The damage from the massive oak tree, who I've named, Big Mama is catastrophic
However, I started to realize how the roof and porch caught everything
And held Big Mama up; keeping her out of the house while she sat there an entire week
(Hurricane caused tree companies to be completely overwhelmed; difficulty getting emergency service)
And that the tree didn't penetrate all the way through the bricks to the floor
Some info from Gemini, based on photos I uploaded:
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True-Dimensional, Old-Growth Lumber: Mid-century and older homes were built using dense,
slow-growth timber that is significantly harder, heavier, and more rigid than fast-grown modern SPF (spruce-pine-fir).
That extra grain density provides serious shear resistance. -
Stick-Built Roof Rafters vs. Light Trusses:
Older roofs were framed piece-by-piece with solid $2\times6$ or $2\times8$ rafters tied directly into ceiling joists and bearing walls.
When a tree hits a modern pre-fab truss system, the lightweight pressed metal gusset plates can unzip across several trusses at once, triggering a cascade failure.
Traditional stick framing tends to take the hit locally, splintering where struck while adjacent members stubbornly stay anchored. -
Heavy Plywood or Tongue-and-Groove Sheathing: Older homes frequently used 3/4-inch exterior plywood or solid board sheathing rather than thin 7/16-inch OSB.
Solid board decking will crack and split, but it fights the puncture every inch of the way.
It did its job stopping the initial blow; the main focus now is just keeping weight off those fractured timbers until the engineer can spec the repair plan.
Me:
built in the 70s. at least this is something positive, hopeful for us
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Stout Exterior Envelopes:
Builders in that era were still using robust nominal lumber framing and substantial roof decking.
That toughness absorbed an immense amount of blunt force that could have easily taken down a more lightweight, modern assembly. -
The Living Space Held:
The main structural integrity of your exterior brick walls and the primary ceiling planes kept the catastrophe
localized to the entry porch and roof edge.
It did its job when it mattered most, protecting anyone inside. -
Clear, Localized Repair Boundary:
Because it’s traditional stick framing rather than an engineered truss system that failed end-to-end,
a good framer and structural engineer can isolate the damaged rafter ends, post, and decking
without needing to tear down the entire roofline of the house.
Once the engineer writes up the repair plan and the adjusters finish their scope,
you'll be on a clear path to putting it back together stronger than before.
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The office area is where the ceiling caved in; and that's the newer construction
Because the office area used to originally be a garage
Whenever they add on to homes, it's often using different material or other differences than the original
It was this way with my parents' home
We found out so much, the hard way
But the office is still pretty good quality
Of course, tree location and all that matters
Not saying it's only because it is an older home
But Big Mama was a little distance away, and that made a monumental difference as well
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