Expert: Dave Johnson - 7/4/2007

Question
I bought a house in northern California about 5 yrs ago, ranch style over a crawl space. Inspectors have been in/out of the crawl space throughout 40 yr history of house. This spring, the fellow replaced my back deck found that the deck was built to the rear foundation of the house. The back wall of the house is 6 feet away on horizontal beams with vertical (supports? piers?) spaced evenly along them from one side foundation to the other. We surmise the builder ran out of money.
Clearly the house has not fallen down, nor shown structural defects (yet) other than some settling. I'm very annoyed that nobody who "knows better" ever noticed this from the crawlspace! But more importantly: How concerned do I need to be about pursuing major structural work?

Answer
Hi Jack,
I think if the place has been there for 40 years and shows no signs of settling or wall finish cracking, that it will be ok the way it is. However, if you are still concerned...contact an independent home inspector and ask their advice.
I do agree that at some point an inspector should have noted this.
Please ask anything more if you like...be as specific as possible.....best of luck

Dave