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Sunday, February 11, 2024

Subject To Catastrophic Collapse (saved by trees)

 


The phrase “Subject to Catastrophic Collapse” is not a phrase favored by home inspectors as it does not endear them to the hearts of homeowner/sellers or their agents. In over two and a half decades of inspections I don’t believe I have had more than two occasions where I felt that term appropriate. One was another retaining wall and the other a deck. Appears that our Black Cat Inspector Emily Cabrera has discovered a third. She was working with a non-English speaking client in Spanish. I bet her comments would be interesting in translation. This wood timber retaining wall has failed and but for the trees, holding it in place, would likely already be on the ground, on our subject property, with portions of the concrete driveway it supports following and possibly that van and trailer hyping “Quality Construction”. Be assured that I would not be parking any vehicle there. Of even more concern here is that the wall, which is not part of our clients potential property, will collapse on our clients property and the van and falling trees would likely damage our clients home. 

Should you have interest in what properly constructing a wood timber retaining wall looks like check out this video. One detail difficult to discern is that each timber is set back a little from the timber below it. 

Click here for video

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