Improper Deck Installation affects Entire Home! (Norristown Home Inspector)
As a home inspector in Norristown, PA, I come across some poor workmanship in my home inspections.
Last week, I performed a home inspection in Norristown for a real estate investor and found a rather bad case of an improper deck installation.
Some people might think, "OK, at worst, you tear it out and properly install a new one." In this particular case, you'll see improper deck installation affects more than just the deck... it affects the entire home!
At first glance, this deck might look like any other. A home inspector sees more. I crawled under the deck to take a closer look and I could see the deck ledger board was not properly flashed. Actually, it wasn't flashed at all! As a result, moisture had gotten behind the ledger board over the years and rotted it.
These 3 pictures show some of the rotted ledger board that did not have flashing.
Once inside the home, you could see this damage caused by an improper deck installation had affected the structure of the home itself.
Not only did the moisture rot the deck's ledger board, but it made its way into the home and also rotted the sill and the framing above, which is part of the home structure.
That's not good!
From the 2 pictures below, you can see the back wall of the home is actually sinking. You can see the trim doesn't match up anymore and there's a big gap between the top of the wall (that is sinking) and the ceiling it was once attached to.
My client was hoping to rehab this bank-owned property quickly and inexpensively. However, this deck issue turned out to be a pretty major defect and he decided the scope of this work was far too much for his budget and passed on this home.
Hopefully the next buyer for this Norristown home gets a home inspection!
David Artigliere is a home inspector with
ARTI Home Inspections LLC and covers Norristown, PA and surrounding areas.
He is available 7 days a week and can be reached at
(610) 220-1907 or by visiting www.artihomeinspections.com.
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