One conducive condition that we are mandated to cite, and some people do not understand or agree with, is shown in the photo below. This is form wood in a crawl space.

Form wood is wood that was put in place and used, like a mold, when they poured the footing at the foundation. The builder should remove the form wood afterwards but many contractors do not. Some argue that it does not matter because the wood will turn to soil anyway. Well, they kind of have a point, but not a very good one. The wood will, over many, many years, eventually compost but, along the way, it rots and becomes very appealing to wood destroying organisms. In fact, rot itself is a wood destroying organism of the fungal variety and the process of decay makes the wood simply irresistible for the insect pests.

Even though some people are upset when old form wood is cited in a report, really, in the realm of things, it is no big deal to correct the problem. Usually the wood is easily pulled off with a rock hammer, a crow bar or some simple tool. It does not take a PHd to get this job done and casual labor can certainly be called in. This is not a half bad job for a handyman. That is, of course, assuming that the rot was caught before it caused other damage.

Steven L. Smith