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Volga, SD
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norwalk, ct
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Taut wire between rafters.
[#2] Posted: 08/25/2009 - 3:36:53 PM |  |  |
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pics? What you are describing is confusing. Are you taking about the same rafter and it's connection on either side of the home or are the wires running at 90 degrees to the rafters?
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Chicago, IL
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 Taut wire between rafters.
[#3] Posted: 08/25/2009 - 3:42:09 PM | | |
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I've seen that in old houses; I think it was intended to function as a collar tie.
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Kurt in Chicago
"If I smell it, it goes in the report".............Phillip Smith...2012
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Kenmore, WA
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Taut wire between rafters.
[#4] Posted: 08/25/2009 - 3:57:32 PM | | |
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I like Kurt's answer but my first impulse, until I heard it was like barbed wire without the barbs, was an old radio antenna.
ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!
Mike
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Chicago, IL
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Taut wire between rafters.
[#5] Posted: 08/25/2009 - 6:59:53 PM | | |
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The old radio antennaes I see are a single continuous piece of wire running down the length of the attic. I've never seen them in pieces like this was described.
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Kurt in Chicago
"If I smell it, it goes in the report".............Phillip Smith...2012
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Philly, PA
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Taut wire between rafters.
[#6] Posted: 08/25/2009 - 7:04:23 PM | | |
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Maybe they had lots of radios.
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Kenmore, WA
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Taut wire between rafters.
[#7] Posted: 08/25/2009 - 7:07:16 PM | | |
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Most entenna wire is pretty thin, too. The wire they use for barbed wire is pretty strong stuff. If it were something like that, I can imagine it being used as a tension chord between two rafters.
ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!
Mike
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Volga, SD
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Staten Island, New York
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Taut wire between rafters.
[#9] Posted: 08/25/2009 - 8:30:21 PM | | |
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It is #9 (not sure of name) wire. I use it quite often when building concrete forms. You can also see it used in some chain link fencing (for lateral support).
If you wrap it around two opposing points (creating a loop), take a screwdriver, or any piece of metal, you can twist the wire. The more you twist, the tighter it gets.
I use it in forms to stop them from blowing out. The stuff comes in big rolls.
From the picture, it looks like they were used for collar ties.
Yes, it looks just like barbed wire without the barbs (after being twisted). I'm sure if you look somewhere in the middle, you will see where something was inserted to twist it.
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Steven Turetsky, UID#16000002314
Comprehensive Home & Building Inspections
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Staten Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Long Island, Westchester
"The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action".
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Taut wire between rafters.
[#10] Posted: 08/25/2009 - 8:44:24 PM | | |
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I'll bet it was an attempt at a repair and was not done when constructed.
Any sign of the walls leaning out? Any gaps where rafters meet the ridge?
Here's another bailing wire repair:
Click to View
49.91 KB
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| Bill Kibbel, Historic & Commercial Building Inspections - Old House Resources |
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