palmettoinspect Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Got a real mess here! I just wanted to collect some ideas of what all is wrong and any tips are appreciated. This home has a three car garage underneath. Half of the second garage bay has a fire rated drywall ceiling. The other half and almost all of the third bay are under a wood framed open air screen porch and they do not have any fire rated building material on the ceiling. Also, there's a small pool elevated to the level of the screen porch next to the third garage bay that is inside the screen porch. [:-crazy] Obviously there needs to be a fire separation at the ceilings and walls, but there is also the concern of water from the pool through the open air screen porch into the garage. There has been an attempt to manage the water by installing metal roofing sheets and small site made gutters and drains, but its not working. The metal is rusting out and leaking. The good news is the new owners a planning on installing a new pool and have plans of getting rid of the old one, but I'm not sure of the exact location of the new pool. I don't know anything about pools and safety codes. Any help here is appreciated. Are there any other safety concerns beside the water from the pool into the garage areas and fire separation? Click to Enlarge 56.37 KB Click to Enlarge 52.9 KB Click to Enlarge 33.02 KB Click to Enlarge 37.41 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Baird Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 ...you could say that the separation is not needed for the screened porch interface because the porch is not habitable space. The pool makes the whole third bay a top heavy structure to my eye. Makes me wonder if this was really designed or was built at the direction of an eccentric owner. A painter I knew once built a deck out of untreated spf lumber at the owner's direction just because the wood was left over from the house build. Painter protested loudly but went ahead because he was being paid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Yeah, what Baird said... The fire separation stuff sounds relatively easy. The pool, the weird gutters and sheet metal stuff just isn't right. The pool doesn't seem to have been thought through adequately; it gives the impression of someone just winging it. I'd report the fire separation stuff as best I could, and I'd be reporting the pool as problematic at best. Lacking engineering and shop drawings for the poor, which I'm sure don't exist, there's no way anyone can forecast how it's going to work, other than badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palmettoinspect Posted April 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Thanks you for your comments Kurt and Jim. Here's a few pictures of just how well the joists are supported around this pool. It's a mess. The current owners have the cars in the garage covered with plastic to keep the slat water pool water off them! Click to Enlarge 47.17 KB Click to Enlarge 41.29 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 OK, I'd be essentially condemning everything related to the pool. It's a cobble job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palmettoinspect Posted April 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 You mean the rafter ties don't work as joist hangers? What about steel posts under the deck with a little salt air? The parallel strand lumber beams are pressure treated though! Click to Enlarge 74.78 KB Click to Enlarge 50.46 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Thanks you for your comments Kurt and Jim. Here's a few pictures of just how well the joists are supported around this pool. It's a mess. The current owners have the cars in the garage covered with plastic to keep the slat water pool water off them! Click to Enlarge 47.17 KB Click to Enlarge 41.29 KB If I'm not mistaken, the studs supporting the bottom of the pool are closer than the ones on either side. That meshes with the principle that water pressure increases in linear fashion with depth. Someone, perhaps an engineer, may have done some math, or maybe the manufacturer furnished specs on it. In any case, like Kurt, if I didn't see any paperwork on it, I'd call it. Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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