Purchasing a home - Sun Room Floor Joists

[Frankie]

We are the second family to sign a contract on a house with an attached 13' (deep) by 16' sun room. (The first bailed) The last inspector told the seller to add a center joist support beam under the sunroom. The realtor said it had been fixed. Just on a gut feeling, I snapped a few pictures in the sunroom crawl space. The picture shows what I found. Looks like a single 2 X8 on blocks with shims. I am thinking maybe I need to get another inspection because the work just doesn't look right. Is this something I would want to fix on my own or do you think it might be a project for a professional? I am new to the forum and would appreciate any comment. Thanks.

[HayZee518]

looks to me as the middle support is cracked right through!. you'll need to sister a joist or install an engineered beam along the whole length. for support I would use a 24 inch adjustable lally column at several points along the new beam. dig out and pour several concrete footings for the columns.

[pushkins]

That new material is doing nothing, in fact it has to be one of the worst efforts I've seen in a long time, for a start 2x8 material has a max. span of 13', now that is a maximum, I'm not sure what direction the floor joists are running in but either way they are at either the extreme max. (13')or way over (16') 2x10 floor joists max. span is 14' 8", it looks like the 16' is the width off the house (old brickwork on the left in your picture) if that's the case then 2x10's are way out of their span.
No matter how you look at it there should have been a girder down the center right from the start.

One solution would be to install a double 2x8 (nailed together with rows of three nails every 12") as a new support beam and support that beam with three small crawl jacks (lally columns) on 12'x16'x16' footings.

I see also no insulation or heating/cooling ducts or electrical lines, if it were me I'd be checking to see if the addition was ever permitted at a city or county building department.

[Frankie]

Hopefully we can get the seller to do the repairs. We are moving from a slab house on flatland to a house with basements near the mountains. It's a new adventure.

The realtor said the owner was agitated about the questions because he said a licensed contractor performed the work. The long side of the room is parallel to the house as you mentioned and the center "support" was added to answer the last inspection. Thanks for the heads up HayZee and Pushkins; we ordered a new inspection with emphasis on the sunroom structure.

[pushkins]

he said a licensed contractor performed the work.

Ask for the license number, I bet they don't produce it !
good luck