Fire Damage

[kteitel]

During an inspection yesterday I noticed fire damage in the attic. It had been painted and the buyer mentioned that there indeed had been a fire. My question is, how do you write it up? There was charring/alligatoring on less then 15% of the attic rafters and there was very little damage. (I am still negotiating with my wife on the use of our digital camera so no pics).

Kevin

[Chad Fabry]

Negotiating with a woman is like setting your hair on fire and beating it out with a tack hammer. You know you'll end up buying another camera; today would be a good day to do that.

I'd suggest that the seller provide a permit and inspection record of the post fire repairs. The alligatoring part bothers me some.

[Bruce Thomas]

Kevin,

Buy another camera, it's cheaper and easier in the long run. (get a better on than she has) Attic fires can get tricky you may have to get very in depth. Suggest a "Qualified contractor or structural engineer reevaluate the roof and structure for potential degraded structural members"

Bruce

[Steve Knight]

My standard language fire damage is to recommend the buyer find out if a permit was issued to repair the damage and the repair work was inspected by the AHJ. Typically, if a permit has been issued, there is a structural engineer's report in the file. If no permit was issued I typically recommend inspection by a structural engineer. In most cases the homes I've seen with fire damage are not currently owned by the person who owned the house at the time of the fire. In one case the current owner was unaware there had ever been a fire. If you want to check on a permit, you can generally do it by making a telephone call to the AHJ.