The washer that cost nothing and did everything
A few cents of steel between a bolt and the timber.
In short: Washers recorded missing from a tie down at a Leppington frame inspection.
What a washer is doing there
A bolt head bearing directly on timber concentrates its whole load onto a circle a couple of centimetres across. The washer spreads that load over a much larger area of the timber face.
What happens without one
Under load the bolt head crushes into the timber and, in the worst case, pulls through it. The bolt is still there and the connection has still failed.
What was recorded
Missing washers, against the washers item under metal roof tie down, at a Leppington frame inspection two and a half kilometres from Catherine Field.
Why it survives to the report
Because it looks finished. Every bolt is in place and tightened, and only someone specifically checking for washers would notice.
The cost of the correction
Cents, and a spanner, while the frame is open. After lining, verifying any of it means opening plaster.
Written by the Owner Inspections team from inspections carried out in Catherine Field. Licensed building practitioners, NSW Fair Trading licence 366177C.
