Editor's note: When home inspector Dan Friedman flew to San Diego for the annual conference of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), he didn't know he would be arriving in California on the heels of a killer earthquake. Along with dozens of his ASHI colleagues, Dan wound up donating a week of his time to the Red Cross-led disaster effort in the Los Angeles area. Here's a brief account of what he saw. In the days after the quake, ASHI volunteers took on the job of driving the streets of L.A., helping to locate damaged structures. It was different from our usual work, which calls for detailed inspections. Here we were just looking to see if the houses were still standing. Damage in
