2022 home
I can give more details but wanted to get opinions based on just this picture. Will explain more later.
Any thoughts based off this picture? There is a faint line and maybe a slight bowing.
Thank you in advance for any input
Based in the photo alone, the steep roof, and the angle of the sunlight, it’s likely just an optical illusion. When direct sunlight hits a roof at a shallow, oblique angle, it acts as raking light, which highly exaggerates and highlights surface textures, unevenness, and structural imperfections. Minor structural variations a fraction of an inch amplifies the visual distortion.
What does it look like on a cloudy day?
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I was going to suggest maybe a high valley rafter or maybe plywood was breaking on same rafter up the roof(which I highly doubt that) but originally I did not look at it with your take 
.
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The rafter which shows the apparent lift or bowing leads right to the chimney. Were there any signs of movement or structural settlement at the chimney? Is that a tear in the shingles on the right side of the porch roof?
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Or with a focused lens?? 
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So this is a home I inspected about four months ago. Nationwide insurance sent an inspector out and they took this picture and are asking that the buyers have a roofing contractor come out and write a letter stating that it is either fine, or not fine and in need of repair. I went over my pics and they really just dont seem to show it…at least not to the degree that the pic above does…
Buyer is asking me if I had noticed it and mentioned it wasnt in the report.
the house was basically like a new house and I could see no evidence of any movement of the roof structure during my inspection
I will attach pics taken at the inspection
640 Garden Branch Rd, Franklin, NC 28734 | Realtor.com®
Its late and I’ll get more pics tomorrow…but if you simply go to the listing you got a couple of different views…first cover pic, pic 54 and last pic 69. Those pics are what I saw…which was pretty much nothing in that area that raised any eyebrows for me
thanks again for all of the responses
It looks like a slightly crowned gable rafter.
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I’ve seen this sort of thing a lot. The insurance adjuster is demonstrating a profound ignorance. Maybe he/she is new but clearly inexperienced. It’s Nationwide’s fault for hiring someone who doesn’t know construction.
There are basically two planes on that side of the roof. The house roof is the big plane (flat area) and the porch cover is the second plane. When the framers transitioned the rafters from the big plane to the smaller one, they failed to keep it even. Maybe because these are not factory-made trusses, but this can happen with trusses too. That’s because the factory has to change the jig for gable trusses and over and over, we see gable trusses that don’t align with the rest.
Anyway, whatever the reason, it is highly unlikely to be a structural or roofing defect. It is just cosmetic. The stupid insurance company is unlikely to get a valid answer from a roofer who has nothing to do with framing the roof. (True that many long-experienced roofers understand what happened here, too) A framing contractor, architect, or PE should do the evaluation.
98% probability that this is a nothing burger.
Yup, that too.
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I agree with Lon above. Keeping everything he mentioned in mind, what many don’t consider is the effects of temperature variations throughout the year, and your Winter snow load(s).
Am I correct that your area of Asheville, NC averages somewhere about 12 inches of WET HEAVY snowfall each year? Take it from a Minnesotan… that’s a shatload of weight for a porch roof transition to deal with!
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Thank you for that. I really appreciate the opinions of everyone here and that was an amazing write up of the situation.
I’m currently training my 17 yr old in the biz, and first thing I’m having him to do is to join interNACHI.
appreciate you guys!
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I disagree, the insurance companies aren’t hiring these people for their experience. They are hiring them for their INEXPERIENCE. They want the adjustor to find a problem(whether it is actually a problem or not) so that they can deny coverage or shift the liability onto the homeowner and then onto another roofer as in this case. They don’t want an experienced adjustor to make the right call and let the insurance company fully take on the liability.
If you ever watch those youtube videos where the insurance adjustors get in an arguement with the roofer trying to prove a roof claim, you will see the adjustors are almost always really young guys that you can tell have never worked on a roof before. I still remember this funny one.
Adjustor: I’m not a roofing expert. when you bend the shingle, you damage it and that’s not covered. Is that pry bar(snake?) state farm brand?
Oh yea, when insurance companies want to deny a claim? they will have their pocket PE write a letter to deny the claim.
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Yeah, State Harm denied my claim, then dropped me. Left me with no repairs and no insurance. I was with them for 20+ years when this happened.
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I doubt they broke the plywood all in one place and forgot to nail the edges…We call these framing inconsistencies…not much you can do about it…
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Reminds me of an “Add-on” porch roof, but this home is only 4 years old, so kinda’ have to assume it was all build at the same time.
Sure there is, but it will take tearing off the porch roof and rebuilding/resheathing it!
I know an insurance adjuster who I mentored to be a home inspector. He knew and knows roofs inside out. So, no, they are not intentionally hired for their inexperience. Inexperienced adjusters cost insurance companies millions. They loose even bigger in court when insurance companies are exposed as incompetent like that guy in your video. That video doesn’t tell us the outcome, but in the unlikely case that that ended in court, that poor adjuster was destroyed in cross.
What adjusters are trained to do is find an excuse for denying and then dig in their heels. That takes knowledge because if they are ignorant like the guy in the video, they are easily exposed like that poor guy. I don’t think he’s an ass. He’s a dumb ass. Poor guy should’ve never been given that job.
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Looks like from this picture you need a better camera.
Oh, and thank God, I live in Florida. Don’t have to deal with that crap up there. Especially basements.
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Doing so well as an adjustor that he wants to be a home inspector. If everything is so good, there is no reason to jump ship. If he was saving the insurance companies millions, you would think they have the incentive to pay him more to keep him in the industry. Then why do the insurance companies keep pushing the experienced adjustors out of the industry, so they can hire the inexperienced ones? Hmm, I don’t know maybe because the experienced guys keep buying roofs instead of denying the roofs, whether it is due to doing the right thing or based on the damage to the roof or not. The insurance company wants the adjustors to deny the roofs period so they can make money. That’ might not sit well with people with integrity(probably one of the reason they want to leave the industry), but that makes the insurance companies money.
Why did so many insurance companies jump ship from florida and california? They are paying legitimate fire and wind damage right? Then why do they leave? because they are losing money. They want to collect premiums without paying claims.
Ah yes, everybody and their grandmas have the money and time to fight an insurance company in court. Your average homeowner could very well go bankrupt before the case is even heard in court with how slow the court system is. You might even have to take out multiple loans. You got to pay the attorneys, your own adjustor, and other experts with your own money before you win the case and get recouped. This is why insurance companies try to fight the claim sometimes when its so clear they are wrong. Somtimes they loose, but more times they win by attrition. Even if you win as a homeowner, the stress and fallout from the long court battle is going to screw your life up, which is a great deterent to others that might follow your steps in fighting the insurance companies. It’s wrong as hell, but that’s unforuately how the insurance scam works.
I agree with Scott, what makes an insurance company the authority? Maybe they need to do the full inspection and take the responsibility of errors for the next 4-7 years. But we all know they wont, If they something is off thats on them, ask to see a full report by the insurance company to prove it. Ask them for their errors and ommissions and General liability insurance, and of coures we all know the insurance guy will not know what your talking about. I hate insurance companies.
Good luck with that. Even if they’re lucky and get an honest roofer, putting it in writing for an insurance company is going to be a challenge.
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