From the Seattle Times:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2008033829_hay05.htmlNever underestimate cheap, easy or stupid in home maintenance
Oops! A roof drain pipe directed into a home flooded the crawl space and left an opening for rodents.
Darrell Hay
Special to The Seattle Times
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Quite regularly, as a home inspector, I see run-of-the-mill "bad" popping up. Occasionally "that was really dumb" makes an appearance. But you know you are in rare air when "Hall of Fame Stupid" presents itself. Now, gentle reader, is one of those times.
Do not adjust your glasses. Yes, that is a downspout drain from the roof gutter into the house. Water is efficiently directed from the roof into the crawl space. As one might imagine, the crawl space was full of water. Not just standing water, but A LOT of water. If this had been done on the other side of the home also, we could have termed it "sea trials," taken the bolts out of the foundation and checked the whole works for buoyancy.
My first thought, upon seeing this fiasco from outside, was that no one could possibly be that dumb, and there must be a piping system inside to carry the water away along the inside of the foundation.
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2008033829_hay05.html