Sagging Hip Rafters

CharlesD

A close friend asked me to drive by a house him and his wife are wanting to buy and see if there is any obvious things that might be problems.
It has a hip roof and every hip rafter sages at least six inches in the middle. The ridge drops about 4 inches from about 5 foot from where the hip rafters tie into it.
I told him what I saw and he called the realtor who supposedly
sent a roofing contractor out to look at it and the contractor told him the roof was solid but it was framed with trusses and the builder didn't set the trusses right so that caused the bow and the drop in the ridge.
I've set a lot of trusses and know that hips can weave in and out but I've never seen trusses cause sags in hips.
Long story short, the realtor got my name and called me and gave me heck for messing with his house. I told him if he would let me go over there and get in the attic and if it was just sloppy construction I would agree with his roofer but the realtor wouldn't let me so I'm pretty sure my speculation is right on.
Has anyone ever seen trusses for hips sag?
I've seen hip rafters sag but never trusses.

cleveman

No I haven't.

genecarp

Me Niether, how old is the house?

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knucklehead

Maybe a little, but not 6 inches . I would bet it was how they were installed. But without seeing it I don.t know.

Warren

I would bet that its not trusses. Probably used undersized material and stuck it on 24 oc. Can't imagine the load it would take for a truss to do that. Only other thing is if a large branch fell on it , it might have broken a few trusses and caused the dip. I have seen this a couple of times.

CharlesD

The house is around 20 years old.

Leo G

money pit

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CharlesD

All four hip rafters are sagging in the middle so I doubt if it's damage.
Anyway, the realtor told my friend the owner would come down 20K if he would take it like it is. So that tells me they know the house has problems.
I convinced him to not buy it.
The realtor told my friend he could take a plane and even up the rafters. I just laughed when he told me that.
My friend is very trusting and told me he thought all realtors were honest. I laughed again.

joasis

A call like that would have made my day! I would dare a realtor into a pissing contest....just to see who is right.

Tell you how this would have gone: I would have told the realtor to piss up a rope, and if he didn't like my opinion, he would be free to sue, and then we would do depositions...and when his turn comes, be prepared to explain his expertise and look for a counterclaim.

Lots of so called "experts" out there, and all you have to do is ask them if they would like to sit through a deposition and explain how their opinion became important.

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Leo G

The Realtor would have no chance in that fight. If the problem is visible from the road - how the heck can you dispute it?

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Joe Carola

Did you tell him to "GFH"(Go F##K Himself)?

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Leo G

Haven't they ever heard of the disclosure rule? If you know it is bad you have to disclose it. This one is just to obvious to let slide.

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thom

Well, I think Joasis is a little "sue-happy". Since there was no signed deal, there was no deal to skewer so the realtor suffered no loss, thus no basis for a claim. Since Joasis suffered no economic loss, again, no basis for a claim.

Most of us have dealt with trussed hip roofs. The sags could not be from that or the jacks would also sag at their connection to the hip. Because the jacks have a vertical leg at their attachment to the hip, the sag would also extend down to the ceilings below. This would be very obvious.

Most likely, the builder bought a truss roof but constructed his own hips and jacks to save money, I have seen this done by guys who substitute saving pennies for building a decent structure. The Hips and jacks are probably stick framed as on a regular stick framed roof. There are no webs or verticals installed. In this case, undersizing the hip rafter would result in a sag that would not project through to the ceilings below.

Anything can be fixed for the right amount of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

joasis

No thom....I am not "sue happy", but I don't take crap like that from anyone.

The realtor had absolutely no business calling CharlesD......after all, he was asked and offered an opinion by a friend. My point was that if I were in the same place, I would have played it for all it is worth....you obviously didn't see that. I backed a know it all building inspector off just as quick once, and a realtor would be plain fun.

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jkfox624

20 year old house with a roof in that bad of shape is baaaad news imo. Its almost a guarantee the whole thing is underframed and who knows whats goin on inside the walls.

mccarty.74

No way those are trusses, unless somebody went and cut every web out of them and left a cute 2x4 triangle.

CrpntrFrk

Years ago my boss at the time(hack) ordered the trusses too long and we altered them to fit. Yup you guessed it.......they sagged. Couple of us wanted to at least put some plywood gussets on them but he said that would take too much time. He made us RE-USE the metal plates. What a joke. Sure enough they sagged and since I did not work for him shortly after that I was able to say I told you so.

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LEVELBEST

If I was a betting man.....this would be where my money was put too!

JumboJack

Is it a tile roof?Maybe it was not originally spec'ed for tile and someone went and put it on later...Although I have never seen trussed roofs sag I have seen quite a few conventionally framed roofs sag. Especially the ridge.

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in texas with framing and cornish people will do it for 3.00 a foot. What do yall think about that? Just laber

Inner10

Maby the homeowner needed to build a birdhouse so they decided to venture up into the attic and saw out a few pieces of spare wood from the trusses. Realtors are bottom feeding scumbags from what I've expierienced, they don't care about helping out their clientel at all, just want to move properties.