17 Feb Collapsing Truss

Our Brisbane based client turned up at their holiday house to be greeted by  a collapsing truss. They sent a photo through and we reacted immediately travelling to the coast that day to fit some support props underneath to prevent any further collapse.

The cause turned out to be the original construction method was to use hardwood for the fabrication of the truss and bolt it all together. What happened was the hardwood shrank, as it does when green, and the bolts became loose and finally gave way.

But this was more than 30 years since the original build so why all of a sudden?

Well my clients theory was it happened after south-east Qld experienced a minor earthquake. Sounds feasible to me however the insurers wouldn’t have a bar of it. To rectify the problem we jacked the truss back into position, stripped the plasterboard from both sides, tightened up the bolts and then encased either side of the beam in structural plywood ensuring it will never move again. We then re-plastered and left the property how it always looked.

Quick action potentially saved this property from major damage and that’s part of what the ProBuilder Repairs team offers on top of our combined 108 years building experience from working all over the world.