Fire Damaged Wood

For wood members that have charred, the char layer can be easily

scrapped off. Obviously, any charred portion of a fire-exposed wood

member has no residual load capacity. The wood beneath the char layer

has residual load capacity; but, this residual capacity will be less than the

load capacity prior to the fire. Members that have only visual smoke

damage or slight browning of the surface also have significant residual

load capacity.