Repairing Broken Rafters
I had to look at a job today, they guy said he has a 'leak'. When I get out, he had 2 rafters snap in his garage from the snow load over the winter.
Roof Repairs 1 — The Rafters. Size (or larger, but not smaller) than the wood broken. A 2x6 should be used to repair or replace a 2x6, and so on.
A friend of his came out and jacked them up, but obviously the roof is still damaged. The repair that is done, is clearly a temporary repair. The span is pretty good, I'm almost thinking of proposing to the adjuster to tear the roof off the garage, and put up engineered trusses. I have a feeling they will want us to sister on to them though, to make it 'good enough'. Anyone have an adjuster let them replace trusses?
I had to look at a job today, they guy said he has a 'leak'. When I get out, he had 2 rafters snap in his garage from the snow load over the winter. A friend of his came out and jacked them up, but obviously the roof is still damaged. The repair that is done, is clearly a temporary repair. The span is pretty good, I'm almost thinking of proposing to the adjuster to tear the roof off the garage, and put up engineered trusses. I have a feeling they will want us to sister on to them though, to make it 'good enough'. Anyone have an adjuster let them replace trusses?
They will not make it better than it was. They will pay for sistering at best. You will need to do a calc to insure the existing rafters are adequate.
If they don't meet code, the client may be screwed. The inspector can insist the roof be brought to code but the insurer has no obligation to pay for that. Is that true even if something met code when the house was built, but are now non compliant Only 2 rafters are broken, and there are about 12 of them on the garage. The rafters that broke caused a valley in the roof to colapse, making the sheeting drop from under the over lapping sheeting. There is a 2' gap difference in elevation in the sheeting in the valley. I'm assuming sistering is all we are going to be able to do. 2x6's, jacks and structural high tensile screws will probably be all we can get out of this one.
The roof has to be torn off, and some sheeting has to be done. It would be nice to be able to just replace some rafters while we had it all open instead of scabbing some scraps in. That's been my experience. It probably depends on the policy. I've looked at and bid on jobs where replacing wouldn't meet code and the insurance wouldn't cover the upgrade. Their policy is to cover the costs it takes to get you back where you were.
Won't allow you to go back there, they don't consider that their problem. Most Homeowners insuarnce Policies have a 'Ordnance Change' provision, what that means is they will pay up to a certain percentage, to bring the damged portion up to existing code. Mr Ray 73 Mkii Serial Port. They will not pay to bring the whole house or in this case the whole roof up to current code, they will pay to bring the affected rafters into compliance. They don't pay these Ordnance claims lightly, it is a battle. In Minnesota every claim I've worked the insurance company is obligated to bring the roof up to code.
More ice and water and re-decking are the most common. Worked a few claims in which there was tree damage that caused damage to trusses. I had an engineer evaluate the damage on the insurance companies approval and dime of course and all the repairs were made to the engineers recomendations. Every times sistering the trusses was all that had to be done. The only time trusses had to be replaced was due to fire damage.
You may look at who built the house and try to get them to help you being you said the house is only 5 years old, this could fall under the 10 year structual warrrenty period. If the builder is still in business I bet they would help. If not the truss will have a stamp on it from the manufacturer, usually on the bottom cord, hopefully they are still in business if not it will have the srtuctual information for the truss and you will be able to get a truss fix for the truss. Easy fix but if you don't get it fixed properly how are you going to sell the house later?
I'd suggest hiring an engineer to evaluate the problem. There's no reason why you can't do the repair, if any. I can't say what an engineer would charge in your area but around here it'd cost about $350.00. You'll need to keep the paperwork from him as part of your deed. When you go to sell the property most likely the buyer will also hire an inspector who is going to find the obvious repair. That paperwork makes the issue go way quick. Look at it as cheap insurance.
I'd also suggest calling the builder. I doubt you'll get any where with it but you don't know if you don't try. As a secondary home owner, the builder is not going to extend much in the way of services. Builders that occasionally buy back homes move them to secondary owners so they can get out of the warranties. In a lot of states, the warranties do not transfer.
Mrignayani Serial Video Adapter. As long as you get the right engineer, repairing a truss is a no-brainer. It's not that hard of a calculation, but there is a lot of judgement involved. And it's not that hard of a repair to accomplish in the field.
Even reinforcing a truss for a higher load can be accomplished, as long as your engineer knows what he or she is doing. And I agree that pressing on new plates in the field is a tough nut to crack if you don't know what you're doing or don't have the tool.
There are easier ways to skin this cat using APA rated structural plywood.