Pre-Purchase Structural Inspection in Gresham, OR
The recurring pre-purchase finding in Gresham is work done without a permit. This stock has been added to, converted and finished by owners over seventy years — carports enclosed, garages turned into rooms, patio covers built into the house, basements and crawl spaces finished — and a good deal of it never went through review.
Unpermitted does not mean unsound, and it is worth saying so plainly, because plenty of it was competently done. What it does mean is that nobody with an engineering obligation ever looked at it, so the structural questions are open by default rather than closed by inspection. That is a materially different position for a buyer than a permitted alteration.
The specific things to establish are consistent across these conversions: whether an enclosed opening was framed as a real wall, whether a converted space has a foundation under its perimeter, whether the roof over an added section is carrying its own load or leaning on the original, and whether anything was cut to make it fit.
What We Look At Here
- Alterations identified and compared against permit records where available
- Enclosed carports and garage conversions: perimeter foundation and wall framing
- Added roof structures and whether they load the original framing
- Any framing cut or modified to accommodate a conversion
- Pre-1974 seismic condition, since most of this stock predates anchorage requirements
- A written opinion inside the inspection period, separating sound unpermitted work from defective
More on the service itself: Pre-Purchase Structural Inspection. More on the area: Gresham.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
The Gresham house I want has an unpermitted garage conversion. Is that a dealbreaker?
Not necessarily — a lot of it was competently built. The difference is that nobody with an engineering obligation reviewed it, so the questions are open. Establishing whether the perimeter has a foundation and how the framing was done usually settles it.