Foot through ceiling

That sucks sorry about that. That’s why if there’s no plywood down to walk the attic I just inspect from the access opening.

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Yeah for sure, it was during a Wind Mitigation so I didn’t charge for the inspection and just paid to get it repaired.

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The thing is that the air handler was in the attic so it had a working platform which I thought I was safe on, but that broke right under me and that’s how I fell.

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Like I said above, new attic access! :grin:

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Good to know. I had one a month ago and the platform began to buckle under my weight. There were two air handlers in the attic and I just noted on the report that only one was inspected and why. It wasn’t worth falling through the ceiling to look at.

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Well Scott, how do you transverse an attic to check out possibly a chimney, vents, electrical etc when you cannot see the joists to walk or crawl on? When I am backing out and pulling my boards I rake the insulation with a small child’s plastic rake. No damage was done and you would not even know I was there.
I would think the homeowner would be more pissed off if I put a hole in his ceiling.

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Must be going around!! Roach dropped on me from a rafter, twisted to get it off me (I have a “thing” about roaches!!)…and… additional ventilation.

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@jdepiero I rake the insulation with a small child’s plastic rake.
I have 3 layers of R 19 rolled 2-foot wide blanket insulation meticulously placed laid in alternating directions equal to R 57, You are not going to rake that out. In this case, I would inspect from the access opening and note it at that.

Your right Scott. With that scenario, inspection from the opening is the best thing to do.

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This will be me with a big hairy fanged spider with great big orange firey eyes

The guy who trained me always said,

“There are two types of inspectors, those who have stepped through the ceiling and those who will

I’m still in the latter category.

—knock wood—

Good luck

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Worst part is that you never step through some old house into some extra room…its always the million dollar primary rooms. Don’t feel bad, pay to have it professionally fixed and they will stick with you.

In that case, I don’t know if he’s responsible for repairs?

Noty always possible. The one I just did had pull down stairs but the air handler they installed in the attic was a good 20 feet away. There were some boards, but they weren’t in the right place. fortunately it was a 40’s build with rafters and collar ties so I had something to hold onto.

It happened to me last year. Before I went into the attic a little voice in my head kept saying Put your tools in your backpack, idiot. Nope, I didn’t listen and had my hands full of stuff which caused me to loose my balance. Ran home, got tools and supplies and had it fixed by sundown.

Happened to me several years ago - owner had a bed frame stashed in the attic, laying across the joists… my foot hit it and rolled off, went through the ceiling, in the garage. I found a drywall guy who could do it for $50 - looked so good, the home owner hired him to do some other work!

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I had a client and a realtor up in the attic with me in a multi-million dollar home with a dedicated stairway to the attic, not a pull down. Some of the lights were out and the plywood did not cover the entire floor. I was bent down looking at the air handler when I heard a crash. The prospective buyers leg fell through into the master bedroom up to his thigh. The homeowner and realtor were very caring and concerned about the buyer and told him not to worry about the ceiling. You know if it happened to me, they would be calling me every name in the book. I documented everything in my report including the lights being out in the attic.

Maybe a poltergeist turned the lights out and pushed him off the plywood, He was unwelcomed. BOOOO. :ghost: Look out they are out there watching you waiting to get you.BOOOO!!! :grinning:

Why? you’re lucky the buyer did not break something on his or her body. Do you also let them poke inside an electrical panel after you remove its cover?

I only let them poke inside an electrical panel if there is a water pipe nearby to hold onto and brace them self.
As I mentioned, the attic had a built in stairway. I would never give anyone permission to climb on my ladder.

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