Open holes in areas of sheetrock walls or ceilings that connect the home to the garage must be sealed for fire safety reasons. The sheetrock walls and ceilings separating the home and garage are considered a fire separation barrier, that must be maintained for safety reasons in the instance of a fire. The fire separation barrier, in case of a fire, would slow down the fire’s progress throughout the home and allow for less damage (before firemen can put it out).
Tim Hance with All Islands Home Inspections recently discovered unconventionally constructed trusses in a garage that have been cut at a home inspection on Orcas Island. Cutting trusses is expressly NOT ALLOWED as it can, and likely will, lead to structural settling and failure over time. In this case, the roof plane showed clear evidence of settling/sagging when viewed from the exterior; when I went inside, it was clear why the roof was settling. With an appropriate snow load, or with time, some of these trusses will likely crack and fail. In this particular situation, repair was difficult because the trusses were cut to accommodate large garage doors; the recommended interim solution was to install intermediate posts and beams, in the middle of the garage, to properly support the roof and allow for vehicle access and egress.
This is the exterior of a townhome I was asked to inspect. During the inspection, I ran into a neighbor who told me that the roof of another garage, identical to the one pictured above two buildings down, had collapsed the previous winter under a snow load.
So, I decided to keep my eyes wide open as I went through the garage…(read full article on InterNACHI)