You do not see this one often at older houses because the yard is usually done. But you see it fairly often around my area at new construction. This is a photo from a new home that is being purchased in the near future. The buyers want to make sure that they are first in line at the house, so they have ordered an inspection prior to everything being complete. The house is there but the site work is not complete. The builder has some soil piled against the siding and the decks. It is not all like this, but this side is a good example. In the future, the yard will be finished and grass/sod put in place. From the standpoint of an inspector, I gave some suggestions on how to do that: Keep soil six inches away from wood, keep soil four inches below the cement-based siding and grade the soil with a slope of an inch per foot away from the house for six feet. That advice is a good start that the builder should be able to follow through on. Thanks for stopping by, Steven L. Smith
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The builder will say that it will settle 6" anyway, so what does it matter?
Ahhh, but if the foundation was backfilled properly, with the right materials, there will be minimal settling. :)
Jay,
Never heard a builder say that around here.
Steve, it sure is nice to have the lawn rolled out before we get there:)
Yep good reminder! I just spent 3 hours at an inspection thursday -I'm feeling almost like a pro - :-)
Before reading the words in your post, I thought the photo was taken from up on a hillside looking down at a beach. LOL
Grading issues are the #1 fault I see in this area too...
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