# Broken Roof Truss



## J-Peffer (Mar 3, 2007)

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?


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## thom (Nov 3, 2006)

J-Peffer said:


> 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.
> 
> ...


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.


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## Patrick (Apr 12, 2006)

thom said:


> 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


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## J-Peffer (Mar 3, 2007)

Patrick said:


> 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.


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## thom (Nov 3, 2006)

Patrick said:


> Is that true even if something met code when the house was built, but are now non compliant


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. If the gvt. won't allow you to go back there, they don't consider that their problem.


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## bwalley (Jan 7, 2009)

thom said:


> 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. If the gvt. 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.

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.


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## AutumnWood Inc. (Aug 17, 2007)

I have seen some insurance companies pay for way more than typical and way less.... every claim and company seems to be unique


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## dougger222 (Jan 29, 2004)

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.


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