Does this sound right
#1
07-23-14, 07:23 PM
Does this sound right
We bought a 10 year old house in north Texas (clay soil)with some cracked tile in kitchen and front bath. Home inspector recommended a few piers in the front part of the house. We hired a structural engineer to look at it and after a couple of hours and about a hundred measurements ,he recommended doing nothing but replacing tile with special mastic. There are no cracks in walls or ceilings, just about 10 tiles total. After finding this forum, I just wondered what you guys thought.
#2
07-23-14, 07:36 PM
My vote on instinct is for the structural engineer without knowing more about the home inspector's background and how you picked him. A home inspector could be a former tradesman who understands various aspects of construction, or he could be a former dental assistant who took a few months' worth of home inspection courses and only knows enough to tell the difference between when everything is perfectly fine or when you need to call a structural engineer.
#3
07-24-14, 08:24 AM
Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: USA
Posts: 199
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
I agree with eharri3. The engineer has his license on the line so he would not say it was ok if is wasn't.
#4
07-24-14, 09:35 AM
Member
I agree with the foregoing, with certain limitations. An engineer with little or no experience and qualifications in a category wouldn't necessarily be one whose opinion I'd trust (when rendered in that category). Case in point--on a Federal BIA bridge inspection contract I worked on a few years ago, I noticed a certain engineer's previous reports (that we carried with us, for each structure being inspected) contained a lot of erroneous information, some of it almost absurd. Suspecting that engineer might not have been qualified for bridge inspection work, I later did some research on his background--it turned out that he was a professional engineer, all right, having a degree and license in electrical engineering! Not exactly the qualifications needed to inspect and understand the function of bridges.
#5
07-26-14, 07:33 AM
Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: USA
Posts: 199
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
I agree with you Bridgeman! Having been in that position of train mechanical engineer to run a landfill I follow you. If the OP would find out information on the structural engineer of his qualifications, he would have a better idea of what the engineer has to offer.
