FALLEN TREE AND RESULTANT DAMAGES CLAIM

ASSESSMENT

Black Bird Construction was contacted by the client’s insurance company to assess and conduct repair work. An assessment took place at the client’s property in Kraaifontein, where various items were inspected and a quotation was then generated and accepted by the insurer and client. Below is a breakdown of what transpired during the claim and excerpts of the assessor’s findings have been included as a means to explain the various building work required to repair the damages. The scope of work has also been included along with photos of the damages before and after the repairs were completed. We hope you enjoy the post and if you would like to learn more about Black Bird Construction please feel free to contact us.

REPORT

The damages are pretty bad, a tree from the neighbor’s property fell onto the **** property causing a lot of damage to the roof of the garage. The clothing line in the area where the tree fell was also damaged, this, however, has been fixed already.

The roof has sustained the majority of the damage as you’ll see in the attached images. The damaged components of the roof include; the gutters, roof sheet panels, fascia boards, eaves and some of the structural components of the roof such as the trusses. We have also noticed that the purlins connecting the garage roof to the rest of the house have been dislodged as well. This was most likely caused by the force or impact caused when the tree hit the roof on the other end. The impact from the tree lifted the roof to such an extent that it caused the components tying the garage to the house to pull so hard that it actually dislodged. This, in turn, has caused damage to the interior of the home, causing cracks in the plaster to form. The entire central ridge running over the pitch/apex of the roof has also been completely bent. Quite a few of the roof sheets have been bent as well and will most certainly need to be replaced. Besides the sheets, some of the trusses have also sustained damage, with the ends actually snapping off leaving a very ugly edge. Thankfully these truss overhangs can be cut and neatened off. A replacement piece can be attached so that we can install new fascia boards and hang new gutters as well. This is not the ideal solution, but besides doing the repairs in this manner the only other way would be to replace the damaged truss. This, however, would raise the costs significantly and it’s something I am trying to avoid. I have spoken to **** regarding this particular part of the job. He’ll be advising me on how to approach these repairs without having to replace the entire truss.

SCOPE OF WORKS

BELOW IS A BREAKDOWN OF THE REPAIR WORK CONDUCTED TO THE RESULTANT DAMAGES AT THE AFFECTED PROPERTY:

Exterior roof sheet repairs:

Prop roof and remove all damaged roof sheets and ridges.
Supply and replace all damaged roofing sheets and ridges.

Gutters:

Remove and dispose of all asbestos gutters (15M in total).
Due to the house being as old as it is, we will have to remove the existing asbestos gutter system as this particular type of gutter is no longer manufactured. Connecting our new system to the old would be impossible.
Supply and fit 15M of new PVC gutters.
Install all gutters, downpipes, connectors, offsets and shoes.

Eaves:

Supply and repair eaves to the side and back of the house.
New eaves/overhang to be built with batons and Nutec board.
Repair truss end by removing surrounding brickwork, saw off remaining damaged timber.
Join on truss extension for eave completion.
Replace brickwork and bag.
Supply and fit cover strips, half rounds & quadrants.

Fascia boards:

Supply and fit new facia board
Apply 2 coats of matching paint (white enamel) to newly installed facia as well as old section (for uniformity).

Roofing structure:

Remove and store client’s property.
Prop roof structure.
Remove damaged timber components including purlins and rafters.
Replace the structural timber that was dislodged when the tree hit the roof. This includes; running beams along the apex of the ridge, cross beams, purlins and batons connecting garage roof to main housing structure.
Cut into fire wall brickwork for access.
Brick up and bag brick work when finished with firewall connection repairs.
Apply single coat of primer to repaired brickwork.
Repack client’s goods.

Paint (Exterior)

Paint newly installed eaves with high quality exterior paint.
All existing/surrounding eaves to be painted along with new eaves to ensure a uniform and consistent look.

Paint (Interior)

Interior wall was affected by the impact of the tree falling on opposite end of the roof.
Sand, prep and paint interior wall.
The client has said that she has the exact color for this work.