Roof Truss Water Damage
Roof truss water damage isn't going
to be uncommon in an attic that has water leaking from the roof. The
damage to this roof truss doesn't look too bad yet, but if you look at
the vertical roof truss support next to the fireplace, it actually looks
like it's bowing.
If this is truly the case, this engineered roof system could have some
problems and it's not just going to be the water that's leaking through
the roof onto the rest of the house.
To the trained eye, this type of water damage isn't that hard to find,
but if you don't really know what you're looking at or what you're
looking for, something like this could easily go unnoticed.
One of the best pieces of advice that I could give anyone who is looking
for damage that needs to be repaired around your house, is to look for
discolorations in the building materials.
If you notice in the picture above, there are water stains on the
plywood that are a different color than the rest of the roof framing and
there is black mold growing on the wood. You can also use this method
when inspecting your interior and exterior walls, attic, crawlspace and
ceilings.
Home Repair Tip: The first thing that we need to do, is fix the roof
leak and after that, you can check the roof truss for wood damage like
termites or wood rot, by taking a small screwdriver and pressing it into
the wood.
If the screwdriver goes into the roof truss water damaged area deeper
than a quarter of an inch without pressing real hard, it wouldn't be a
bad idea to contact a local contractor to get a better assessment of the
damage.