Expert: Richard Taylor, AIA - 2/25/2008

Question
QUESTION: I am selling my house and the buyer had the house inspection done. The inspector told me to replace a 10 inch wide & 10 inch deep by 10 foot long beam in the garage because it has a 4 inch deep by 1 foot wide notch sawn into it, in the middle of the beam. The notch is sawn to fit in a garage door opener. There is another floor above the garage. The house is 36 years old, I have lived in it 11 years. This condition has never caused any problems whatsoever and was done prior to my purchasing the house. I had a house inspection done when I bought the house and it was not cited then, never mentioned. The buyer wants me to replace the beam. My solution is to place 2 vertical steel posts on the right and left of the beam with another steel post horizontally on top of the vertical steel beams in case anything ever shifts. What do you think?  Thanks, Alice

ANSWER: Alice - thanks for your question.

You need to replace this beam.  Even though you haven't had trouble with it, wood beams fail slowly over time...it will fail eventually.  

The steel post solution you're suggesting sounds like overkill for a beam spanning only ten feet and doesn't address the problem of the notch anyway.  Plus, posts are not intended to be used in a horizontal orientation - it wouldn't have any structural value.

I would think it would be much easier to replace the beam than to install all those posts.  And I imagine those posts would be unattractive and probably in the way of the space in the garage.

In fact, you can leave the notched beam in place - just install a new, properly sized beam next to it or below it.

The problem is the notch - it's in the worst possible place in the beam and what's left of the beam is holding a tremendous load.

Since you're aware of this problem, you have probably exposed yourself to liability should anything ever happen.  More importantly, it's the right thing to do for your buyer.  Do it right, and everyone will sleep easier.

Hope this helps!

Richard Taylor, AIA
www.rtastudio.com
www.rtaplans.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi, and thanks for your speedy reply! This message board really works!!! What do you think a repair for the work of replacing the beam would cost (a range would help)? I live in the Atlanta, GA, area. A contractor told me that in order to replace the beam, he would have to put the weight on jacks, remove the beam and put another beam in the original place. But he has not given me a price yet. And the garage door opener would have to be re-installed (another, separate charge, but I'm not concerned about this just yet). Any help on the price of replacing the beam would be greatly appreciated!  --Thanks, Alice

Answer
Alice - sorry, I can't help you with pricing. There's just no way to do it "online"!  What you need to do is get three good contractor references and have each of them bid on the project.  Then you'll have the range you need.

Hope this helps!

Richard Taylor, AIA
www.rtastudio.com
www.rtaplans.com