Succumbing to Pier Pressure...

I am not a builder, but living in Earthquake country I get shakey just looking at those pictures.

Somewhere in the stream of commerce anyone who snags a sale or listing commission, an inspection fee, a loan commission, etc. is going to get burned when passing faulty property off to an unsuspecting civilian. Just hope it isn't you! Inspectors and appraisers are advocates of the inspection or appraisal ONLY!

Great pictures and very scary.  A lot of our older homes are pier.   Thankfully I personally have not had any deals that came up looking like those.   I always encourage my clients to get an inspection.   The inspectors I use all take pictures of the substructure so we can all see what it looks like.  

I live in an area where many of the same construction methods are implemented as your neck of the woods. Too often I see inspection reports with similar issues regarding the piers. Any inspector that misses this flaw/ defect doesn't deserve their license

You are VERY brave for even getting close enough to take these pictures. Sheesh!

Having been a builder who overdid structure and minimized spans I am always biting my toungue with some home inspectors, truth be told a structural engineer although pricey should be consulted for these repairs.  I am certain that I can fix these problems right but would be much more happy to have an engineer cerify it.

Interesting stuff. I believe 100% in pre-listing home inspections so there are no surprises on the back end.

Great post! As with any "professional" service, you don't always get what you pay for, so it pays to shop around and form solid partnerships with reputable providers.

Great post! As with any "professional" service, you don't always get what you pay for, so it pays to shop around and form solid partnerships with reputable providers.

Great post! As with any "professional" service, you don't always get what you pay for, so it pays to shop around and form solid partnerships with reputable providers.

Great post! As with any "professional" service, you don't always get what you pay for, so it pays to shop around and form solid partnerships with reputable providers.

Wow, those look just like the pictures my seller gave me of under his home after the floor fell through. The seller just did not put "enough" blocks under the house. Bought in 2006, no home inspection. Heat and air quit working too. Just a mess.

I think I can detect som ebubble gum under those cement blocks holding them together... great post (pun intended)

In SF Bay Area, California this type of support would last about 1 minute in an earthquake!

At least the ducts didn't have asbestos covering like one of my inspection report pictures. I asked the inspector why he didn't call out this fact and he said it "probably" isn't asbestos. Having flipped many homes in my younger days, I can recognize it when I see it and reported this to my clients who paid for the inspection.

The inspector quickly gave him a refund so he wouldn't be reported to the board. My client reported him anyway (out of my control).

Came across one of these recently.  I was with a buyer looking at a really cute rehab/flip and wondering what was wrong with it for the price.  Headed down to the basement via an outside entrance and the basement looked fine as well, but in the stairway down, there was a small opening with a handle and when you looked in to this crawl space (underneath a small portion of the house).....low and behold, we saw one of these lovely 'piers'.....looked just like your first picture.  Needless to say, we were out of there quite quickly and that property was scratched off the list.  But shortly thereafter, I saw that the listing was pending.......looks like the next person didn't look too closely......hopefully the inspector will......

Michael, this is something I have never seen. Most of our homes here are on slabs - and the ones that aren't, well, I don't look under tham, that''s what the inspector is for!

We have an abundance of pier and beam homes in Louisiana. This was an informative post even for those of us who are familiar with this type of construction. Thanks for posting.

If that were my home I would sure hope a buyer's agent told their buyers that they didn't need an inspection!

Thanks for this post!!! I happen to live in one of the pier and beam homes. It doesn't look like your examples at all!!! It is sturdy and secure I've experienced two earthquakes one being the Nisqually in 2001. When it quit shaking, nothings was damaged or disturbed inside.