In Washington State, any for fee home inspection, involving a structure and a real estate transaction, must have a complete wood destroying organism inspection. This must be performed by a state tested, licensed and financially responsible (bond or insurance usually) structural pest inspector. If that inspector fails to call out conducive conditions in the crawl space it is a violation of state law.
This photo has great examples of conducive conditions. This is classic earth to wood contact. To the right is a structural member that has soil piled up at the footing. To the left of that is old form wood. This was put in place when the concrete pier was being poured.
Bottom line: Wood to earth contact is a serious conducive condition that will ALWAYS lead to wood destroying organisms. The issue is not "if" but how soon will that happen. Any inspector who fails to call this out is breaking the law. Also that person is subject to a fine and, worse yet, being hot industry gossip -- having his or her name bandied about in the state publication that lists the identity of those who recently violated the WDO rules. In Whatcom County, right now, there is a former home inspector who is wrestling with this very issue and it could be very costly for him. He would have been better off had he looked in the crawl space prior to writing up the report.
Thanks for looking.
Steven L. Smith
Like a whick in a lantern ....It will suck up them little termites into the rest of the house.
Sean Allen
Lisa,
You have to report this to your client. By client, that is the person who paid you, signed the contract for the inspection. That is usually a buyer but can be a seller. Sometimes a seller hires and inspection, then buries the report. That is another good reason for a buyer to get their own inspection. The inspector must provide the inspection report to the client and keep a drawing of all conducive conditions or damage. If requested, he or she must give the diagram to the client. And, if there is a dispute, it will end up that everything is sent to the state regulators for a full review.
As for the law in the state, if someone does not want to have an inspection, then that is their choice. But, if they hire any inspection at all (if a fee is involved) they cannot hire Uncle Buck, unless he is a state licensed structural pest inspector. The inspection must, by law, be done by a state tested, licensed and financially responsible party. That party must follow all of the state guidelines for inspecting and reporting which are quite stringent.