Everything is code when there is no code. (Not in LA)

They missed...

This was taken during one of our structural inspections in North Hollywood. It's gonna take a little more than duct tape to fix this one.

Now, I forgot the term for these, but basically it's a massive hole/well that was about a meter under the concrete footing. The owner had no idea this was here. Must have been there for decades.

And they were wondering why their floors were sagging.

A car jack perhaps?

And there goes the other half of your house

During an inspection, one of our assessors found this beauty. A wall created entirely out of concrete filled washing machines.

"I have sagging floors" And this is why.

It may seem as if this is a photo was taken at an angle, but I assure you, it was perfectly straight. The floors are just sloping down a good 6 inches from the middle of the home.

Nothing is worse than coming across a massive gas pipe while excavation. It wasn't on the initial plans.

This is a foundation made up of river rock, some sort of hardened mortar and the tears of the contractors who did it. Also, I see a rhino!

This is one of the craziest structural fails I've ever seen. No re-bar, not bolted, settling 2 ft and it's on sand...Just wow!

Though these jacks are pretty common...they should never be used as a permanent pier. Unless secured with duct tape of course.

This is a very interesting view from a basement window. It's actually located in a shower and you can see the critters moving around in the dirt. Hope you like bugs!

This is an abandoned home in East Los Angeles. I don't want to get too technical on this, but not even the homeless would want to set up shop in there.

Yeah...that's not legal.

May not look like much, but a single toddler jumps and that set of stairs and deck come down.

A soft-story can be described as multi-level structure built with a first floor that is much less rigid (soft) than the floors above, such as in an apartment with tuck under parking. This is a cause for concern, for when an earthquake hits, the existing columns do not have the strength to protect against the sideways movement that can occur.

This is actually the door leading to Narnia. It just so happens that it's under a house in Pasadena, CA. Seriously though, they used this as a sort of "shear wall" for additional strength. Again, an obvious DIY job.

So from here we see there is a slope starting from the right and going 15 feet to left. After peeling back the carpet, we discovered a massive slab crack. To the right of the crack we see another crack that's been patched. The left side of the house was completely sinking a total of 18 inches from the point of the crack. One of the worst slab conditions we've seen so far in LA.

This is what happens when wood touches dirt over a long period of time. It soaks up water and rots.

It's simple, the floor is actually a balloon. Prepare to fly.

This is a first

Let's just say it's a little over-engineered.

This patio above the garage had a little water intrusion...

Not in terrible condition but I really want to kick it in.

The fact that almost all of the post & piers were like this is concerning!

They might want to add a "Do not park next to this obviously failing retaining wall because it might fall on your car in the night and we're not paying for it" sign.

This is a disaster waiting to happen. A large area of the back patio is basically floating on this hillside. Also, you can clearly see my finger in the frame.

The columns on the side are fine, but the middle one...it's game over

The issue is....all of it

Post that's barely resting upon a concrete pier. This one is undermined and probably one good shake away from collapsing.

This speaks for itself. If you're wondering about the filter, I lost the original. All I have is our Instagram photo.

Let's play a game of Jenga in the back yard.

This was a very interesting hillside home that was sliding down the hill. They needed an engineered wall to keep the house from cracking down the slope.

A big concrete block, random wood members and plywood. That should do.

This one is subtle but the property is shifting like crazy! The back wall is bowing quite a bit and in the top right, where the stilts connect to the overhang, you can see the waviness of the connections and how unstable it really is.