Common Sense, The Latest Shortage?
By Jim Palmer Jr.

In the news today a media headline read, “Experts warn of a new shortage!”  I didn’t even finish reading the article because I had quickly inserted the words, “of common sense,” at the end of that headline and had a good laugh with myself.  I don’t know if they were talking about toilet paper or staple foods or gasoline (or what it was) because I’ve been so tired of the media creating drama that I had quickly tuned it out.  I’m sure we’ll see more shortages of a lot of things before the world ends.  I say that the most startling shortage we have in the world today is good old fashioned common sense!

In a recent real estate transaction, a licensed home inspector called out some repair work on a very plush million dollar home.  One of the items he called out as a deficiency was in the attic where he had looked from afar and noticed a dark spot in one corners of the attic space on the top of some insulation. Without crawling closer to investigate, he assumed the dark spot was moisture and called for a repair on that item.  When a more thorough investigation was made by a different inspector, it was found that the dark spot was only a pile of dry roofing granules that had been swept onto the insulation when a roofing repair had been done more than a year before.

The same inspector on the same million dollar property didn’t stop at one gaff, he also called for a repair on the “wood-to earth contact” that was clearly shown in the accompanying photograph.  His bright colored arrow pointed to the base of one of the thick treated wooden posts of the huge new shop building that had been erected on the property.  I shook my head with disgust, wondering where the inspector had been when God was handing out common sense!  Of course anyone with an ounce of the stuff would know that treated wood posts are normally used in legal construction of many buildings, even some homes.  The reason the wood is treated is so it can be used next to earth or concrete for pole buildings and other applications.      

 When I posted this example on a local chat forum, one troll made the comment in defense of the inspector, stating that “even treated wood can rot.”  “Yes,” I acknowledged, “but we’ll both be dead by the time it does.”