Structural repairs

[LouisEly]

There was some type of leak into the roof of our building. The roofers are here and fixed the roof, but the water caused significant damage to the structure of the building - the beams and rafters were damaged/rotting. The roofers said that the damage was caused by the original builder not installing any vents or insulation to the roof. With no vents, the moisture had nowhere to go and sat trapped between the roof and my ceiling.

 

The roofers have finished the roof and they had to add a bunch of new wood to it (about 500 2x6 and 2x4 boards). The pounding of the roof exacerbated the cracks in my ceiling and we had to cut out a big section of the ceiling before it collapsed. When we cut it out, I found that there were still some rotted/bowed/partially broken beams, which as they are will prevent a flat ceiling from being installed. I asked the roofer about this, and they said that is not part of the roof (I guess they're correct about that) and that it would have to be fixed from the inside.

 

I had a drywall company come in and look at it today, and he said that he is concerned about the beams and rafters and advised me not to pay the roofers. The roofers said that it is something that can only be fixed from the inside and whoever does the interior would have to repair it.

 

Not sure who to believe. The roofer did a great job, was in constant communication during the job, sent me pictures daily, has great reviews on Yelp/Google, and A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. Beams aren't really part of the roof, they are part of the structure. Another interior guy said to get a structural engineer, and I have one coming over, but he doesn't do the repairs - he only advises what needs to be done.

 

If anyone has any experience with anything like this I'd greatly appreciate any advice.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I don't have any experience, but I do watch a lot of home improvement shows. I've never seen the roofer on the shows fix structure.

[homer]

Yeesh, that stinks. I wish could offer up some advice but I wouldn't know the first thing. Guess if I was you I would ask the engineer if it was the roofers fault. I'm sure he/she can tell you how best to go about getting it fixed even if they aren't doing the work. Possibly recommend someone for you as well.

[BrewCrew02]

Another option would be to contact a building inspector. They would likely know who should be responsible for fixing the issue given they've probably dealt with it in some fashion before.