the box on the left is a DIY'er loft built by previous owners...two car garage with over 18 feet ceiling while the rest of the home is 8' ceiling heights. :-(

Bedrooms aboe that garage with no Type X drywall, or fire safing of any kind? How is the house sealed for car exhaust fumes?

HI -- This is a huge red flag !! Did you have a house inspector for this . This is so dangerous and potentially deadly for your family . None of this is properly done and needs to be fixed ASAP . Call in some experts please -- a structural engineer or a highly qualified contractor or maybe both . Do not know if this house even had an occupancy permit ... probably not . No one should live here until this is all fixed . I also strongly doubt you will be allowed having a play loft in this garage . These DIY's are how family's die !!

I agree with millworkman and lefty47. The garage should have fire rated drywall and should be taped and mudded to prevent exhaust fumes from getting into the bedrooms above.

I can't help but wonder if all that plywood around the beam is simply decorative, people do odd things. It could also be an ill conceived attempt to reinforce the beam. In any case, it would probably be best to have someone qualified take at look at things. Drywalling the exposed insulation would be a good idea was well and likely required by code regardless if you actually use the garage to store vehicles.

The laterally unsupported wall height exceeds standard design criteria. The diagonal bracing on the beam is similar to this moment frame,

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4804047/lag-between-gw-and-real-world

only plywood instead of steel, requiring a much larger corner (torsion) connection. It also takes into account the bending moment on the post holding up the beam. The maximum length of a laterally unsupported post being proportional to its girth.

Also similar to the diagonal braces on a deck, only the walls are sheathed instead of open posts and spindles, requiring greater wind loads, and possibly seismic.

>>HI -- This is a huge red flag !! Did you have a house inspector for this . This is so dangerous and potentially deadly for your family . None of this is properly done and needs to be fixed ASAP.

Not my house but I found this post vague. Other than the missing drywall, which I understand the reason for, is there something else here you consider a problem?

Seems to me we can't see much in this one picture.

As for whether it had a permit, this does not appear to be an add-on garage but is under the house, so it's original? Perhaps the OP can clarify. I thought it was basically impossible to build a house and get it hooked up to utilities without permits. I'm in rural MO and couldn't even build a metal shop building with electricity without full permitting and inspection. I'm curious how this house came to be how it is.

We don't know the history of this house, but it does not meet several code requirements that have been in place for many years. For example, garages must be separated from living areas, which means fire-rated drywall barriers and no HVAC or other penetrations between the two areas. This garage has no fire barrier, and appears to have uncovered HVAC vents running through the garage (which could pull in air from the garage).

The beam running across the top may be a manufactured LVL beam, but I don't think that was common in 1974. Even for an LVL beam, it looks undersized for the span and live load of the room above. It also looks too small to be a boxed steel beam. You should also check all the vertical walls to see how they were constructed. Walls that are over 10 feet tall are now built using 2x6 studs instead of 2x4's and there are specific requirements for diagonal bracing of large walls.

Bruce