Correlation between Drywall Cracks and Damaged Roof Trusses
Drywall cracks are generally considered a cosmetic issue..
...but this house, on the other hand, was different. The number of cracks we saw and the width of the cracks we observed were concerning. This was compounded by the fact that this house is less than 10 months old. There are homes I've inspected that are 50 years old and don't have this level of damage. Please take a look at the photos of the drywall cracks below.
We attributed these issues to the attic..
Generally, when we have drywall cracking in the ceiling, we can attribute to soil issues. But in this house, a lot of this cracking appears to be related to cracked trusses in the attic.
Lumber shortages were a prevalent issue during the post-covid housing boom. This resulted in builders having to use low-quality wood products for their homes.
Most people would think that the county’s housing inspector would catch issues like this but the county’s inspector rarely enters the attic.
This is where having a quality home inspector comes in.
We found about 8 issues in total and documented them in great detail.
Recommendation we gave to the client:
We recommended that our client input these construction defects into the “warranty portal” that they have with their builder. We also recommended that the builder, the structural engineer, the truss installer and the truss manufacturer inspects these issues.
This ensures that the 4 parties that are responsible for signing off on this issues are all involved.
It also helps encourage all 4 parties find a solution to reduce their likelihood of a construction defect lawsuit.
We’re staying in touch with the client to provide updates on this item.
