My Entire Veranda Just Collapsed!!

Thanks God the kids got out from under it in time!! And the noise was incredible.

We've had so much snow and rain and more snow, and we have been cleaning it off as we got, but this morning there was so much and it froze so fast, the weight collapsed the roof of the veranda and also the back porch. The stairs are ripped away from the house, the siding has been pulled off -- its a bit of a mess.

When we bought the house, we knew there were a lot of things that needed to be updated. Stupid us for thinking the frigging roof would have been attached properly!! They used mostly 3" and 4" nails in a couple of places, and that was it. We didn't know that was all holding it together -- but now we can see that in the piles of rubble and snow and ice that are blocking all the doors. We planned on replacing it next summer, so I guess that timetable just got moved forward, but its hard to do much construction in winter here.

It could have been so much worse because Tony had just been standing there. I will never understand why someone would take such stupid shortcuts on construction. People are so frigging stupid.

My hands are still shaking, but now I think its because I am so damned angry. The nails that held it up were only driven into the cedar siding -- there are no lag bolts or even screws along the entire 60' length.

KTC said:

OMG! That's terrible. Glad nobody got hurt in the collapse. That's the main thing. Now...to fix it. Yuck!

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Yeah, we're glad and very lucky -- but I'm sick of snow and frigging winter!!!

Thanks, guys. As long as we don't get any more stupid snow (don't say it!!!) or wind, we should be able to get it cleaned up enough to make at least one of the doors safe. As we're starting to dig through, though, everything on the veranda is smashed.

KTC said:

(you weren't the one teasing me about snow in November, were you? Hmmm?)

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Teasing about snow? Me?

I want daffodils, too.

The veranda is the covered porch that runs along the back of the house. We had some swinging benches and some tables and chairs there. Its where I sit in the summer time to write.

Frosty was out there, and now his head sorta comes out his butt. A bunch of the chairs were smashed under the weight of the roof and the snow and ice.

The boys are out there trying to take the weight off it and clear the mess away from the door, but garbage keeps falling down on them, and now its starting to snow.

Haggis said:

Perhaps (hopefully) your homeowners policy will cover the damage?

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It probably would. I'm already starting to cost out the repairs and we see what they come to first, and then compare that to what the premiums will increase if we claim. Its pretty much standard here that if you make any claim, the premium will go up 30-40% for a five year period, so we really have to crunch the numbers.

choppersmom said:

Were there any voles under it when it fell??

*Sorry, couldn't help myself!*

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Oh, that I should be so lucky!!!!

We at least have the doorways cleared away now, but the snow is dumping down here again. We'll keep working to clear the rest, but our first priority is to make sure there's nothing more to fall down -- a bunch of the siding splintered, the light fixtures are just hanging there (the breaker for them has been turned off) but at least we should be okay to get in and out of the house.