I knew the sheathing was failing on this roof, but I was soon to find out why. The attic inspection usually reveals the source of the problem and that it did. This attic did not have drop-down steps, but just a two-foot by two-foot scuttle. I got my ladder in place and opened the scuttle, and what I found next was breath taking. I do mean breath taking, the smell of raw sewage rolled out of the attic opening so bad it took my breath away.
As a home Inspector you have to be ready for surprises, I was not ready for that. After I got myself together from the smelly surprise, I got my head up in the attic enough to see that the waste vent stopped about three foot of going through the roof. The attic was full of sewer gas, and had been since the roof had been replaced four years a go. The waste vent stack was made of sections of cast iron pipe. When the roof was replaced the top two sections of this pipe was removed to replace bad sheathing, and never re-installed. The excessive moisture in the attic over time had destroyed most of the roof sheathing.
The seller was not happy to find out that all of the roof sheathing needed to be replaced and new shingles installed. The buyer was happy to find out this problem before he purchased the house. The seller made all of the repairs and the buyer moved in a week later than planed, but all is well that ends well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment