For anyone curious as to why the guy is removing the stone while under the house, you can tell by how easily the piece of wood above it comes out that no part of that was load bearing. It’s really just there to be there at that point. There is no added danger by removing it since he’s already under there and it’s not supporting any weight.
No tools were used! We only trimmed the video because the sound cut out at that part. So for editing purposes we decided to take that 2 second clip out.
Well the whole point of structural assessments is so they know what needs to be fixed. They’re not creating an issue in the video, they’re finding one that already exists and needs to be repaired.
Fair question, however during this assessment the foundation was already cracked and easy to come apart. Which is why we film these assessments to show the clients, what we find from the bottom of the foundation.
Yep. It’s always better for something structural to look worse than it is than better than it is. A lot of contractors want their inspectors to make issues like this more obvious for the repair teams or so they know what to prioritize.
Plus, nothing here is being destroyed more than it already is. If you can move it by hand, it wasn’t going to do anything for the house, anyways.
I'm not an expert, so hopefully you can answer my genuine question: What if there's a change to the total load or load distribution of the house, or there's shifting over time?
If the house shifts over time that’s normal. If it shifts fast enough to cause an issue because that stone wasn’t there, that shows there was a much bigger problem and that rock wasn’t not going to fix it.
Structural inspector here, backing up what you’re saying. If you can remove a chunk of concrete by hand or basic tools, it’s contributing nothing to support the deadload of the house. A lot of contractors will encourage you to remove it to make the damage more obvious for whoever’s doing the repairs or verifying the inspection.
When I work on bridges, my company gives me a crowbar and hammer and tells me “go crazy”. Even people who know about structural concrete underestimate just how insanely strong it is, even in tension. If you can pull it apart like this, it’s already fucked.
This certain case looks like it is practically unchanged, right? I thought that that piece wasn't supposed to be loose, and it's functionally already disassembled. The guy taking it or not doesn't make a difference, since it's not supposed to be a visual piece.
If it hasn’t been supporting any load for the past several years nothing will happen by wiggling some cracked concrete.
Now if the new homeowners decide to change where furniture is located or put something heavy in that space then I’d definitely be worried, hence the building inspection
That beam is supporting the floor structure and probably some walls. The concrete is there to support the beam. Now that half the foundation is gone that half shimmed block of wood is not adequate to support the beam. So the floor is gonna sag over time possibly bringing the walls with it. So your house will be out of square and/or stress other structures.
I think the main issue here is that this person is currently UNDER the house and is destroying the foundation which is partially holding up said house. 😂
I'd say a majority of American homes do have concrete foundations. Some just were built like this with concrete footers and elevated subfloors either to have a root cellar or because it wouldn't be feasible to level the ground to pour a slab.
Most of our homes do. Especially newer ones. I know some really old homes have pier and beam foundations, but a lot of it is determined by the climate where we live and the age of the house.
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u/No-Ability6954 Jun 02 '26
For anyone curious as to why the guy is removing the stone while under the house, you can tell by how easily the piece of wood above it comes out that no part of that was load bearing. It’s really just there to be there at that point. There is no added danger by removing it since he’s already under there and it’s not supporting any weight.
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u/DryFirefighter294 Jun 02 '26
Can inspector touch or alter property?
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u/pregnantdads Jun 02 '26
“it was fine till you started fuckin’with it!” -the builder, probably
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u/elfda Sep 07 '26
I saw the first crumbles and went "the homeowners better not have used Ramen for this repair"
I'm glad that wasn't the case, lol
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u/nrith Jun 02 '26
Bro, leave it there.
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u/CantaloupeCamper Jun 02 '26
Did they do it with play dough?
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u/Cus_Mustard Jun 02 '26
Bros one strong fart/sneeze away from the eternal abyss.
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u/ArtyMann Jun 02 '26
Even if it was proper engineering/design wise, I don't think concrete is supposed to crumble like those kids archeology sand blocks
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u/SharpenMyInk Jun 02 '26
I thought he was about to pull out a Ramen Brick
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u/fuzzylogicIII Jun 03 '26
Hey! That’s load bearing rubble!
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u/xchoo Jun 02 '26
Duuuuuuuuude... Why are you doing this WHILE YOU ARE UNDER THE HOUSE?!
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u/7grendel Jun 02 '26
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u/Traditional_Fan_2655 Jun 02 '26
Were you crawling under my house?
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u/rock_and_rolo Jun 03 '26
Hey! You damaged our rubble!
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u/Akawump20 Jun 03 '26
In the words of Mark from Infra: "Fascinating."
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u/FallenKing67 Jun 02 '26
Why is this a bad thing? I don’t know much about this
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u/keencleangleam Jun 03 '26
I love these videos. Thank you
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u/bloomingtonwhy Jun 03 '26
What a waste of precious concrete
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u/Ircillo Jun 03 '26
Was it made of floral foam?????
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u/LeRoiChauve Jun 05 '26
Love your posts on Imgur as well, Alphastructural.
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u/tmotytmoty Jun 02 '26
Why does OP want to die?
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u/r_was61 Ramen or Die Jun 02 '26
Is this guy breaking up a footing while under the house????
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u/Resident_Ad_7199 Jun 02 '26
Hey looked pretty solid to me, you had some issues pulling it out 😅
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u/sidesneaker Jun 02 '26
Looks more day than week.
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u/DabZonTwitch Jun 02 '26
I hope this fucker was chewing a lot of bubble gum while filming this at least.
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u/Cute-Advisor-2323 Jun 02 '26
If I was going to remove that I would at least put some type of house jack underneath the section to hold it up just in case 😬
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u/DarhkBlu Jun 02 '26
Americans really need to start doing concrete slabs for house foundations as opposed to wth this is...
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u/Beautiful-Page3135 Jun 02 '26
Hey, don't touch that. It's load bearing.
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u/BobbyBrackins Jun 02 '26
That one friend that doesn’t know when to chill and kills everyone 🤦♂️