I Just Can’t Believe My Eyes!

By Frank G. Ross

I was having lunch with a friend the other day and he asked me to tell him some of the crazy things I have seen. I said, “Well, do you have a couple of hours?!”

The first thing that came to mind was a crawlspace I was in last year. The floor evidently had begun to sag in places and someone had nailed 2x4’s to “brace” the floor joists by standing the 2x4 up on a brick then nailing the other end to the joist. The crawlspace looked like a forest! I had to make my way through and around the 2x4’s to complete my inspection.

In another home, an old one, the breaker panel was the kind with cartridge fuses in it.  I suppose the fuses kept blowing because someone replaced them with lengths of copper tubing cut to the size of a cartridge fuse! I wrote this one up as a major safety concern and recommended that a licensed electrician correct this hazard ASAP!

Then in an attic of yet another old home, I saw three discarded furnaces! I guess it was too much trouble to remove them.

One place I see a lot of surprises are in homeowner-installed bathrooms. Such things as the toilet installed in such a way that the bathroom door won’t close, or sinks with automotive radiator hoses twisted in all directions substituting for the drain and trap, or a bathroom shower with the controls for the water in the room on the opposite of the wall.  Once I observed a garden hose run through the crawlspace then up through the floor by the bathtub for water to fill the tub (no hot water mind you just cold).   I’ve also seen water heaters with the water lines hooked up backwards, a toilet hooked up to the hot water instead of cold and a working toilet with the drain pipe not connected to the sewer line but just running outside into a pit behind the house.

Kitchens are fun too. For example, one house had no receptacles in the kitchen so extension cords were used to bring power in from the laundry room.  One homeowner mounted wheels on a built-in style dishwasher so it could be used as a portable unit, and another installed a propane RV kitchen stove in place on bricks where a full size stove would be.   Lastly, I pitied the homeowner without a kitchen sink; they had to use the sink in the laundry room to wash dishes!

My friend had a good laugh, but he could see the serious safety issues some of these situations presented.  Although some minor repairs can be properly made by a homeowner, my feeling is that unless you are a professional tradesman it would be best for your safety and the safety of others to hire a professional to do electrical or plumbing jobs. An improperly done job just poses too much of a risk.

Frank Ross is a Certified Utah Home Inspector for Pillar to Post Professional Home Inspection and a full member of the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors.  Readers may contact Mr. Ross at (435) 867-6400 or frank.ross@pillartopost.com.  You can learn more about Pillar To Post Professional Home Inspection at www.pillarposthomeinspection.com