Chatham-Kent, and Wallaceburg especially, have many houses with crawl spaces. I always say to homebuyers, “Don’t fall in love with a house before looking at the crawl space”. This is by far the most important part of the inspection. Rotten wood members and makeshift supports are common practices. I am always on the lookout for improper "homeowner renovations". Unlike many inspectors, I make it a point to get to all areas of the crawl space, if possible. My years of experience have taught me where to look for problems, and that one part of a crawl space can be in good condition, while another part is completely rotted
When dealing with older homes, I realize that old houses aren’t perfect but can be still structurally sound. On the other hand, one common issue I see is older houses with poured concrete or rubble stone foundations, which can deteriorate over time and are potentially costly to fix.
 Plumbers have a bad habit of cutting floor joists that are in the way. The bathroom floor now slopes. |
 This brick chimney suffers from water damage and is beginning to crumble/spall. Soon it will need to be taken down and replaced. |
 This chimney cap is cracked, and when moisture gets into the cracks it will cause further damage to bricks below. |
 This is a typical crack in the bricks near a garage door. |
 Whoever installed this wood stove pipe decided it was a good idea to cut through the roof rafter rather than moving the pipe. This will cause the roof to sag, plus the fact that it’s a fire hazard. |
 This slab driveway has settled, causing a trip hazard. |
 A major fire has caused damage to the attic structure. |
 This precarious deck support will eventually give way, leading to failure of the deck itself. |
 This is a common improper support pillar found in crawl spaces. |
It appears that no header was installed over a window where a wall was removed and a beam was installed. |
 This shows a rotted sill plate with evidence of powder post beetle damage. |
 This wall was not extended past the foundation, causing water to run under the sill and rot out the base of the wall. The siding is now bowing out. |
 This split roof rafter has completely failed – can cause roof sag or full collapse. |
 This is typical rot to floor joists and a beam in a house with a crawl space. This will be very costly to repair. |