Ethics/Protocol Question - Calculations for my own house, need some advice... 2

[molen]

Hello all - looking for a little advice. I'm a practicing structural engineer (6+ years) in the commercial world. Not yet licensed, but taking the exam later this month. I'm currently under contract to sell my house (100+ years old), but the buyer's home inspector had issues with some joist framing under my kitchen. I've already run calculations and found no issues with the framing. The framing meets the required capacities per the IRC and ASCE. My problem is, the buyer wants sealed calcs to document the issue. So here's my dilemma - will a smaller, residential engineer be willing to sign and seal my calculations? Or will they want to produce their own calcs? I work with plenty of licensed engineers, but I don't feel comfortable asking any of them to seal my calcs. It just doesn't seem ethical or appropriate.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[woodman88]

IRstuff
From the BUILDING DESIGN AUTHORITY a free down load from the California Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors at

http://www.bpelsg.ca.gov/pubs/

"UNLICENSED INDIVIDUALS may design only the following types of buildings:
Single-family dwellings of not more than two stories and basement in height.
Multiple dwellings containing not more than four dwelling units of woodframe construction of not more than two stories and basement in height and no more than four dwelling units per lot..."
See the attached pdf.

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.

 

[molen]

Thanks again, everyone. To address a few questions...I did fill out and sign a disclosure form. I did not list anything of a sturtural nature because in my professional opinion, there was nothing of note, structurally, to be disclosed. Everything that seemed questionable, I did my own analysis and addressed the issues during the remodel. There were several joists that I did in fact sister and I even replaced a couple that were pretty badly compromised. I did run calcs on the joists in question prior to finishing the space above. After I ran the calcs, I was confident in my analysis, did not touch them and finished the room above. The only reason all this is coming back to me is because my agent told their agent that I'm a structural engineer and tried to make the whole thing go away by essentially telling them, "the seller is a practicing sturctural engineer, why would he try to sell a house that is structurally unsound?" So, basically the buyer is trying to save a few bucks by not hiring her own engineer to review the situation. And if it won't get me in hot water with the board and jeopardize my future career, I'd rather show some good faith to these people and put their mind at ease by showing them some quick bending calcs on the joists that show they are adequate. I will add some sort of disclosure, as many of you have advised, that says the buyer should still do their own due dilligence and have these calcs/this issue reviewed by their own engineer, if they still have a concern.