Elephant Structures Carolina Carport Structural integrity of building compromised due to improper and incomplete installation of building. Also, many cosmetic defects. Boone, North Carolina

Building arrived on schedule, and it was the correct structure.  Pad was ready and the installers were able to start right away.

I was not able to stay on site for the duration of the installation of the building.  When I did return, the installers were gone.  Upon thorough inspection of the work I found 2 items that impact the Structural Integrity of the building.

1. Hat caps were not installed as per engineered drawings.  The installers did not install rows of hat caps at the peak of the trusses as shown in the details, instead dropped down the pitch 16" or so, apparently so they would not have to screw through 2 layers of steel.  The span between each row of hat caps was wider than shown, resulting in the loss of one row of caps on each side of the roof.  This greatly compromises the Structural Integrity of the roof. Hat caps are metal cross members screwed to the roof trusses perpendicular to the trusses to tie the frame system together and also serve as a system to fasten the roof panels to.

2. Wedge anchors that secure the bottom frame railing to the concrete slab were not installed as shown in the drawings.  The drawings contain a specification table showing 1 wedge anchor at each frame member, and the installers installed a wedge anchor at every other frame member.  This may have saved the installer 30-45 minutes.

There are several cosmetic issues with the finished building, I will not go into them here.  Suffice to say the installer was in a hurry and did things in such a way as to cut his time as much as possible.  The appearance of the building reflects that fact.  Some of the work is very bad.

The structural issues warrant immediate attention and must be corrected.  I have contacted Mike Kosicki @ Elephant Structures and emailed him digital pictures of all these issues.  He said he would have the matter "reviewed", but I feel like this in not important to him or his company.  I will give Elephant Structures an opportunity to do like they say on their website: "Buy with confidence. We stand behind every carport we sell!"  I guess we'll find out....