In Washington State, any for fee home inspection, involving a structure and a real estate transaction, must have a complete wood destroying organism inspection. This must be performed by a state tested, licensed and financially responsible (bond or insurance usually) structural pest inspector. If that inspector fails to call out conducive conditions in the crawl space it is a violation of state law.
This photo has great examples of conducive conditions. This is classic earth to wood contact. To the right is a structural member that has soil piled up at the footing. To the left of that is old form wood. This was put in place when the concrete pier was being poured.
Bottom line: Wood to earth contact is a serious conducive condition that will ALWAYS lead to wood destroying organisms. The issue is not "if" but how soon will that happen. Any inspector who fails to call this out is breaking the law. Also that person is subject to a fine and, worse yet, being hot industry gossip -- having his or her name bandied about in the state publication that lists the identity of those who recently violated the WDO rules. In Whatcom County, right now, there is a former home inspector who is wrestling with this very issue and it could be very costly for him. He would have been better off had he looked in the crawl space prior to writing up the report.
Thanks for looking.
Steven L. Smith
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