Does your house have “DNR Orders?”

The older a person gets the more frequent it becomes that someone you know—even someone you love—-develops a life threatening health condition.  Whether old or young, it seems that no one is “necessarily” protected from attacks of one kind or another on their bodies.  Even those that are well cared for can still have to deal with circumstances seemingly beyond their control, and they will still need routine check-ups and maintenance.  There are others that—-no matter what nature throws at them—-seem to not be affected at all.  There are still others, where it seems obvious, that they might have lived their lives in ways where they could have avoided much suffering and deterioration.

Are houses really any different?

Such was the case with “Rickety House.”  Rickety House didn’t start out rickety, but over time……….

Toward the end, as the house was ravaged by vicious attacks from within and without—-it did indeed become Rickety.  Sometimes homes merely mirror of the way they have lived—much like people.

Unfortunately, Rickety House never got off to a very good start.  

It was absolutely no fault of the house itself that it was not given the “good bones” that some of the rest were given at the start of their lives.  As the house lived its life, those dang bones that it was given at the time of original construction would come back to haunt it.

It is a hard fact of life that there is little we can do about those foundations built in the beginning of our lives that ultimately crumble and cause us to topple like a house of cards.  No matter how we dress-up those bones on the “outside” they are still there on the “inside.”

I guess that whatever cards we are given, it is up to each of us to do what we can to maintain that house-of-cards the best we can; and, to do what we can to help those around us maintain theirs as well.

Even though it is my job to point out these deficiencies and to make recommendations as to how best to maintain these failing bodies, I still cannot help but feel that sometimes it might just be best to just let them go—-to not prolong the suffering any longer—-to simply pull the meter.  At some point we reach a place where the costs involved emotionally, monetarily and even ethically may not justify what would be necessary to prolong the inevitable.

Sometimes the best plan is to let go of our empathy and bring in the bulldozer so that we can start over.  Sooner or later doesn’t it just become a matter of good money chasing bad money?

Shouldn’t all houses come with DNR Orders?

Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle

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