Always get a second opinion on something like this if it going to be a major repair cost...

Thanks for the advice bill....I am so NOT looking forward to hearing what the situation is. Ugh.

uh oh....I'm crossing my fingers for you! We're building 3 stories on a slope, and obviously it's different, but literally 1/3 to 1/2 my building cost is 'structural', inside and out!

Hopefully it'll be something with the roof that the builder can just reinforce!

juniork - from your mouth to God's ears!!!!!!

SusieQusie60, I'll throw up an extra prayer for you! We can relate! When we were replacing the dusty rose (ewww!) shower and toilet from our master bathroom, my husband discovered the back end of our house sank 4 inches (we're close to the coast and the soils are bad here). Visually, you could not really see it, but the pipes weren't matching up quite right underneath the floor in the crawl space. As it turned out, it was not as expensive as it could have been. These things happen. Get diags from multiple contractors; preferrably ones with structural engineering certifications. Your local permitting office may also have information on file regarding your property and could help you find qualified people to examine your situation and advise.

I'll give you an example of what structural issue with a roof can cost.

I have a 1924 house. We're considering adding foam cell insulation to the underside of the roof. The good: Less heat loss! The bad: Snow would never melt! So if we have another winter like this past one, the load on the roof would be very heavy and remain until spring without melting. I contacted a structural engineer who figured out a way to reinforce the roof--not as something strictly necessary, but "just in case." I'm a safe vs. sorry kind of person, and tend to overdo things. After getting a spec from the structural engineer, I got a bid from a contractor.

The cost? $800. Including all labor and materials.

So don't fret until you have to. Just because the word "structural" sounds scary, you don't know that it is necessarily going to be expensive.

OK - went home at lunchtime to check out the situation. Really not that bad. (Although I think this roof/ceiling may be the death of me!!!)

Here's the deal: Something about the way the very edge of the roof on the porch-turned-breakfast room was built. You know - something that was fine way back when, but not so much today. They changed the roof-line when they turned it from a porch to an actual room and they did something sort of screwy I guess.

The fix, however, isn't that bad. The bottom line is, we need to get a letter from an architect or an engineer stating that he came out, looked at the construction, and that the way the builder is rectifying it is acceptable. The builder told me that years ago, the building inspector himself could look at the job and he could make the decision that the construction was adequate. However, in our litigious society, now they require an architect or engineer to certify it. It doesn't sound like the actual construction to fix it is affecting the cost of the project. We will have to pay for the engineer who is coming out - hopefully asap. We're talking a couple of hundred bucks. All-in-all I'm not feeling too horrible about this. The worst part is that it's going to cause a bit of a soffit on the long window wall. We could do other things instead (like maybe the tray ceiling that was suggested by another poster.) But honestly, I think I've already grown attached to the vaulted look. It really looks fantastic opened up. And maybe I'm just convincing myself of what I WANT to feel, but I'm thinking that the open ceiling might actually add to my countryish/cottagey look. And my attitude by now is: Hey I live in a really old house. Anything a little "odd" in the structure is just adding architectural interest!!!

When we were doing our renos - it turns out that the supporting wall between our kitchen and DR was never properly supported and the floors were sloping toward the wall. We have a basement entry home so Kitchen etc are upstairs) It was an easy fix - just put a new beam in the carport which is below where this area was located. Cost about $500. When we heard the words structural we were imagining a huge bill.
Don't panic yet.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.
written by Reinhold Niebuhr

Here is the whole thing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Entire serenity prayer

When we recently removed the wall between our kitchen and breakfast nook, we were happy to discover the wall was not load bearing in any way ... and less happy to discover the old wall covered up the fact that the roof was not supported in that area and the other support structures were not attached. It appears when the house was built in 1936, someone forgot to add in a few beams. Not a good thing in earthquake territory. Anyway, the fix was quick and easy since everything was already opened up. The cost of the additional structural work was less than $1000.