Question on steel support for a basement
#1
Question on steel support for a basement
Hi There,
Thinking of purchasing a house and wanted to know if this is a good supported basement before we proceed with a home inspection.
Thanks.
Thinking of purchasing a house and wanted to know if this is a good supported basement before we proceed with a home inspection.
Thanks.
#2
Welcome to the forums.
There are an awful lot of support columns close to each other. Hard to tell from this one picture their exact function. A few, larger pics would be required for more specific help.
There are an awful lot of support columns close to each other. Hard to tell from this one picture their exact function. A few, larger pics would be required for more specific help.
#3
Not quite sure why there are so many columns, so close together. May have been a PO's attempt to correct a bouncy floor in the room above, caused by over-spanned (undersized) floor joists, or even too small a steel beam supporting the joists.
#4
Ditto on the above. A decent home inspector should be able to tell you the purpose.
They are concentrated in a fairly small area and have somewhat of an odd pattern.
Usually it is obvious what these posts support, but the picture shows no upper connections.
Can you insert a picture of only one post? The far left post in your picture, take a picture of the top of post, showing upper connection technique and what it supports.
They are concentrated in a fairly small area and have somewhat of an odd pattern.
Usually it is obvious what these posts support, but the picture shows no upper connections.
Can you insert a picture of only one post? The far left post in your picture, take a picture of the top of post, showing upper connection technique and what it supports.
#6
I'm not sure I read where it is or isn't a lost cause. I think they're asking for more pics in order to tell you anything.
#7
In zooming in on the picture..... with the way the floor joists run - the yellow circled columns appear to hold up the main girder. The one circled in red is a complete mystery and the two in blue appear to be holding up something in that area.
#8
Forum Topic Moderator
You'll also want to know how the steel posts were installed, how they are attached to the concrete and while it might be hard to determine - how deep/thick the concrete is that supports the load.
#9
And keep in mind that very few home inspectors have the capability to tell you if structural support is inadequate. Most will simply defer to an engineer, by suggesting "further evaluation by an engineer is recommended" in their report.