serious of trusses are tied to the concrete exterior wall. The top chords actually extends four feet beyond the wall. The trusses are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 from right to left.

This is a view of the trusses from another angle.

First let me provide an overall sketch. Each of these trusses have varying degrees of damages. The rot happens at the top chord where the trusses are attached to the wall.

Replacing them is impossible unless I remove the roof deck, all the tiles above it, as well as the T1-11 soffit panel below, and the three layers of fascia and header on the end. Above all, the top chords are all held down by this very thick metal strap that is buried into the solid concrete tie beam. For these reasons I would prefer to repair/patch/mend if possible.
Now I will show the rot from trusses 1 to 4.
* TRUSS 1 - OK
This one is on the far right. It has no rot and appear to be in good shape.


* TRUSS 2 - BAD ROT
This one is rotted pretty bad. As you can see a repair was done previously when the roof deck was opened. The roof deck is new. The back side of this piece of rotted 2x4 wood is sistered with a 2x6, extended all the way to the header at the end of the overhang. It is not really tightly attached to the rotted member due to the thick metal strap in between. The bottom 2/3 of the top chord seem solid as I examined it.




* TRUSS 3 - MINOR ROT
This one seem to be only slightly rotted on the top edge. Not too bad and there has been no previous repair done.


* TRUSS 4 - HANGING BY A SHOE STRING ROT!
This one is really bad. The rot is almost 50% of the top chord and extends from two feet back of the concrete wall all the way to three feet on the overhang. Must of the top is "mushy" and badly damaged.




I am thinking some repair is needed for trusses 2, 3 and 4.
My current thinking is to use wood epoxy to fix the existing members. Probably using Abatron products to first soak the rotted areas with penetrating hardener or consolidant, then use liquid epoxy thickened with saw dust to the consistency of toothpaste and pack in the rotted area tightly. Once they cured I will then use triangular shaped plywood gussets covering the top chord to the bottom chord.
Any thoughts and comments? Thanks in advance!





RE: Partially Rotted Top Chords Repair Advice Sorted
In any case I plan to leave the existing sistered members alone, as they were nailed in from the top through the plywood deck, and there are some lateral nails to the old rotted members, however I doubt I want to try prying those off and risk further damaging the original wood members.
Therefore my fix would have to be applied to the front side of the rotted members.
RE: Partially Rotted Top Chords Repair Advice Sorted
Garth Dreger PE - AZ Phoenix area
As EOR's we should take the responsibility to design our structures to support the components we allow in our design per that industry standards.
RE: Partially Rotted Top Chords Repair Advice Sorted
Dik
RE: Partially Rotted Top Chords Repair Advice Sorted
RE: Partially Rotted Top Chords Repair Advice Sorted
RE: Partially Rotted Top Chords Repair Advice Sorted
RE: Partially Rotted Top Chords Repair Advice Sorted
Also, are you sure there hasn't been some localized fire damage here? One of your shots (Truss 2) looks more like fire damage than rot at that location...the others are clearly water damage.
RE: Partially Rotted Top Chords Repair Advice Sorted
RE: Partially Rotted Top Chords Repair Advice Sorted
1. Real Estate Agent
2. Owner
3. Building Inspector
and sue them for either not disclosing or doing a bad inspection.
Also - you may have a mold problem??