beach house pilings

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Originally Posted By: Anonymous
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getting ready to inspect a beach house on pilings (actually just the pilings) I inspected one other house on the same beach but it was at high tide and i just excluded the underwater pilings from the report. However this time i will inspect them at low tide. Any one have experience with these ? Any info would be helpfull. Plus the underwriter would like an estimated remaining economic life period. How do i give that without sticking my neck out to be chopped possibly in the future.

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Originally Posted By: kleonard
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wrote:

Plus the underwriter would like an estimated remaining economic life period. How do i give that without sticking my neck out to be chopped possibly in the future.

In my opinion that would something a structural engineer would have to evaluate. CYA...... 

Kevin

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Originally Posted By: roconnor
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c bartlett wrote:

... the underwriter would like an estimated remaining economic life period. How do i give that without sticking my neck out to be chopped possibly in the future.

Assume the position on the chopping block ...  ... Even experts are very careful there.

Make sure you check/probe the piles in the tidal zone (wetting and drying deteriorates these areas) and look for signs of marine borers. They have been very active lately, and can destroy coastal wood structures ... even treated ones ...

And don't get sucked into commenting on anything other than what you can see. "Observe and Report", and recommend evaluation by an engineer for anything beyond that or if you observe any deterioration or unusual conditions.

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Robert O'Connor, PE
Eagle Engineering ?
Eagle Eye Inspections ?
NACHI Education Committee

I am absolutely amazed sometimes by how much thought goes into doing things wrong