kskatz

Hello, I just bought a house and the porch roof overhang is sagging. there's no post on this corner supporting it. (wasn't designed to be)
Is this a problem caused by damaged or rotten roof truss? If so,.. what's the repair method?
Thanks,

notmrjohn

The problem is the design. That end of the roof, at least, does not have trusses.
The sag is caused by there being such a long unsupported overhang of rafters beyond the beam.
There does not appear to be any damage to rafters, roof isn't bulging to show a break. Is there a ceiling in open area? The only way to really check rafters would be to remove it so you could see what's up there.

You could run a hefty beam from back wall, fastene to post and on out to roof corner. Easier would be to put a post at the corner, and possibly a beam across to stone wall.

But the sag is made more noticeable by that bizarre gutter and downspout arrangement. What's with that U bend? And the slope of gutter is opposite sag of roof, emphasizing it. Is there some reason it drains at the house side?

I'd reverse the slope of the gutter anyway. Instead of drain pipe use a steel pipe that would also be the supporting post. Or run drain pipe inside box column.

A neghbor of mine has similar but worse eave problem of similar width and overhang, but with truss roof. every five to ten years or so, they rip off fascia and soffit, sister in new rafters and joists. Sag reappears. That roof must be solid rafters by now. For some reason they refuse to put up a post.

__________________
[CENTER][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Measure twice, cut once.[/FONT][/CENTER]
[CENTER][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Look at the nail, not the hammer. Watch the fence, not the blade.[/FONT][/CENTER]
[CENTER][FONT=Comic Sans MS]If you hook your thumb over your belt you won't hit it with the hammer or leave it layin on the saw table.[/FONT][/CENTER]

nealtw

The beam between the house and the post should be level, Have you checked it?

nealtw

I suspect that the footing under that post was not big enough or was not on undisturbed soil and has settled. If that is the case, the beam could be lifted back into place. If then it continued to settle the footing would have to be dug up and re-done properly.

CallMeVilla

A fixable mess ... I would remove the fascia and jack the entire front up to the proper angle, ensuring the front is level. Remove the existing post and pour a new, deeper footing (accounting for freeze-thaw). I would add a footing in the bedding in front of the rock wall for a new post. Next, I would add a horizontal beam spanning the rafters left to right, supported by new posts. Attaching the rafters to the new beam and replacing the fascia will finish the fix ... maybe for a very long time.

Oh, and fix that silly downspout too!

JoeD

What's deal with the big C bend in the gutter downspout? Why not straight down and why not at the end away from the house?

mudmixer

kskatz -

If would help if you gave your location to determine the problems the home could have encountered due to the weather and frost, etc.

Are those really trusses extending over the entry area or are they just joists with little continuity back into the home itself? - The adjacent section of the house behind the does not seem to be trussed because of a vaulted ceiling.

The strange drainage pipe on the right of the entry certainly could be responsible for the accumulation of junk in the gutter and the sagging since there was no way for it to drain decently.

It does appear the the outer (left end) of the roof is slightly lower than the rest, but the sagging gutters throws every thing off. that is certainly a large area to collect water and leaves and choke down through a single downspout even if it is straight.

If there is no breaking of the roof members, it may be possible to replace the posts and/or footings and make everything level and drain well.

Dick

BridgeMan

That overhang looks way too low, such that only very short people are able to walk under it without ducking down. Have you considered just cutting it back 3 or 4 feet, making it shorter and higher?

nealtw

I'm still waiting for the OP to put a level under that beem, the post has to be 3" down.

BridgeMan

We call them "beams" on this side of the border, nealtw.