Bad Framing
Having a good home inspector is a crucial element in my business. To be able to time and time again refer business to professionals who have served past clients extremely well is something that gives my business the edge.
Its hilarious how sellers conviently have amnesia when the lining of questions chamnges to disclosure of defects on the property.
Its amazing as well that some buyers are so naive to the process that they honestly have no clue what is their best interest when it comes to the inspection of the home.
Any time I do an inspection I always ask my clients if they have any concerns in and around the property, that way I could pay special attention to their particular concern and explain its condition carefully and clearly. On this commercial property, the buyer stated his most urgent concern is the sagging floors on the west side of the building. During my brief interview, I asked him if he knew of any damage or repairs done to the property in recent months or years. Speaking with clients and especially sellers who are willing to give information is very helpful to home inspectors when diagnosing problems on and around the property. This commercial property is a five thousand foot single story structure. My client said the entire floor was re framed in the crawl space done by the owners who are a construction company. So right away I'm thinking termites or water damage was likely the cause of the re framing and the problem has reoccurred.
I learned a long time ago in this business to never do an inspection with preconceived ideas, even after gathering information. The inspection of this property is one reason why. True to the buyers concerns the floor on the west side had some significant sags in various areas, particularly toward the exterior walls, and a very weak spot in an area about a foot away from an interior wall. I just knew it was termites, especially since the foundation walls was in good shape on the exterior, and looking at all the impressive and expensive tools, I figured this construction company must have done a good job. Then again, maybe not.
Bad Framing!
As the subheading states above, thats simply what the problem was, bad framing. Take a look, a good look at the pictures below. The floor joist is not supported at all, and this is the case along the whole length of the west side wall. If you take a Closer Look you can see a hump at the top of the floor joist. Plus there were many cracks that you see in the picture on the right.
Then it gets worse. Remember the weak area I mentioned above? notice how they fixed that as shown in the picture on the left. That's right they just stuck a piece of 2 by 12 through the floor sheathing and kept it moving. Then they continued the practice of the unsupported joist as shown in the picture on the right.
All floor joist should be properly supported so they can perform its job of evenly supporting the finished floor above. Even for commercial buyers, a property inspection is helpful. Imagine the cost of re framing this property had he brought it with out an inspection. This is only the half of the framing problems, but at least he did not have to make the repairs himself.
Closer Look Property Inspections Inc.
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