I think one of the key requirements to being a Home Inspector is to have a sense of humor. If we could not get a chuckle out of the stuff we see in homes, we might be reduced to working at rendering plants, emptying porta-potties, or becoming bikini waxers.
I find it ironic that the same licensed professions we often call to make repairs to the things we find wrong are sometimes the same licensed professionals that create what we find wrong to begin with.
While today’s example will require repairs by professionals other than the ones that created the problem—-they will, in due time, get their time in the spot light.
It is very common for Licensed Plumbers to just plain not give a damn about the structures that they are running their pipes in. What plumbers do in homes, reminds me of termites that just keep eating and eating until all the structure they are living in collapses around them in a pile of wood-mush and squished termites.
Usually the destruction of the framing comes from free-for-all cutting of wood structural members with a sawzall—-the tool plumbers should be required to be licensed to use.
Sawzalls don’t kill houses—-plumbers kill houses.
In this case, a hammer or axe was used to remove one side of the metal hanger that supports the end of this 12’ long floor joist. The plumber figured his pipe was more important than the metal hanger. While not a huge structural concern (the house is not going to fall down), the joist should be adequately supported. In this case, adequate support can likely be achieved by bolting a ledger onto the foundation under the joist—or by other suitable means as determined by a qualified party.
By Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle
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