What are the implications of a charred attic in a house inspection?

Question

We had a house inspection today on a beautiful 1920 house in a nice neighborhood. On the outside and liveable spaces, the house looked solid, well cared for, etc. However, the inspector gasped when poking his head into the attic. He reported that 90% of the truss boards where fully blackened. He estimated the char depth around 1/16 inch and said that it was possible that it was structurally OK but that he was not qualified to evaluate that. So the question is WHO IS qualified to evaluate that? Does it make any sense at all to buy a house with a past attic fire that has not been restored?
As a point of interest, the owner (who is selling the house himself) disclosed this to us the day before the inspection and claims that it was like this when he bought it and a framing contractor told him it was OK. There were scraping indications that someone had done this. Sketchy?
Anyone should feel free to answer this question, but please tell me your background or qualifications.

Answer 1

listen to rbob and hebb. get a structural engineer to inspect it and have the seller pay for it, make it a condition of your offer for the house. if he balks at it, he was bluffing, i'm surprised that he doesn't have one from when he bought it. you have to wonder what the framing looks like where you can't see it in the lower levels. that house would have been built with the old rough cut lumber so it's sizes will be different, in some ways the lumber was better than it had to be, in other ways it wouldn't meet today's codes. attics usually were the latter, because they were not planing for it to be a living area. the attic floor joists might be damaged enough to be deemed not large enough to carry the load now. i am a home improvement contractor, remodeling, not a framer, but besides working on older homes of that era, i have lived in several of them, including my current home (1932). the house could be strengthed by adding sister joists to the existing ones, but that would just be taking care of the ceiling and attic floor. you need to know more about the rest of the house, i wouldn't be surprised if there was a fire in the basement. houses of that era had ballon framing, where the wall studs ran all the way from the sill plate on the foundation up to the attic. you could drop a penny down a side wall and here it hit the sill plate in the basement, which would be a natural chimney for a basement fire, hence your charring. proceed with caution with the purchase, until you know for certain, the condition of the house. good luck, hope it works out for ya, i love the old ones better than the new stuff.

Answer 2

It sounds like this house has had a fire at one time or the other. You should be able to find a record of it with the fire department or the County abstract/ registrar office or the building code office. A little time and digging may save you time and money down the line.
Find out what the fire was about and was it corrected or not. Forget all about the house and find out the facts first, then proceed with the sale or ?

You were very smart to have the place inspected, now have your insurance company see if they'll insure the house with no variance's.

Answer 3

A certified Roofing company can take a closer look for you. Your decking for the roof was charred. Since Roofing companies are the ones that put the decking and roof in then they would be able to help you. Also, Decking is very strong however, if it has been badly burned then you will definitely need to get it replaced. Depending on the roof size it can cost up to $20,000 to replace everything. You better make sure that your Realtor asks that it be replaced by a professional before you buy it or have then knock at least $20,000 off the asking price. After the work has been done, make sure you have a warranty and make sure your inspector comes back out to reinspect it to make sure it was done correctly.

Answer 4

I work as an independent insurance claims adjuster - we run into this kind of stuff all the time (in a manner of speaking... different circumstances, but looking for the same results)

You may want to contact a structural engineer to take a look at it. Check with a local insurance agency to see if they know anybody - if they don't, have them contact one of their parent companies that they sell insurance for (i.e. - Wayne Mutual here in Ohio) - they'll know one that can help you out.

Answer 5

I used to sell products to fire restoration contractors who did work for the insurance company. Typically they had to get a permit and have it signed off by the building inspector. I am surprised that your inspector did not go down to building dept and get the info for you.