Hello, this is Tommy Kirby with 1st Choice Home Inspections. Today, I’m up in Sevierville inspecting a cabin, and it seems like every time I make a video of a deck up here, I always start off by saying, “this is the most dangerous thing I’ve ever inspected.” But I mean it this time!
This is one of the most dangerous things I’ve ever inspected. What we have is a deck, hot tub, and 4×4 posts that come down. You can see this footing’s really in a point of failure.
First of all, this post has significant rot. It’s coming down on this unbonded masonry column and it’s kicked out to the left. I mean, it could fail immediately without warning.
Kind of walk on over here, the same thing, no bonding, it’s kicked out to the left and as we walk on down, the same thing here. This 4×4 post gets kicked out to the left. It’s really not even sitting on anything.
And then this corner column also, sitting here looking at it, you can see where it’s kicked out to the right because this column has no visible footing underneath this column. It’s unbonded.
Again, this deck is very dangerous. I’ve told the occupants that I would not go on it, it could fail suddenly and the deck could collapse.
But again, this is another good reason to hire a home inspector before you buy a cabin up in Sevier County, to really scrutinize these decks.
1st Choice Home Inspections is licensed, trained, and certified to inspect residential properties of all types in Tennessee. We inspect cabins and chalets in the Great Smoky Mountains on a regular basis. If you need to have your cabin or chalet inspected, give us a call.
