Porch Light Home Inspection

WTF Friday | Crawlspace Edition

In older Bend homes, especially some of the 1930s and 1940s mill homes, it’s not unusual to find a little creative crawlspace engineering.

But this one was on a different scale.

Dry-stacked lava rock. Wood shims. Floor beams resting on top. No proper footing. No secured support.

The impressive part? It’s been holding for more than 70 years.

The less impressive part? It’s still dry-stacked rock and wood shims supporting the structure.

At some point, “it’s been there forever” stops being a structural strategy.

Time to reform the support system and de-lava-rock the crawlspace.

Clarity Before Close.

Foundation

A thorough inspection is about more than finding issues. It’s about helping you understand your home and what to plan for next. Thanks for trusting Porch Light, Mitchel!

Clarity Before Close. 🔎🏠

Completed a pre-listing inspection and Home Energy Score assessment on a well updated 1980s home in Bend, Oregon, situated in one of the city's most convenient corridors near the medical centers and Pilot Butte. The home had seen meaningful improvements over the years and was in good overall condition, giving the sellers a strong position heading into the market. Bundling the pre-listing inspection with the required Home Energy Score gives sellers a complete picture of their home before buyers ever walk through the door. Coming to the table prepared is one of the best advantages a seller can have in today's market.

Completed a commercial property inspection in Bend, Oregon on an office space featuring a TPO membrane roof, metal roofing components, and rooftop packaged HVAC units. Commercial roofing systems like TPO require careful evaluation of seams, penetrations, and drainage to ensure the membrane is performing as intended and protecting the building envelope below. Rooftop packaged HVAC units add another layer of inspection detail, as their placement and condition directly affect both the roof assembly around them and the comfort and air quality of the occupied space below. Porch Light Inspection brings the same thorough approach to commercial properties that our residential clients have come to expect across Central Oregon.

Completed a new construction inspection in Bend, Oregon and noted some unusual settlement cracks in the concrete garage slab. Hairline cracking in new concrete is not uncommon as it cures and settles, but cracks that fall outside of normal parameters on a brand new home are worth documenting and having evaluated before the builder's warranty window closes. New construction inspections exist precisely for moments like this, catching conditions early while the responsibility still clearly sits with the builder. Do not assume new means perfect — an independent inspection protects your investment from day one.

Ran a sewer scope at a home in Sunriver, Oregon where the sewer cleanout access was located inside the crawlspace, which meant suiting up in a hazmat suit and full face mask and working flat on my back to get the camera into the line. The difficult access was worth pushing through because the scope revealed a significant root intrusion obstruction in the drain line severe enough to prevent the camera from advancing past it for a full inspection of the underground pipe. Tree root intrusion of this severity is a serious finding that points toward potential line damage, blockage, and costly repairs if left unaddressed. The access was tight and uncomfortable but our client needed to know what was in that line, and that is reason enough to get it done right.