A home inspector had a near miss when he was clearing out an attic, discovering a booby trap before it was too late.
Daniel Pierce, a 42-year-old professional property inspector in Phoenix, Arizona, was walking around an attic of a single-story property in the city.
"I stumbled upon this shower door with a layer of dust covering it," he told Newsweek. "The attic space leads back to further areas of ductwork and insulation.
"I made the video because it is a unique find, and could have caused me to put my foot through the ceiling, had I not caught it sooner."
In a video posted to Instagram, which has received 1.8 million views since it was first shared on December 3, Pierce shows the dark and dusty attic he was clearing out and the old glass bathroom door he discovered.
"This is a booby trap," he tells viewers. In the text overlay of the video, he reveals that he was "one second away from a bad day."
He added in the caption of the video that people shouldn't store things in their attics. "Just throw them out," he said.
When he recorded the video, Pierce was inspecting the insulation in the attic of the property.
"Attics in Phoenix can get over 160 F in the summer, so adequate insulation is necessary to keep the ceiling from forming condensation," he told Newsweek. "Obstacles in an attic prevent me from viewing the insulation and can displace the insulation as well."
As a home inspector, Pierce's job sees him inspecting a number of elements in properties across Phoenix, where the average price of a house is $414,977 according to Zillow.
Pierce's video received a huge amount of responses, with people commenting on it with their thoughts and reactions.
When one user, @thorhodes, asked why they shouldn't store things in their attic, Pierce responded: "it obstructs so many areas, it weighs down trusses that were not designed for the extra weight, and anyone that needs to get up there to work on your home can't move around."
Meanwhile, @homeinspector_saltlake commented: "I thought it was drywall. [I] still don't step on stuff that I'm not sure of. I may have learned the hard way."
"Damn, good eye. I would have poked my leg right through the ceiling," said @apiratesquest.
"I would have gone right through. Good catch," @ tclarky14 commented.
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