Just a thought on getting the building department involved-----
They don't care who screwed up the work----they will make the homeowner bring the work up to code---
A homeowner is foolish to call in the inspectors unless they are prepared to live with the consequences.
Your problem---you fix it---if someone else caused the problem---they don't care--it's your problem.
Would you pull over a cop and tell him your car was unsafe to drive and not expect him to write you a ticket?
Hi Oh'mike, You are 100% right, it would be more hassle. Everyone is overthinking this whole thing though. There is ALOT involved that I don't really think anyone has interest in getting in to. I'm not going to criminal court. No jury. No lawyers. Its civil. Meaning the judge cannot award "damages" and he cannot force the other party to do something. Its for money owed. Period. That is what small claims is. He owes me money based on the fact that he did not do the job I paid him to do and he did not use the material he charged me for. Thats all the judge has to determine. I will state my case, provide the 2" binder full of evidence, show where I told him what I wanted, he told me what he would do and the evidence that shows he ADMITTED doing it wrong. I also have the testimony from one of the workers he hired to help do the job saying that the day they left the worksite, he said he had to go back and fix it and then later said he wasn't going to. After I present all that, he has a chance to defend himself. The judge will decide if he did what I paid him to do or if I didn't get what I paid for and he will rule on it that way. The judge isn't going to look at work done 10 years ago and ask if a permit was used. He isn't going to ask for pictures, inspections, etc of a job that doesn't pertain to this.
As for all the questions not relevant to it:
1. Yes, we had a permit to build the enclosed patio (considered a sunroom) onto the house. The city inspected it 1/2 way through the job. It passed inspection. They didn't inspect it upon completion because it never got completed. A storm came through and knocked an entire wall out (windows, door, sheetrock, etc). So NO, it wouldn't have passed inspection at that time. I have documentation from the insurance company that came out, inspected it, gave their evaluation of it and gave me money to repair it.
Dallas, TX does not require permits for this type of job. Here is their requirements:
For a complete list of construction work for which permits are not required, see Chapter 52, Section 301(b) of the Dallas City Code (Dallas Building Code).
The following partial list includes the most important items.
- Stopping of leaks in pipes, drains or plumbing fixtures if the repair does not require replacement or rearrangement of valves, pipes, or fixtures
- Nonstructural interior remodeling of single family or two family dwellings that does not add floor area or change exterior doors or windows
NO PERMIT is required for the following except in certain areas such as historic districts, conservation districts and planned development districts that have additional requirements.
- Re-roofing of single-family or duplex dwellings, if the value of work does not exceed $500 dollars
- Erection of utility buildings with floor area of less than 200 square feet, without utilities, on single-family or duplex premises
- Erection of patio covers with an area less than 200 square feet on single-family or duplex premises (may not be within a front yard setback or side yard setback area)
- Erection of fences not over four feet high in a front yard, nor over six feet elsewhere
- Adding of storm windows, shutters, trim, awnings, siding, rain gutters, or insulation to a building
- Attaching window awnings to exterior walls of single-family homes where the awnings project not more than 54 inches from any wall (projections in required setbacks are limited to 12 inches)
- Construction of decks, platforms, walks, or driveways not more than 30 inches above grade and not over any basement or story on single-family or duplex premises
- Installation of prefabricated swimming pools accessory to single-family or duplex dwellings in which the pool wall is completely above adjacent grade and the pool capacity does not exceed 5,000 gallons
- Erection of carports of 200 square feet or less that are accessory to single-family or duplex dwellings (may not be within a front-yard front yard setback or side yard setback )
- Erection of retaining walls which are not over four feet in height measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall
2. I have no intentions of saying a "guy from the forum said it was unsafe". I just wanted to know, in this thread, what was wrong with the wood. I have PROOF the roof is unsafe (the video). I also have an appraiser that came out to eval my house cause I want to sell it that said, in his writeup, that it would not pass inspection and would need to be fixed to industry standard. He deducted value on my house because of the fence and patio. That will be used as evidence too.
3. The reason I posted to this forum was to find out what was wrong with the wood. I didn't want to say it was "chewed up" because thats not a proper term... or that would give him the opportunity to say my dogs chewed it (which they obviously didn't) but he would try to say that. I wanted to know what was wrong with it. I've never heard of the word "waning" and looked it up after someone posted it. Definition is:
a defect in a plank or board characterized by bark or insufficient wood at a corner or along an edge, due to the curvature of the log. I will definitely use that term in court along with the fact that it could be damage from the forklift. If people on here told me that was natural and all patio post do that, then I would know I couldn't use that as part of my case.
As far as the fence goes, someone asked why I would want metal post. I am not sure where ya'll live, but in texas, wood posts suck!! We have cracks in our yards that swallow pets (literally). The wood posts never hold up. Metal lasts 10x longer. Builders use cheap wood posts and 2 years later you have to call them out to replace the whole fence cause its leaning. We have "shared" fences and 3 sides of my fence are metal posts. They have held up through all kinds of weather. The one side that is wood (cause those neighbors were too cheap to do metal) has fallen down 3 times. I finally got sick of it and paid for it to be fixed (lucky them, except I hired an idiot). In Texas, when someone pays for a fence and uses wood posts, THEY get the question "why on earth would someone use wood posts on a fence". So, thats why I wanted metal. 2 of my wood posts cracked in half during the storm so I just wanted them all replaced with something that would withstand the texas weather.
In fact, one of the suburbs of dallas just passed this ordinance:
On Monday 8/7/2012, the Frisco City Council approved the new fence ordinance to include galvanized steel post on all new and replacement wood fence over 4-feet tall. This new ordinance is effective immediately. Hence, any new permits requested for new or replacement wood fence would require galvanized steel posts.
Hope I clarified some things and I appreciate all the responses to the original question about "what is wrong with this lumber".