This pier began to erode and the post went with it. Looks ready to take a dive off the end.

This is a retaining wall failure that we inspected this past week. This masonry wall supported the back half of the home, as well as a deck in the back.

These are stalactites that have formed after years of water dripping from the ceiling. Mineral deposits build up over time and this is the result you have. Not an extreme job but the steel inside the concrete could be rusting and could result in bad spall damage in the near future.

Nothing like some cracking concrete blocks holding up this Jerry-rigged post/pier

This was a massive sinkhole that opened up in the back of somebody's property. The pictures don't show it well, but the hole is 12' deep and about 6' wide. At the bottom you can clearly see an old clay pipe from the city. It hasn't been used in many, many years. It was thought to be an issue involving a septic cap. It's possible the cap caved in to the tank and caused this massive hole to open.

The floors were sagging right above this area in the crawlspace. I wonder why?

I've seen people do this at the end of their post so here you go. This little guy wanted to join in on the fun. Not too much fun to crawl an entire house with open wiring everywhere though.

This may very well be the jankiest mickey mouse attempt at reinforcing a foundation & subfloor that we've seen. They used 2x8 and 2x4 members for cross bracing, the 2x8 is notched and nailed into the mudsill, they saw-cut the post (which supports the subfloor above) and the 2x4 runs directly through it, compromising the entire supporting post and pier system. Absolutely incredible.

This is a property we inspected in Long Beach. Notice the top of the ceiling and how it slants at an extreme rate down to the right. This is NOT an architectural detail. The entire right side of this 4-story building had compressed framing, causing each unit to have sloping floors starting from the top and ending at the point in the photo. Scary stuff, but not a bad view

When the post batten splits in half and you realize the nails are the only thing supporting the post from the concrete.

This cracked, brittle retaining wall up in the hills of East L.A needs a good replacement.

This was a little back house on a property we inspected. There was no perimeter foundation and most of the property was being held up by masonry blocks and car jacks. Some of the jacks, like the one you see in the photo, aren't even making contact with the structure. Fail.

Some more classic LA posts and piers. Loose bricks and cut 2x6 members. Beautiful!

These are two unnecessary post & piers accompanied by an old AC unit. Open wire and glass didn't help the situation either...

Here we have a hillside deck beginning to cave in. This is the result of rotting wood, insufficient supports and years of neglect.

These wooden tension bars don't seem to be doing much for this sinking stilt home.

Over time this girder became weak and fragile due to dry rot and old age. It eventually shattered from the pressure from both the post below and the house above. A beautiful masonry pier with some 2x6 shims to help support the house!

A shoddy foundation with holes in the framing, earth-to-wood contact, and eroded concrete foundation walls. I would say the spider webs are the biggest threat.

Similar to the ball, this slab foundation's structural integrity has deflated.

We were excavating a trench next to a concrete foundation to pour a new sister foundation and came across a massive root system.

This property was leaning a few inches over from its original place. This caused the framing to buckle where it connected with the foundation. You can see the separation from the screen to the actual leaning wall.

This is a an apartment building in Los Angeles that we'll be retrofitting in the next few months. What you're seeing here is an existing column which is holding up a unit above. Not only was it buckling but the bottom was extremely rusted and corroded.

To the right you have perfectly level flooring. To the left, the floors slope 4 inches in a matter of a couple feet.

This speaks for itself. I can't help but laugh.

Navigating this crawlspace was an interesting time. Mounds of dirt were found to be holding up concrete piers and posts. Most of which were just solo islands of soil with nothing around them. Some of them were completely undermined and seemed to be one minor earthquake away from falling apart. The posts weren't even connected to the piers, so if they failed it would all just fall down.

Some crispy subfloor framing. No need to replace the charred parts, right?

This is a home built on a hillside that has a few major issues going on. The obvious one in this photo is the large crack in the concrete and displacement of the connecting stem walls. Additionally, the hillside is pushing against the foundation, causing the whole house to shift and lean.

We inspected this beachfront home in Malibu and discovered some pretty significant structural damage. The concrete piles and supporting steel beams were cracked, decayed and rusted. The constant presence of salt water is rough on materials such as steel and concrete if not properly treated or coated in protective epoxy or waterproofing membranes. You can clearly see the rusted and corroded metal on these steel beams and the bolts holding them into concrete. Over time, water seeps into the sand and into the concrete, causing the steel inside to rust and expand, breaking apart the concrete around it and compromising the integrity of the structure.

Some nice dry rot under a home in the Hollywood Hills.

Here we have a masonry retaining wall that's broken apart and leaning. To make matters worse, it's attached to a set of stairs.

These river rock foundations were done as a cheap solution back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many homes with river rock foundations are under HPOZ law (Historical Preservation Overylay Zone) and are not allowed to be completely removed for historical reasons. To get around this you create what is called a sister foundation, which involves installing a new steel reinforced concrete foundation right next to the existing wall.

Somebody dug out a large area under their house to install this water heater. Not only did they undermine the foundation wall, but they just shoved two small bricks underneath to help support the undermined area. They also strapped the water heater to the non-bolted mudsill.

Here we have some invasive roots undermining a foundation wall. Tree roots (especially Ficus roots) can cause quite a bit of damage to concrete foundations. Arborists are often contacted to assist with these types of situations. A shot from the exterior where the concrete pathway on the side of the house has been completely destroyed by the root system.

A portion of this concrete foundation was missing from this property. Somebody put plywood in place of the concrete. So there's technically a giant hole missing from the perimeter foundation. Dangerous.

A mickey mouse repair under a driveway. They thought adding additional concrete pads and posts would be the right call to help support the driveway and car weight.

This is one of the more unique piers that we've seen under a house. It's just a solid piece of concrete that extends from the ground all the way up to an interesting steel girder. Not your usual "post and pier" support.

Here's a concrete foundation that cracked and pulled away from the rest of the stem wall. Luckily, the crack started at the end of the wall, not in the middle.

This one is super interesting! In the foreground you can see a concrete foundation with a mudsill bolted to it. This is normal. In the background you see the original framing of the house which is floating about 4 inches over the original 1909 brick foundation. This is NOT normal. Both of these should be level with each other... One side of the home is lifted while the other side is sinking. Incredible.

We inspected this driveway project due to some structural inquiries. We quickly realized that the shoring was insufficient and that the area between the garage and front door was sagging.

Another large crack in a concrete foundation. This could have resulted from recent seismic activity. One thing is for sure, it needs to be addressed before it gets worse.

Some other contractor was replacing a retaining wall here. They completely undermined the neighbor’s fence/wall and now it’s starting to lean and collapse towards them. It’s been like this for quite some time.

The whole front porch of this property is cracking and separating from the rest of the home. You can see where the stucco has cracked and where it's beginning to lean toward the driveway. Scary stuff.

Here we have a garage on top of an extended slab footing. The slab under the stucco is breaking apart and beginning to slowly slide away from the structure.