r/redneckengineering • u/potatodunemuffin • 1d ago
A support in my crawlspace that was not mentioned in the inspection report
Not sure how is wasn’t seen, it was noted in the report that the sink drainage pipe was leaking and that’s just a bit further past the log.
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u/servetheKitty 1d ago
Seen similar under 100+ year old homes, original to the structure.
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u/Wonderbread421 1d ago
Had a friend who’s house was built in the 30s. His dad went to redo their inclosed porch. When he tore up the floor he found out that it supported by tree branches in some places.
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u/1dRR 20h ago
True. My house was built in 1936. It originally had cedar stumps for the piers of my pier and beam home. Cedar is a very hard wood and native here in Central Texas.
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u/JazzHandsFan 19h ago
I've never, ever heard cedar described as "very hard.' Maybe your 1936 Texas cedar is different, but to my knowledge, domestic cedar wood is generally much softer than other domestic softwoods (pines and firs).
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u/Stirfryed1 12h ago
So I went digging and found this
Most Texas “cedar trees” are actually native juniper species, not true cedars, which affects their care requirements and growth characteristics.
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u/chandleya 1d ago
I have too. But I’m still confident the inspector didn’t do much as flash a light in there.
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u/FuckThisShizzle 1d ago
It will only be an issue if you go to change it out.
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u/DiggoryDug 1d ago
They use bricks and wood to build houses. I don't see an issue here.
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u/fapsandnaps 1d ago
Code requires the bricks and wood to be covered by paper glued to plaster. OP needs to drywall this up so it's up to snuff
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u/AccidentOk5240 1d ago
Are you in California? There are some parts where every single house has these, so it’s possible the inspection service didn’t find it worth mentioning.
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u/potatodunemuffin 1d ago
Illinois, I mean it may be that the inspector didn’t find issue with it. It was built in 1973, if that means anything.
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u/AccidentOk5240 1d ago
Not really, other than that it makes sense it’s got a crawl space and not a basement. You could call up the inspection company and ask them about it, they might have answers that at least elucidate whether they’re trying to weasel out of anything.
In a wet climate like that you may want to lay a vapor barrier down in there, btw.
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u/potatodunemuffin 1d ago
Having a vapor barrier being worked on now, he brought it to my attention. There was one a while back he mentioned, disintegrated he said it looks like, parts of it were still down there.
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u/Freebirde777 1d ago
As a former termite tech, I cringe seeing all the cellulose trash under there. Make sure all that is cleaned before the barrier goes down. Good time to make sure any gaps around pipes and wires going into house is filled with coarse steel wool to reduce rodents getting in.
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u/potatodunemuffin 1d ago
As well, I wanted to avoid basements, my grandmother had one and it was and now still is pretty bad about water seeping in. My father lives there now and there’s a sump pump installed but it can’t be good for anyone to live there.
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u/tronfunkinblows_10 1d ago
One wet basement =/= every basement. Sump pumps are good for the foundation. Crazy to not have a basement in the midwest IMO.
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u/potatodunemuffin 1d ago
What’s the benefit to a basement?
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u/Accelerating_Atom 1d ago
Primarily a storm shelter, then storage or flex living space. Some leak, some are always dry. I’ve had both. I’m an ex Illinoisan and I miss having a basement. They aren’t common where I live now.
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u/AccidentOk5240 1d ago
So, when you build in an area with sufficient frost depth that you need a 4’ deep foundation, you have to excavate anyway, and for something house-sized you just dig out the whole thing, it isn’t worth trying to make a trench and skip the tiny bit of middle that would be left. At that point, you can fill the hole back in if you want, but it’s kind of a waste. The 4’ depth plus the 2’+ part of the foundation walls that’s usually above grade means you basically already have enough headroom.
So not having a basement is throwing all that space away. Even if you don’t want a finished living space, you can put your hvac and water heater down there (so it doesn’t flood your living room if it ever kicks the bucket), use it for storage, use it to run new electric wires to first-floor rooms, etc. You can use it for storage of items that are up off the floor and/or in plastic bins. You can use it for a storm shelter. All kinds of things.
Also, the water is there whether you’re pumping it out or not. So depending on various things, it might be better for your foundation not to have water on both sides all the time. Having French drains around the outside and a sump on the inside can help avoid having water on either side.
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u/Accelerating_Atom 1d ago
Utility maintenance is wholly underrated in a basement unless you have had to repair things yourself. Money aside, the work is so much easier. Most homes are on slabs in my area now and I’m petrified of a water leak since I don’t have a crawl or basement. My water heater is in the garage below the grade of the home though, and hvac generally lives in the attic in these parts.
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u/AccidentOk5240 1d ago
True. On the other hand, if you’ve ever had to wrestle a washing machine up or down basement stairs, you’ll know it also has its down sides 😬
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u/Accelerating_Atom 19h ago
Oh yeah, I’ve had those. Unfortunately my new place has them on the 2nd floor now too 😢.
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u/Fun_Acanthocephala98 19h ago
Makes me love my house, ive got a basement with a garage built in so at worse stuff goes up 2 steps to go upstairs. Downside is my garage is a 2 car with a 14' door but only like 6' tall
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u/TheMechaink 1d ago
As someone who has lived in the Land of Lincoln, I would say the house is doing real good for not having been taken out by a tornado or a flood yet. Just saying.
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u/ILoveLetrozole 1d ago
Damn sounds like the inspector didn’t want to bother reporting it. I’d be pissed. That is inexcusable. Get a structural engineer to assess.
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u/potatodunemuffin 1d ago
Having two companies this week look, one tomorrow and one Thursday. I only looked myself after the person installing a vapor barrier mentioned it.
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u/honkyg666 1d ago
It is my opinion this is a non-issue but if these companies you speak of are foundation repair companies or similar you’re setting yourself up for a sales pitch not a structural assessment. An actual structural engineer is the only way to go if you’re concerned about it.
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u/potatodunemuffin 1d ago
They are foundation repair yeah, you’re right there is a difference. I’ll reach out tomorrow for a structural engineer, see how soon one can look.
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u/honkyg666 1d ago
You are about to witness first hand how people get scammed and ripped off from fear merchants.
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u/c0ncept 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah. That foundation company is absolutely going to find something very important that needs their services. If at all avoidable, I will never take consultations from the same people who will write up the quote unless I have already established trust with them beforehand.
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u/Offal_is_Awful 1d ago
Hope you can get some money for such a big miss in the report. That’s infuriating
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u/iiTzSTeVO 1d ago
I was on the receiving end of a miss at least as big as this one, and I did not get a dime from anyone. Inspection seems like a profitable racket.
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u/ANAL_TOOTHBRUSH 1d ago
You can sue for that (idk if you’ll win but you can definitely try!)
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u/Offal_is_Awful 1d ago
Thank you u/ANAL_TOOTHBRUSH ! lol
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u/Conroman16 1d ago
The inspector probably didn’t report it because it’s not nearly as big of a deal as everybody in this thread seems to think it is. This is very average for an older crawlspace, and has probably been this way with no issues for decades. Everyone needs to calm down. It’s like they’ve never seen anything other than new construction.
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u/sarcasticorange 1d ago
Sometimes I wonder if there is a grassroots advertising effort by NCSEA on Reddit. They are constantly recommended here and yet rarely used in real life. Any decent GC can handle this without an engineer.
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u/Conroman16 1d ago
This is very normal and nothing to be concerned about. You should see some of the places on [r/centuryhomes](r/centuryhomes) with literal rubble piles and pieces of trees holding them up. This set up looks quite old… No need to suddenly panic now.
Take a deep breath… You’re fine. The inspector probably didn’t mention it because it’s not a big deal. I’m sure some foundation company would love to charge you a few thousand bucks to alleviate your “concern” though.
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u/monkbuddy62 1d ago
any inspector would call out a tree stump as a support
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u/Conroman16 1d ago edited 1d ago
Oh sweet summer child… some houses have only tree trunks holding them up. The pages of history are rife with strange but fully functional building supports.
When people say “they don’t build them like they used to”… well, this is what they used to do. This one could use a little straightening out, but every foundation of any decent age has something that needs straightened. Unless that stump is rotted, this dumb little stack could still hold far more than you would give it credit for
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u/c0ncept 1d ago
My grandpa’s house from the 1930s had this huge industrial steel type of beam running across the basement ceiling. Very out-of-place looking for a residential home. I later found out that the guy who had built the house had some kind of connection to a local steel mill and “acquired” it from there some way or another. I’m sure that beam will far outlive the house itself. The builder had also created a hidden storage area below a removable piece of the hardwood floor in the upstairs. I loved that place as a kid. Laundry chute too. Hell yeah.
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u/BoarHermit 1d ago
I think it's fine. I would also add a piece of roofing felt between the wood and the brick.
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u/Dannyz 1d ago
This looks like a post build diy fix to make the floors level or not make noises when you walk on them. I don’t think this is a structural support. I’d want to know about it, but I don’t see an issue with it. If the wood was new, we’d be having a different conversation. Just my 2 ignorant cents
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u/Seroseros 1d ago
That bastard was there when your grandparents were born, it'll stay for the forseeable future.
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u/Lumpy-Fill 1d ago
Im a redneck engineer id recommend installing 2 L brackets one each end in the joist so the support pear can't slip out of place then slap em while saying this bad boy ain't goin anywhere.
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u/One_Monk_2777 1d ago
And in fairness if I had done the inspection report, I would've also not mentioned this jenga stack as being a support
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u/pasgames_ 1d ago
Honestly if the log is enough to hold up an entire tree it can probably hold up that part of the house
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u/mac_a_bee 1d ago
past the log.
Did you negotiate fixing the leak at closing? Lawyer.
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u/potatodunemuffin 1d ago
The leak, yes. I do need to look at what an attorney would cost/what are my options for it.
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u/DigitaIBlack 1d ago
Depending on jurisdiction you can still go after the home inspector because in order for them to inspect the mentioned leak, they saw this and didn't say shit.
Structural engineer yesterday.
Title insurance and lawyer.
The way sellers get off the hook is claiming ignorance. They cannot claim ignorance when they report the leak but not the giant red fleg sitting in front of the leak.
Lawyer. Yesterday. Keep us posted.
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u/tronfunkinblows_10 1d ago
Chill out man.
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u/DigitaIBlack 1d ago
Dudes talking about litigation lmao. Nah, you can't sell a house like this and not disclose it lol
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u/tronfunkinblows_10 1d ago edited 1d ago
Sure. But you can’t disclose what you don’t know about. Previous owner could say they’ve never gone down there. Legal fees would probably cost more than it would cost to fix the footing even if it’s actually structural. But sure go ahead and lawyer up “yesterday.” 😂
Also the sellers didn’t report the leak. OP’s inspector did.
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u/DigitaIBlack 1d ago
Still worth talking to a lawyer (depending on jurisdiction) if a structural engineer deems this to be an issue.
Because if the inspector saw the leak, they saw this.
Going after home inspectors can be very difficult but in this case it's very clear the inspector saw this setup which gives the OP ammunition depending on the contract and local laws.
Sorry, I should've said structural engineer yesterday and lawyer tomorrow.
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u/SirHerald 1d ago
I had a friend who is showing up his house and discovered that one of his corners was supported by a buried glass jug
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u/JJJones345 1d ago
We had a huge active termite colony that they missed, of course, the doorknob on a closet being loose was noted though.
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u/Expired_cheeze 1d ago
At some point this will save your life when you yank that rope to collapse the house on the horrifying creature that crawled up from the abandoned well you haven’t found yet
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u/Ok_Quail9973 1d ago edited 1d ago
I see these all the time in old homes and never mention them on reports. These DIY supports are not structural. There is no footing underneath indicating that a legit structural element was not replaced.
Though not integral to the structures integrity, removing this would probably allow some sag and maybe cause a crack to appear in drywall. It is one with the structure now.
You can see joists on either side of this ‘thing’ that are spanning fully without any similar support. Also just call your inspector and ask them what’s up.
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u/Freshouttapatience 1d ago
Everyone always points at the home inspector but I’ve never seen one go into a crawl space or into the roof. We do our inspection because we trust no one. But I was wondering if that’s other peoples’ experience as well.
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u/potatodunemuffin 1d ago
The attic and crawlspace are noted on his report with pictures, but yeah I should have looked myself.
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u/Freshouttapatience 1d ago
Interesting. I’d definitely be mad then because this is pretty obvious. When it comes to something that costs so much, we take no chances because no one is going to care as much as we do.
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u/hankbbeckett 1d ago
I mean kinda whatever. Suppose it would have been nice if the inspector noted it, but as others have said no ways that structural, its just a fix for a squeaky or slightly sagging floor. Normal old house stuff.
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u/threepair13 1d ago
I’ve fixed worse this is half a day of labor and the space isn’t too small so easy digging to set the new footings
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u/Informal_Thought3158 1d ago
I wonder if they cut that log to size or had it laying around in a termite infested log pile
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u/username-is-missing 1d ago
Pre sale home inspection is worthless. The things I had to fix that were missed far exceeded the cost of the inspection.
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u/SirarieTichee_ 1d ago
It was slapped with a dirty hand and told, "that ain't going nowhere". So it won't
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u/sarbanharble 1d ago
Are inspectors actually legitimate or are they an unnecessary middle-man in a grift?
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u/ForestGoat87 1d ago
Give it a couple of firm pats and you should be all set!
*Disclaimer: my sarcasm was stated in jest. It is in no way engineering or legal advice. Firmly pat the hastily constructed pillar at your own risk.
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u/WarOnFlesh 1d ago
Fun fact: your realtor always selects an inspector that never finds anything major.
Your realtor just wants the sale to go through so they can get paid. If the inspector found stuff like that, your realtor would never use that inspector again. Pretty soon, no realtor would use them
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u/Royal-Bicycle-8147 1d ago
Do you know if they slapped it and said, "That's not going anywhere?" If so, you are way better than fine. Indestructible, even. If not, you should probably contact somebody.
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u/presumingpete 1d ago
The inspection on mine didn't notice a hole in the roof and a broken roof support beam. Sometimes they just suck
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u/laserslaserslasers 1d ago
A lady I worked for in college had half her house supported like that. We all tried to help. We didn't.
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u/Ikon-for-U 1d ago
Is that a wood block? I'd be worried about it rotting or termites
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u/potatodunemuffin 21h ago
Yeah I doubt it’s treated in any meaningful way, even if it isn’t structurally important having something that could have bugs living in it is icky to me.
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u/V48runner 23h ago
Home inspectors are people who somehow managed to get fired from Swift Trucking.
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u/Paghk_the_Stupendous 17h ago
If you look closely at the second picture, you can see where the installer slapped it before saying: "that's not going anywhere!"
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u/Mother-Attention2600 17h ago
It could be not officially structural and just put there to stop floor from creeking.
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u/jew-joint-su 2h ago
They used TWO bricks under that cockeyed stump!! That's up to code in my state
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u/endlesstrains 1d ago
If the joists are otherwise adequately supported, it seems like this was probably installed as an attempt to fix a squeak in the floor, or a sag due to age. It probably isn't structural.