Roof collar ties coming off / bending

1111 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by Nealtw, Mar 15, 2020

thinkfuture

Discussion Starter · Mar 15, 2020

We just purchased this house. The house was built in 1985 & the roof was replaced around 2007 (Not certain).
Home inspection did not say the roof was in a bad state in spite of the age.

I noticed in the attic today that the collar ties on the roof is either come off or bent substantially.
I did not notice the rafters bent.

Is this roof sinking?
Is this an emergency situation?
How should I approach this?

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Nealtw

· #2 · Mar 15, 2020

Not sure what they thought they were doing but that wasn't it.
If you take the total height inside and divide that be 3, those ties would be above the upper third line.
So if the height was 12 ft the ties would be higher than 8 from the ceiling joists.

Nothing like that gets built with one inch thick material or gets attached with staples.

They may have been used just to hold the rafters during construction.

Collar ties are in the upper third. every 4 ft with the idea that they hold the roof together to prevent wind uplift at the peak. They would be at least a 2x4 and with 4 3" nails into the rafters at both ends.

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thinkfuture

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 15, 2020

Nealtw said:
Not sure what they thought they were doing but that wasn't it.
If you take the total height inside and divide that be 3, those ties would be above the upper third line.
So if the height was 12 ft the ties would be higher than 8 from the ceiling joists.

Nothing like that gets built with one inch thick material or gets attached with staples.

They may have been used just to hold the rafters during construction.

Collar ties are in the upper third. every 4 ft with the idea that they hold the roof together to prevent wind uplift at the peak. They would be at least a 2x4 and with 4 3" nails into the rafters at both ends.

Thank you Nealtw. Yes, I agree this is not on the 1/3rd like a traditional collar tie. That is what confuses me as well.
What could this be? Should I start sweating? Well, I already am.

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Nealtw

· #4 · Mar 15, 2020 (Edited)

thinkfuture said:
Thank you Nealtw. Yes, I agree this is not on the 1/3rd like a traditional collar tie. That is what confuses me as well.
What could this be? Should I start sweating? Well, I already am.

I wouldn't sweat about them at all. I would consider adding collar ties sometime in the near future.

If you think about what it is like getting the first few rafters and ridge board in place, these boards were likely just enough to hold some in place while they worked on the rest. And should have been removed.
Temp bracing is often in the way when the sheeting is done and they often get broke like the one in pieces. The guy on the roof reaches in with his foot and kicks it off or breaks it. If they don't just bend out out of his way.

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