Abode Inspections

Happy Thanksgiving from Abode. We hope your home is a source of joy and comfort this Thanksgiving.

Termites. I cannot stress how important it is to have a termite bond when you buy a house, to always have termite protection around your house, and to keep plants off your house. Plants create pathways for wood destroying organisms.
I know ivy is pretty but it’s SO bad for buildings. (Other reasons: it can weaken brick mortar, it can cause moisture issues and water intrusion, it harbors bugs...shall I go on?)

Ivy is pretty. But. It’s a good way to destroy a brick wall (and it’s not great for the mortar on stone walls either), it houses bugs, provides easy pathways for wood destroying organisms to enter crawlspaces and walls...should I go on?
Any vegetation too close to a house is not great but ivy is one of the worst. Even when you think you’ve kept it trimmed it usually finds a way to sneak inside walls and crawlspaces.

If you caulk around things on the exterior of your house...make sure you caulk the TOP of the thing too, lest you accidentally create a mini swimming pool instead of preventing moisture entry 😬

A great (and termite-y) example of what your crawl space support structure should NOT look like. 😬

Found a snake (deceased, juvenile) in a crawlspace this week. You better believe I was on high alert for any evidence of others, especially live ones 😳😂
Fortunately I did not find any.

Let’s talk stairs. Per current code requirements, maximum stair height is 7 3/4” and stairs shouldn’t vary in height more than 3/8 inch between the tallest step and shortest step in a run of stairs. (These as you can see varied by ~1/2”). This includes the top and bottom stairs/landings.
Additionally, stair tread depth should be no less than 10 inches.
When I worked as a forensic engineer we actually had a few homeowners insurance claims/litigation from injured persons around the stair height difference issues.
Ways to minimize issues:
-potentially change the flooring at top or bottom of stairs (usually the big differences are from bottom landing to first stair or from last stair to top landing) to make landing taller or shorter so it’s more even
-es**rt elderly/frail/children up or down the stairs in question and lend a supporting arm
-worst case replace the stairs
All that said, MOST houses with stairs have stairs that fall outside the tolerance limits in the code, so while it is an issue it is nearly universal and not always avoidable, as most houses have stairs somewhere (front porch, garage to house, back deck, etc) and replacing stairs is costly and difficult.

EIFS stucco cladding can be fine, or it can be installed incorrectly, leading to moisture accumulation in the wall cavity, subsequent wood damage and, in some cases, mold growth/infestation of pests such as carpenter ants or termites. These photos are examples of the water damage that can happen with improperly installed EIFS stucco cladding.

Don’t do this! Make sure your gutters drain at least 6 feet away from your foundation (and that your yard is slopes away from hour house). Gutters draining next to the foundation can erode the soil at that location and eventually undermine the foundation, causing it to settle and crack.

“Outdoor shower,” anyone?
(Reminds me of the meme posted after it 😂😂)

It might seem like a good idea to block the openings in your crawlspace to keep it insulated. Don’t. Air movement is super important in a crawl space so it doesn’t trap moisture.

Railing balusters should be less than or = 4 inches apart to keep kids safe. Especially when they’re high off the ground.