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Adventures In Home Inspection (Some May Be NSFW)

Every once in a while I run into someone who has watched too much HGTV and has decided to become a property flip tycoon. You know! The one who thinks he’s a contractor, but can barely figure out how to tie his shoes. Yesterday I spent about and hour and a half extra on my last home thanks to this guy. So many things like outlets wired backwards, plumbing leaks, and weird electrical splices/illegal tapping. But two of the moronic things he did really stood out. One was him using a mylar dryer duct to repair a section of a plumbing vent in the attic. He used exterior window flashing tape to seal the ends. The other was him connecting the upstairs toilet to the hot water supply.
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Woukd work great as a bidet !
 
Have you ever seen a vinyl deck railing used as a gutter extension that not only doesn't route water away from the home, but directs the it right into the crawlspace entrance. Well, now you have!
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That looks legit!!! I assume he floods the crawl space to fill the pool under there... Genius and eco friendly
 
Have you ever seen a vinyl deck railing used as a gutter extension that not only doesn't route water away from the home, but directs the it right into the crawlspace entrance. Well, now you have!
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The grade of that slope, looks off too. So either way, he's getting water in the crawlspace. What are they hiding, behind that unfinished plywood and 1x6? Is that an addition or is it a deck and they didn't put lattice or some other deck enclosure up?
 
Have you ever seen a vinyl deck railing used as a gutter extension that not only doesn't route water away from the home, but directs the it right into the crawlspace entrance. Well, now you have!
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How unique!!! I bet he was pretty proud of that setup too!
 
The grade of that slope, looks off too. So either way, he's getting water in the crawlspace. What are they hiding, behind that unfinished plywood and 1x6? Is that an addition or is it a deck and they didn't put lattice or some other deck enclosure up?

I noticed the same thing. I was hoping that maybe the picture made the grade look askew.
 
The grade of that slope, looks off too. So either way, he's getting water in the crawlspace. What are they hiding, behind that unfinished plywood and 1x6? Is that an addition or is it a deck and they didn't put lattice or some other deck enclosure up?
It's a deck that was converted to a sun room, and yes! Was definitely hiding some "less that professional" contracting work. Here's the write up I submitted. That thing was an accident waiting to happen between Harry Homeowners handy work, and the erosion under the columns (you called out Brandon).

The entire outer portion was only being supported by three 4x4 columns only propped up under the outer 2x6 main beam. The footers were sticking out of the grade about two feet in areas due to the extreme erosion. Then the band board was attached to the house with about 12 or so framing nails. No lag or carriage bolt anchors. The joist hangers had about 4 nails per hanger, if that. Don't mind the punctuation and grammar. At this point the client knew he was voiding the contract, and just wanted to get through the inspection as quickly as possible, so he could use the report to get out of his contract.

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@jfields framing nails on the ledger board? WTF! That addiction has to be sagging. They didn’t even bother to pier it up with 4x4s? Just enclosed it and called it good?
 
@jfields framing nails on the ledger board? WTF! That addiction has to be sagging. They didn’t even bother to pier it up with 4x4s? Just enclosed it and called it good?
Pretty much! My normal time spent on the outside of a house is normally 45 minutes to an hour. This one was 2 hour 10 minutes. I'm so glad the client pulled the plug! It's always the redneck version of three ethnic groups that do this shit. Whites, blacks, and latinos. Oddly, never see Asians, Indian, Arabic, etc. do this stuff.
 
Apologies if anyone took offense my last post and found it bordering and/or crossing racism. I was just trying to make an observation about funny quirks within certain races including my own. I remember a time when we used to be able to laugh at that. Like me buying an ethnic joke book at the school book fair, or watching movies like Blazing Saddles.

Anyways, someone PM'd me raising their issue. I won't say who because they were respectful and I can appreciate their stance. Below is my response. Hopefully, those who know me, know my heart.


"No worries <Name Withheld>! I knew it might be interpreted wrong by some. I think we've just become too politically correct these days and worry about who we are going to offend by what we say. But, by mentioning my own race as one of the guilty parties, I don't think it comes across as I'm singling out other races different from mine, or saying the others are weak, crazy, stupid, or evil in any fashion. If my own race weren't one of the guilty, I never would have made the post. It's just an observation about different ethnic personalities and what they do/how they act. I think it's good discussion to note how we are all different, but never good to act like one is better than the other. That's where hate and racism stems from..... Being afraid of what's different and deciding you don't like it because it's not the same as you.

I think the world would be a better place if we could ALL look at the some of the stupid things white people or white rednecks do and laugh about it."
 
Apologies if anyone took offense my last post and found it bordering and/or crossing racism. I was just trying to make an observation about funny quirks within certain races including my own. I remember a time when we used to be able to laugh at that. Like me buying an ethnic joke book at the school book fair, or watching movies like Blazing Saddles.

Anyways, someone PM'd me raising their issue. I won't say who because they were respectful and I can appreciate their stance. Below is my response. Hopefully, those who know me, know my heart.


"No worries <Name Withheld>! I knew it might be interpreted wrong by some. I think we've just become too politically correct these days and worry about who we are going to offend by what we say. But, by mentioning my own race as one of the guilty parties, I don't think it comes across as I'm singling out other races different from mine, or saying the others are weak, crazy, stupid, or evil in any fashion. If my own race weren't one of the guilty, I never would have made the post. It's just an observation about different ethnic personalities and what they do/how they act. I think it's good discussion to note how we are all different, but never good to act like one is better than the other. That's where hate and racism stems from..... Being afraid of what's different and deciding you don't like it because it's not the same as you.

I think the world would be a better place if we could ALL look at the some of the stupid things white people or white rednecks do and laugh about it."
No worries Brother. But I didn't know anybody besides hillbillies could be redneck. Wee call them Swamp Yankees up here
 
This is a first for me. Home that I inspected in Richmond Virginia was built in 1923. The main water supply from the street to the home was a lead pipe. I was trying to scratch it with my screwdriver to see if it was galvanized pipe or not, when I discovered it was soft lead. 😳
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