broken roof truss?

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,

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.

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

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.

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!

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?

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

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?

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

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

Yup, where I live the post is the chunk of wood between the post and the footing. The slope of the beam is a result of the post sinking.

Beem me oop. Scooty. I've aboot had all the poutine I can stand

katz, we're all intrigued by that drain spout, please explain.

And do put a level on the "beem" so neal can relax. The angle of the photo and the gutter slant may be over emphasizing the sag.

No immagination: the pipe was installed to run down by the window and back out at the bottom, and the last guy that moved the gutter put the pipe up in the wrong order, likely to keep dripping water away from window.

So it was originally designed to wash the window every time it rained.

That post may have sunk but I don't think that's the main cause of the sag. There is just too much eave overhang, without trusses or rafter ties (no ceiling joists), the rafters are just not stiff enough. Especially that barge rafter on the end, it only has a partner on one side. This is a common problem in my neighborhood where many of the houses have truss roofs but a similar long overhang. The houses with a gable at the front have 3 corbels positioned in about the same places as the beams in this house. Side and rear gables do not even have the corbels.

Even with corbels the rafters, especially the barge rafters without truss support, sag. Some of them have bowed over the years causing a hump in the roof slope. Some have sagged in the middle making a dip in slope and a kick at the end, like a ski jump. One of my barge rafters even broke late one night.( Some folks awaken at the crack of dawn, the crack of a rafter will really get you out of bed.)

Jacking up the post high enough to cure that sag could put a hump in the roof, especially if the rafter has bowed. If 'twere me, I'd put a post right out at the corner. A 4X4 or 4" pipe on proper footing would probably do. Or, if ya just don't want a post there, possibly a stiff horizontal beam back to existing post and on back to wall. A hollow corner post could replace that weird down spout. Or use the existing spout with the C and hang a loud wind chime on it to annoy the neighbors.

John: I have seen the curve you are talking about, but I don't see it here. The second photo shows the facia nice and straight. If you look at the second photo at where the shingles are not in a straight line above the gutter. That says to me the sheeting in that area is stressing over a change of plane. Your curve would show slight changes from there to the lower outside corner.
But I have been wrong before. Hopefully we learn what the fix is.

You guys are not only shedding light on the issue but entertaining as well! .. Here's the deal. I have a contract on this house to buy. It's in a neighborhood of houses costing $300,000. and up. this house needs total remodel but even then is way under priced at $150,000. I'm trying to find out why they are willing to sell so cheap. I was there today and I put a level on the green beam. It's got a pretty good slope to it. Also,.. in line with the beam, just inside the house is a crack in the wall. noted by arrows in the new pictures I'm attaching. Also, it was hard to see in the pictures but there is also a considerable hump in the roof. I drew a line where the hump is on other picture. Also. just on the other side of the wall with the mystery downspout,.. (I have no idea why it's like that) the ceiling has seperated from the top of the wall by about 5/16". at first I thought maybe the slab floor had just sunk and needed mud jacked up but I put an 8' straight edge on the floor and there's no dip or bump and I put a level on it and it's perfectly level. so it has to be the roof bowing up. Is the large green beam a major structure feature to the house and could it be broken inside the wall about where the crack is on the interior? the wall that is seperating from the ceiling is on the other side of where the crack is and runs perpendicular. I'll try to find a picture of it.

might be hard to see but the black line where wall meets ceiling is a gap. the top of the doorway shown is the other side of the first picture with crack in wall depicted by two arrows.

I'm thinking I should back out of this house purchase. looking like bigger/costly structural issues I may not want to deal with.

The post sinking could be the cause of many of those issues. The other end of the beam is tilting up and making all the cracks and humps.

"a neighborhood of houses costing $300,000. and up. this house needs total remodel but even then is way under priced at $150,000" But what are other houses actually selling for? Real estate market is still "iffy."

I agree with joe's diagnoses. I don't think the beam is integral part of main house structure. It probably only extends inside about as far as roof hump. Are there similar beams at other end of house? Is there an attic crawl space so you can see if beams are part of framing? The "corbels" I was talking of earlier are fake beams, just a "beam end" just long enough inside to fasten to something under roof. Even if top beam extends across ceiling of that room, it may not extend very far under rest of roof.

As joe sez, the tilted beam is pro'lly cause of cracks and other problems. Except wacky drain pipe and wrongly sloped gutter draining at wrong end. I don't think your looking at very expensive repair, but crawl around up stairs.