I’ve seen this type of thing in other threads. this is not all the way around, but just in this location on the exterior. I don’t know what this looks like on the interior, because I haven’t done the inspection yet, just stopped by to drop the radon monitor off today.
What would you say about exposed wood in the foundation?
BTW, You can’t tell real well from the pic, but the second piece from the right is the only one (just barely) touching the dirt. All the others had at least a quarter inch clearance. What looks like their bottom end, really is.
Mark, I’ve never seen that but if it is pressure treated wood, not in contact with the ground then it would pretty much be the same as a sill plate on a slab on grade foundation (which is what we predominately see around here) and I would not consider it a defect unless there was visible deterioration of the wood. I would certainly document it in my report as unconventional construction.
Sometimes wood is embedded into concrete such as the wood pictured, to serve as nailers for some future operation, and these are called “grounds”. Why they would have been installed in this case is a mystery to me, at least.
Question: was the vinyl siding original, or was it installed later? The reason I ask is that some people feel that a house with its foundation showing is akin to a woman with her slip showing, and the grounds may have been for the installation of original wood siding extending all the way to the ground. Just a guess.
Not a great location for a deck. This is on the side of the house where there are no exterior doors. As you look at the picture, immediately to the left is a 6 ft wood fence that surrounds the back yard (this is on the front side of the fence).
Typical foundation from the inside. Couldn’t even tell this was there. I’m thinking it was for nailing the siding over the foundation wall in this area. No other really go explanation. The buyer told me that the builder actually lives next door. He said he was going to ask him one of these days, and let me know if he found out a different explanation.
I would recommend it being removed or evaluated, I would also have to wonder about the decrease in the structural integrity of the concrete foundation. Did the engineer design the foundation to have that wood into the foundation that could rot out or have wood destroying insects eat it away?
If I had to guess, back when code was pushing perimeter insulation, someone came up with this idea to attach insulation after the pour. That of course was before the brains realized that perimeter insulation provided a perfect place for termites to hide as they tunneled up into the house. Just a guess.
