Well I had a first today!

As usual I arrived about 20 minutes before my client or their agent.  As the house was vacant I was alone, so I started to get some of the "Grunt" work done.  This house was right at 125 years old with a stone foundation and a basement.  I found an access door, similar to a crawlspace hatch on the side of the house.  What I did not realize at first was that this was an old coal shoot that went down to the basement. 

What I did not realize was how steep and slick it was.  I slid about six feet down to the dirt basement floor, it took only one attempt to realize that my petite 6'1" 260lb body was not going to make it back up!  I was stuck in the basement!  The stairs went up to the house but the door was locked from the inside of the home.

So I proceeded to get my cell phone out of my pocket, and low and behold I had left it in my truck!  OK, it is getting past funny now......  About 15 minutes later I heard a car drive up, it was my client!  He heard me calling out the coal shoot and came to the entrance.  After he stopped laughing, he called his agent.  She said that she was just leaving Panera from eating lunch and she would be a little late!!!  TYPICAL I was thinking!  Anyway about thirty minutes later she pulls up and I'm out of the basement in short order.

The only good thing to come out of this episode was a one of the best basement inspections I have ever done!

 

 
Post is included in group: Home Inspections Q & A
Post is included in group: Home Inspectors across the country
Post is included in group: Home Inspector's Corner
Post is included in group: Independent Thinking Inspectors
Post is included in group: Professional Home Inspectors

12 Comments on A good reason not to start the inspection early!

NOV
11
2008
354,471 Points 11 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

That's a pretty scary tale.  You home inspectors sure get in some tight spots!

8:34pm • #1

Wow I hope that never happens to me.

9:16pm • #2
NOV
12
2008

Thats pretty funny. Glad you didnt get hurt. I made the mistake once of jumping down into one of those crawl space openings in a closet floor with out realizing how high it was and with out giving any though to pulling myself back up out of it. I am a pretty small guy and in relatively good shape and had a heck of a time pulling myself up over my head without anything near by to put my feet on and push myself up. It took several minutes but I made it out. Never a boring line of work!

4:00am • #3

Never had that one happen, but I did get locked in a bathroom once when the handle fell off the door when I closed it, and I was inside, listening to the clunk of the other part of the handle hit the floor on the hallway side. It was a vacant house, and the realtor left me there by myself. Luckily, I had a screwdriver in my pocket, and I was able to remove the hinge pins and get out.

5:34am • #4

Funny stuff Scott. A very real "oh crap" moment!

6:18pm • #5
NOV
13
2008
128,417 Points 2 Featured Posts

Funny story, glad everything turned out all right- no injuries. Never a dull moment in this business.

7:19am • #6

Yep, I was fairly lucky with this one.  The more I thought about I realized that I was lucky that I did not get hurt.  At the end of the shoot I dropped about 3 feet to the dirt floor.

9:02am • #7
338,951 Points 16 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Scott, I'm glad you weren't going down head first, that could have been deadly...

2:03pm • #8

I could not have gone head first, it was one of the ones that I had to back in at first because it had a recessed well opeing around it.  That was one reason I could not really tell how far of a drop it was.

3:48pm • #9
NOV
14
2008

"petite"?

Isn't great that we can laugh at ourselves.  I've done similar things and when it's over I just laugh and hope I don't do it again.

12:23pm • #10

Scott it seems funny now, but I've had no shows before (1).  I had one where the locked the Bull Terrier in the basement, so he wouldn't bother me.

Jack

12:40pm • #11
FEB
23

Good story Scott, thankfully never encountered that one yet. Here's to hoping it doesn't happen again.

9:09am • #12

Leave a response…



(optional)
What does the graphic say?
 
Dscn0354 Rainmaker_large

Scott Patterson - Middle TN Home Inspector

Spring Hill, TN

More about me…

Trace Home Inspections

Address: Spring Hill, TN, 37174

Office Phone: (615) 302-1113

Cell Phone: (615) 870-4162

Email Me

Looking for an inspection or just some honest information from one of nations most respected inspectors, look no further!

MUDTRAP.COM

Scott Patterson's Facebook profile


Links

Archives

RSS 2.0 Feed for this blog

Find TN real estate agents and Spring Hill real estate on ActiveRain.