Huntington Beach Home Inspector Finds Body Under House

Ok, it’s a catch phrase and what I did find was a body of evidence, evidence of shoddy work that is. I inspected a 1950’s era home a few months ago that initially impressed me as a fine example of remodeling. It had high quality interior finish carpentry work; large floor base molding, large door casing, and six panel interior doors. The colors were trendy mauve shades and the moldings were painted bright white. The cabinets throughout were high quality with solid maple dovetail constructed drawer boxes and stealth drawer guides. Large crown molding was also installed. The counters were granite and the flooring was brand new distressed look hardwood, not tacky laminate as is usually found on flipper houses. The carpet was that new trendy looking stuff that is kind of like the shag carpeting that was ‘in’ back in the sixties but has made a come-back in a shorter pile. The windows were good quality double paned vinyl replacements.

So what’s not to love? This house would charm the socks off a new home buyer.

The first thing I noticed was the patio cover that stretched some twenty feet. Apparently, the previous owner installed or had installed a 4X6” beam to stretch this span and it was sagging about 4” in the middle. It would have been so easy to have added a post but the remodeler didn’t bother. I looked down at the post that was holding up the beam and there was an electrical conduit coming up out of the concrete and the wires had been snipped off. I didn’t investigate where they came from and I don’t know where they were originally going to but the contractor should have at least terminated them properly, not just cut them and leave them there.

There was a hose bib coming out of the stucco wall nearby that was loose, it was old school  galvanized pipe. Wouldn’t you think that in a house that they put so much money into the interior, they would at least have put some money into redoing the crawlspace plumbing in copper?

The pattern of poor workmanship and sub-standard work in the crawl space was further testament that this builder only wanted to sell the house fast. There was plenty of examples of poor wiring below the house with connections outside of junction boxes to Romex wiring being draped here and there and resting in the dirt.

It  was easy to see this investors modus operandi which was the same as some cheap car lot putting a fresh paint job on a clunker.

In my case as a Home Inspector it worked out good because I was inspecting this home for another investor who didn’t mind me revealing the stuff every realtor doesn’t want a property inspector to find; deal killer construction defects. The buyer and the realtor found another house after this one that I was able to inspect. This is a good example of why you need a good home inspector before you buy. Caveat Emptor.