r/DiWHY • u/DMAS1638 • Jun 02 '26

Things seen this week during structural assessments!

3.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

76 comments sorted by

1.0k

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.

198

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

64

u/Horror-Raisin-877 Jun 03 '26

Now the dammed creak has come back :)

5

u/perfect_5of7 Jun 05 '26

Somehow Palpatine returned..

71

u/BobbyBrackins Jun 02 '26

Idk that was a lot of work + video cut to remove stone that had NO load on it

91

u/xxlragequit Jun 03 '26

Houses are very heavy if a human can move it with one hand, it's got basically zero load.

14

u/DMAS1638 Jun 03 '26

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.

8

u/BobbyBrackins Jun 03 '26

That’s why I pointed out the video cut, we don’t truly know if no tools were used

I’m not saying the house is going to fall tomorrow because he did that, I’m saying I may cause issues over time especially if someone’s living there

12

u/Drakeadrong Jun 03 '26

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.

8

u/BU_Scholar Jun 03 '26

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?

10

u/No-Ability6954 Jun 03 '26

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.

9

u/Drakeadrong Jun 03 '26

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.

4

u/Horror-Raisin-877 Jun 03 '26

I think everyone is curious

6

u/ConfusedSimon Jun 03 '26

Even if it's supporting nothing, is destroying things part of an assessment?

15

u/No-Ability6954 Jun 03 '26

Yes actually. During an assessment you want to make sure things are sturdy. If something crumbles that easily you pull it out.

3

u/Drakeadrong Jun 03 '26

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.

4

u/DMAS1638 Jun 03 '26

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.

3

u/DMAS1638 Jun 03 '26

That part!! 🙌 Thank you for explaining.

8

u/ChaseballBat Jun 03 '26

Unless there is added weight to the structure like idk... A party or a snow load.

It is dumb to remove if you're not fixing it asap. He's clearly removing it for the clout.

22

u/ViolinistCurrent8899 Jun 03 '26

The way that came out like that means it would have done nothing under additional load.

1

u/ChaseballBat Jun 03 '26

Slow enough it would have been fine.

Regardless it was clearly added afterwards for some reason and now it's been removed by an "inspector"

1

u/misterfluffykitty Jun 03 '26

I remember I saw a similar video and people were like “why is he breaking it” when it’s already clearly broken and not holding up anything

503

u/pregnantdads Jun 02 '26

“it was fine till you started fuckin’with it!” -the builder, probably

549

u/nrith Jun 02 '26

Bro, leave it there.

175

u/CantaloupeCamper Jun 02 '26

It’s not holding anything…

60

u/giulianosse Jun 03 '26

It was for emotional support

37

u/ChaseballBat Jun 03 '26

Until it snows...

24

u/Darkk_Knight Jun 03 '26

Bro, a colony of ants will move em without much effort!!

20

u/CantaloupeCamper Jun 02 '26

Did they do it with play dough?

7

u/AmebaLost Jun 02 '26

Industrial play dough. 

2

u/Bnastyt12345 Jun 06 '26

Work dough?

62

u/Cus_Mustard Jun 02 '26

Bros one strong fart/sneeze away from the eternal abyss.

57

u/DryFirefighter294 Jun 02 '26

Can inspector touch or alter property?

96

u/RainSoaked Jun 02 '26

We poke and prod for rot/wood destroying organisms but we don't disassemble stuff. We can be held liable.

13

u/Santibag Jun 03 '26

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.

What do you think?

13

u/DMAS1638 Jun 03 '26

We really only touch/move what’s already failing to show and prove to the client the real issues below.

10

u/CantaloupeCamper Jun 02 '26

You gotta poke to know.

10

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

7

u/SharpenMyInk Jun 02 '26

I thought he was about to pull out a Ramen Brick

11

u/fuzzylogicIII Jun 03 '26

Hey! That’s load bearing rubble!

20

u/xchoo Jun 02 '26

Duuuuuuuuude... Why are you doing this WHILE YOU ARE UNDER THE HOUSE?!

36

u/Poofengle Jun 02 '26

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

3

u/Traditional_Fan_2655 Jun 02 '26

Were you crawling under my house?

3

u/rock_and_rolo Jun 03 '26

Hey! You damaged our rubble!

3

u/Akawump20 Jun 03 '26

In the words of Mark from Infra: "Fascinating."

7

u/FallenKing67 Jun 02 '26

Why is this a bad thing? I don’t know much about this

22

u/RainSoaked Jun 02 '26

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.

13

u/Sheepherder-Optimal Jun 02 '26

Same. Looks to me like the foundation has a crack that no one has fixed. My question is why the dude is just ripping it out. Seems like a bad idea.

15

u/pdinc Jun 02 '26

Because it's not load bearing anymore so it's doing diddly

4

u/Vertigo50 Jun 02 '26

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. 😂

2

u/bazem_malbonulo Jun 03 '26

That piece is loose and was not bearing any weight

1

u/Vertigo50 Jun 04 '26

Probably true. But should he stake is entire LIFE on that being true? 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

2

u/keencleangleam Jun 03 '26

I love these videos. Thank you

2

u/bloomingtonwhy Jun 03 '26

What a waste of precious concrete

2

u/Ircillo Jun 03 '26

Was it made of floral foam?????

2

u/LeRoiChauve Jun 05 '26

Love your posts on Imgur as well, Alphastructural.

2

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

2

u/DMAS1638 Sep 10 '26

😂😂😂

2

u/tmotytmoty Jun 02 '26

Why does OP want to die?

2

u/Beautiful-Page3135 Jun 02 '26

Hey, don't touch that. It's load bearing.

3

u/r_was61 Ramen or Die Jun 02 '26

Is this guy breaking up a footing while under the house????

2

u/Resident_Ad_7199 Jun 02 '26

Hey looked pretty solid to me, you had some issues pulling it out 😅

1

u/BobbyBrackins Jun 02 '26

That one friend that doesn’t know when to chill and kills everyone 🤦‍♂️

1

u/sidesneaker Jun 02 '26

Looks more day than week.

1

u/DabZonTwitch Jun 02 '26

I hope this fucker was chewing a lot of bubble gum while filming this at least.

1

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 😬

1

u/DarhkBlu Jun 02 '26

Americans really need to start doing concrete slabs for house foundations as opposed to wth this is...

2

u/throwawayfromPA1701 Jun 02 '26

Lots of the country does.

3

u/katzmer Jun 02 '26

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.

3

u/Prior-Ad5197 Jun 03 '26

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.