Roof Inspector Identifies Leak From Inside the Kitchen

An insurance adjuster investigating a leaking roof in South Carolina found the weak spot by stepping backwards onto the ceiling, falling straight through it and landing in the kitchen.

The remarkably decisive inspection was captured by a home security camera, which recorded the man suddenly arriving from above as the homeowners looked on in shock. He had been called to the property to establish what was causing leaks in the couple’s roof, only to provide a rather more immediate demonstration of the ceiling’s condition.

Homeowner Joel R. Merritt said the adjuster initially examined the roof in the conventional manner, by walking on top of it. This failed to reveal the source of the problem, so the investigation moved indoors and upwards.

“The insurance adjuster could not determine the cause of the leaks from walking on the roof, so he asked to take a look in the attic. I was with him in the attic as he was looking around when he stepped back onto the ceiling,” Merritt said.

Ceilings, though useful for separating kitchens from attics, are not generally designed to support an insurance adjuster. The footage shows the man breaking through and dropping into the room below, bringing the attic inspection to an abrupt and unusually vertical conclusion.

Merritt was still in the attic when his visitor vanished from view. “I was obviously shocked when he suddenly disappeared, but I was concerned for his safety,” he said.

The incident took place three years ago, but Merritt later shared the recording on his Instagram account because it “gets us laughing every time.” It is difficult to imagine a more conclusive piece of evidence for an insurance file, although it was not the sort of supporting documentation anyone had intended to create.

The camera itself had originally been installed for an entirely different form of surveillance. Merritt and his household had set up cameras to monitor dog sitters while they were away on holiday, then forgotten the devices were there. They remembered only after the roof incident, when it emerged that the adjuster’s descent into the kitchen had been preserved on video.

The recording has since circulated as security footage of the bizarre mishap. No further details were provided about the cause of the original leak, any injuries, repairs to the new adjuster-shaped opening, or what happened with the insurance claim. The inspection did, however, establish beyond reasonable doubt that at least one part of the property was letting things through.