The home inspector spotted this unstable support post under an old Oakland house.
The San Francisco Bay Area is in earthquake country and a small tremor could cause these stacked bricks and wood post to collapse.
There is a concrete footing under the stacked bricks, but what was someone thinking when they constructed this precarious support post – as the correct concrete piers are in the background.
Today, concrete piers sit on a concrete footing in the ground. The bottom of the post is toe-nailed to the pier wood block and the top of the post is secured to a beam with a steel bracket.
This construction detail will keep a support post in place during an earthquake or when there’s ground expansion and settlement.
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