What can make a roof drop 4 inches on one end?

clueless88

I was considering putting a bid on a repossed home in my town. When I got home and looked at the photos I took of it I noticed the roof was crooked. I was going to have the holes in the walls fixed and use it as a rental, but if this is indicative of a major structural problem then I wont even put in a bid. I was going to have it inspected by a professional if I did put in a bid and it was accepted, but if I know this house has a major problem now I could save myself $300.

I hopefully attached the photo correctly. It shows that a section of the front roof has dropped about 4 inches. I didn't notice any sag in the foundation. Could the trusses have broken and caused the roof to tilt?

Should I waste my time with this house?

Attached Images

 

clueless88

I just realized I should have posted this in the roofing section. I think I will repost it over there and if a moderator wants to delete this, feel free. Sorry.

gregzoll

Looks more like a bad Siding job, then Roof drop. Only way to tell, would be to stick your head up in that section and look at the Rafters.

AtlanticWBConst.

As already implied by Greg, that looks like the siding, poorly cut-back and installed,...... not the roof.

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clueless88

Thank you for the advice. I am considering on putting in a bid with the contingency that it pass an inspection. Since I wanted to fix this up myself I was worried about the roofing since I really only know about drywall and flooring. I am definately going to reside the house. The old owners put up Christmas decorations onto it by driving nails into the vinyl siding... plus it looks ugly. I also noticed they put the vinyl siding over the old wood siding. I didn't know you could do that. I thought it needed a flat surface to side.

This is a major fixer-upper.

Thanks for your help!

gregzoll

As long as the Wood siding is flat against the building, Siding can be placed on it. My house was built in 1937, and when they put on the Aluminum siding in the late 60's/early 70's, they left the Wood Lap siding in place, and last time I looked, it appeared to be in good shape.

I may end up pulling it when I get ready to reside, and decide if I am going to rip off the old wood, due to all the houses around me are either Vinyl or Aluminum. Only ones with Wood Cedar, are the 4 Duplexes at the end of the street.

Joe Carola

I wouldn't say it's just the siding. Didn't anyone notice that the fascia is out of level about 4"?

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ccarlisle

No, well at least I did - quite a while ago...gotta say this post made me wonder what people were seeing. Siding? that's only cosmetics.

In my case, I saw water damage. I can't say where it came from exactly but IMO water got in there and has done damage to the roof trusses and/or supports. That in turn caused the RHS of the roof to drop. I've seen that happen before where roofs slope into the house having droppped by a few inches, leaving a ridge in the roof running top to bottom.

I see plenty of unlevelness in that picture. Not sure what that white panelling is doing there, looked to me like a there was a balcony there but it seems attached to the wall.

Either way, not a major job but some structure may be involved depending on how long the water damage went on for.

wjlundyjr

Might be a badly attached addition, look at the foundation.