There are not all that many roofs that I do not walk on---but one of the kinds I don’t usually walk on is steep metal roofs.  If one thinks back to their childhood---they make slippery-slides out of metal for a reason.  I know there are plastic ones, but they are not nearly as good as metal ones----unless there is water running down them.

     So, I was looking at this one from the eaves and from the ground, to make as good an assessment of the roof as I could.

     I think everyone can see in this picture that there is no flashing around this vent pipe.

     From the attic side, it is as clear as blue sky and green grass that there just “ain’t no flashing.”

     WHOOPS!

Charles Buell

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     Once upon a time (for some reason I seem to be living into fairy tales lately) in the not-so-far-off land of Doogle, there lived a blogger and his beautiful daughter.  In order to make himself appear more "important," this blogger fibbed on the Internet and on the MLS that his beautiful daughter could easily turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse.

     King Doogle was VERY skeptical and called for the blogger and his daughter to come before him in the castle.  Unable to dissuade the blogger from his claims, the king sent the daughter to the dark, dank and now smelly dungeon.  He provided her with a mountain of sow’s ears and ordered her to turn them into even one measly silk purse by morning. If she could not manage such a simple task she and her father would be banished from the land of Doogle forever. 

     The poor daughter became depressed (not to mention pissed at her dad)----she knew that there was no way in Doogle she would ever be able to turn that pile of sow’s ears into even one measly silk purse----so she started to cry.  At that very moment a devilish  little toad appeared, pouncing gleefuly through the river of tears.  He said that he would turn all those sow’s ears into as many silk purses as she wanted if she would but give him half of her activerain points----and her first born child.  Well she REALLY didn’t want her father or herself banned from the land of Doogle so she reluctantly consented.  She never was into the whole "points" thing anyway (and she missed the part about the kid). 

     POOF!!!----instantly all the sow’s ears turned into silk purses----HUNDREDS of them! When King Doogle saw all the beautiful silk purses he was so impressed that he married the blogger’s daughter (hopefully that was OK with her). 

     Together they filled the kingdom’s coffers by selling all the silk purses on eBay. 

     King and Queen Doogle then doogled around for a year and pretty soon there was a little Doogle chasing toads around the castle.  After a while, the “weasely toad” returned to claim his payment.  He said: "Now give me your first born child."  The queen had forgotten her promise to the toad and was broken-hearted to say the least.  She offered him the other half of her activerain points if she could but please keep the child. The toad refused at first, but finally agreed to give up his claim to the child if the queen could simply guess his name before midnight on Sunday night.

     What to do???

     She pulled out her laptop and Doogled: “What is the rotten weasely toad’s name?”

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

Once upon a time, there was a little blogger who had a little blog at .  He was friends with a dorky duck named Quackers, a stupid squirrel named Nutsy, and a cryptic crow named Raven (and then there were the hundreds of  other friends).

One day the little blogger found some blog fodder in the bathroom. The little blogger had an idea. He would post this fodder  to his blog.

The little blogger asked his friends, "Who will help me post this fodder to my blog?"

"Not I," quacked the dorky duck .
"Not I," squealed the stupid squirrel .
"Not I," squawked the cryptic crow .

"Then I will," said the little blogger . So the little blogger posted the fodder to his blog all by himself.

When the fodder had been posted, the little blogger asked his friends, "Who will help me spread this fodder around  ?"

"Not I," quacked the dorky duck .
"Not I," squealed the stupid squirrel .
"Not I," squawked the cryptic crow .

"Then I will," said the little blogger . So the little blogger spread the fodder all around all by himself.

When all the fodder was spread around, the little blogger asked his friends, "Who will help me take the fodder to and and to be turned into SEO ?"

"Not I," quacked the dorky duck .
"Not I," squealed the stupid squirrel .
"Not I," squawked the cryptic crow .

"Then I will," said the little blogger . So the little blogger brought the fodder to all by himself, turned the fodder into SEO , and watched his page ranking on

The tired little blogger asked his friends, "Who will help me aswer the phone because of all the great SEO  I am getting?"

"Not I," quacked the dorky duck .
"Not I," squealed the stupid Squirrel .
"Not I," squawked the cryptic crow .

"Then I will," said the little blogger .  So the little blogger answered all the phone calls   created by the great SEO all by himself.

When the last call for the night was answered, the tired little blogger asked his friends, "Who would like to "LINK" to my blog now?"

"I will," quacked the dorky duck .
"I will," squealed the stupid squirrel .
"I will," squawked the cryptic crow .

"NO!" said the little blogger .  "Earn your own SEO ."  And the little blogger enjoyed his hard earned SEO all by himself!

Charles Buell

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     I would be very surprised if there is anyone that frequents this site that does not know the term “fixer.” 

     As a home inspector, when I hear the term a couple of things go through my mind.  First of course is: “blog fodder.”  I can’t help but think, “Here is an opportunity to add to my long list of things to blog about.” 

     Home inspectors are REALLY lucky, because finding things to blog about is usually pretty effortless----if perhaps at times a little tedious and boring to the reader.  I know for example that if Barbara Duncan reads one more post about water heaters her TPRV will blow.

     The second thing I think about (actually probably the first thing) is:  “Here comes another long report where I need to charge at least twice as much as anyone wants to hear about”----and actually end up charging a “normal” rate.  But that is just the way it is for a Seattle Home Inspector.

     At an inspection the other day I got to thinking about this because this house was ANYTHING BUT a fixer.  This place was REALLY nice!  The house was on a lot of acreage out in the country and did I already say, “This place was REALLY nice?”

     While lots of things can become things that get “restored,” it seems that houses----that may or may not be restorable----get called “fixers.”  So often one has to wonder if these places are actually going to “pencil out” or are they just going to turn into someone’s very own money pit.  At some point it just becomes good money chasing bad money, doesn’t it?  How do we find balance between what is good conservation and what is a waste of additional precious resources?

     It is not really just houses that can be “fixers.”  Why is it that we don’t think of  old cars as fixers?  Old washing machines as fixers?  We are more likely to call them “Junkers”-----did anyone say, “Cash for clunkers?”  (I think I will stay away from that tangent.) These types of things become antiques that get “restored”----and some even loose their value if they are “repaired.”  Take for example this wagon-----there ain’t no fixing it.  It has become some sort of nostalgic “lawn art” and in that sense has created a new value for itself that required no additional expenditure of time, materials or money. 

     Looks like it also became “blog-fodder.”

Charles Buell

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     In terms of what Home Inspectors do, does it really matter whether any of the trades that built the house are licensed or not?

     Well, YES and----NOT REALLY!

     Now I am not talking about this from the standpoint of some lofty ideal where we get into all the “shoulda-coulda-woulda’s” about the trades-

--my statement is purely aimed at dealing with: the way things are.

     I think in some respects it makes our job easier when the trades are licensed, and it generally means there are likely to be fewer mistakes; but, when they are not, it just makes what we do as Home Inspectors all that much more important.  If there were no mistakes made by builders, there would be no reason for Home Inspectors to inspect new construction.  One doesn’t have to inspect very many new houses (usually just one) to know that inspections are necessary.

     Add to this the fact that some jurisdictions provide no oversight of the construction process and we are for sure going to have our hands full as inspectors.

     An interesting thing that people seem to ignore (or be unaware of) is that almost all States have adopted at least some version of the IRC (International Residential Code) and the NEC (National Electrical Code)----as well as other codes.  What this means is that work done in those States must comply with at least these “minimum standards” whether inspected by a “local” jurisdiction or not.  Just because there is no place to go and get a permit or call to get an inspection done, is not a “license” for the builder to do whatever they please----people’s lives can be at stake----and all work still should meet whatever regulations are in place.

     Some inspectors fear, quite erroneously that if they call out some defect that they will have nothing other than their opinion to back up what they are saying.  In most cases they would be able to support what they are saying in the same way an inspector working in a jurisdiction with oversight would be able to.

     It seems to me that if I am going to be calling out defects in jurisdictions with little or no oversight, and I am licensed as a Home Inspector myself, I automatically carry more weight in what I say----especially when that State as a whole has adopted regulations that I can use to support my opinions and/or recommendations.  Un-licensed, I am just another wannabe professional that the general public may or may not have confidence in.  Sure Home Inspection Associations can help---but un-licensed home builders also have associations that they belong to.  While these associations help, they do not greatly reduce my job security.

     Frankly, I think it is ridiculous that there are no real requirements to be a General Contractor (Education, Continuing Education, Testing etc.) here in my own State, but what does this REALLY have to do with what I do as a Licensed Home Inspector?  Not much.  All it does is make what we do as home inspectors even more important because we become the de facto safety net for the consumer.  This is not at all about being code inspectors---it is more about being all there is----kind of like inspecting the huge amount of houses built prior to any licensing or any codes.

Charles Buell

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     I often wonder, about some of the things I find wrong in homes.   

     Is it really only home inspectors that would ever notice these things?

     I wish that I could take a poll of everyone that sees this post to find out how many of my readers recognize the problem before I “enlightened” them.

     So---be honest----before scrolling down----what is the defect?

     I just tested my sweetie with the picture and she didn’t pick out the defect without a little coaching.  I said, “The drain has no trap---you know that thing that gets in the way of the garbage can?”  So perhaps it is not as “obvious” as I would like to think. 

     While this defect would be great for the jumbo trash can, it might not be what anyone would consider a very desirable “air freshener.”

Charles Buell

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     We all know how addictive the Internet can be----especially to activerain. There have been countless stories about the “effects” of this addiction on our lives----some good-----some bad.

     I am turning the focus of this blog to a less talked about aspect of our compulsion.
     The lengths to which we will go----to feed this monster.

     I know the story that follows below is only one tame example.  I also am sure that all of my readers have their own lurid tales of what they have done to get their next fix.  We are not talking coffee or chocolates here----we are talking INTERNET.  If you think this does not apply to you, just remember back to that feeling you had in your gut the last time the power went out for five minutes.  Can you honestly tell me you didn’t start calculating where the nearest Internet café is?  Of course all of you with I-phones are the most addicted of all, and----DON’T EVER FORGET----even you will need to  charge up those batteries sooner or later.

     At a recent house I inspected, I found where someone needed a "fix" so bad they were willing to cut a 2’x2’ hole through double 5/8” drywall into the ceiling structure of the garage to gain access to the ductwork to the bedroom above.  They figured the ductwork would make a great chase for the Internet cable.  Of course this was a breach of the fire-rated surfaces between the garage and the floor structure above the garage, and taking the ductwork apart to run the wire to the bedroom would also allow fumes from the garage to enter the bedroom.

     Now I like to pretend think I have never compromised the safety of my family for an Internet fix and I certainly have never sold any of my children to get an Internet fix (that would be a bit extreme even for me.)

     I know my buddy Steve Smith actually bought a computer while on vacation because he just couldn’t stand going through withdrawal----there is nothing more bizarre than watching Steve dance with no music on (reminds me of the time my dog got her collar hung up on the electric fence) and then there is that sad whimpering about how much he misses Nutsy----as if she was a real person.

     So, what is the strangest thing you have ever done for an INTERNET fix?

Charles Buell

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     As both a Licensed Structural Pest Inspector and a Licensed Home Inspector in Washington State, I provide my buyers with the kind of service that has become expected of Home Inspectors in Washington State.

     This is a little bit unusual when compared to other parts of the country, but here in the NW, were we have such a wide variety of wood destroying organisms, the home inspector really is in the best position to assess all the areas of a home that these critters might show up in.  While recent licensing of home inspectors in Washington State allows Home Inspectors to identify Rot and conditions conducive to Wood Destroying Organisms, if the home inspector encounters Wood Destroying Insects he or she is required to “….refer the identification of or damage by wood destroying insects to a structural pest inspector…” (RCW 18.280.190)

     This of course assumes that the Home Inspector knows the difference between Carpenter Ant Frass and the scraps from Uncle Harry’s Hobby.  Some inspectors say they will get around this issue by recommending the evaluation be done by a Licensed Pest Control Operator (Includes the Structural Pest Inspector License).  This approach ignores the obvious conflict of interest in having the guys that treat for bugs also be the ones that figure out whether they are present or not.

     Other inspectors don’t want the additional liability implied by having the license and missing something.  This ignores the fact that if you miss something that is destroying the home----you are in deep doo anyway.

     A home inspector that is also trained to identify wood destroying insects can not only call for the appropriate trades to make whatever repairs are called for, but can also call for proper treatment by the Licensed Pest Control Operator when necessary.

     Take Anobiid Beetles for example.  These little critters are very common here in the NW and are primarily an insect that is opportunistic.  In other words they like to infest wood that has elevated moisture levels.  They really like under-ventilated crawl spaces without vapor barrier/ground covers and spaces with poor clearances that prevent adequate air circulation.  They are really good at totally obliterating the interior of the wood while leaving the exterior surface relatively normal looking except for their exit holes.  The home inspector that, in the course of their inspection, does some random probing of structural components in the crawl space and disintegrates a support post with their rock hammer would have to “….refer the identification of or damage by wood destroying insects to a structural pest inspector…” (RCW 18.280.190)

     Am I missing something here? 

     Wouldn’t it be a lot more efficient for the Home Inspector to just be able to deal with it in the context of their inspection instead of having to call for another one?  Even with that there could still be delays for getting repairs for estimates----but at least one step would be eliminated.

    More or less-----one stop shopping.

 Charles Buell

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     “They sure don’t make them like they used to.”

     Everyone has heard this----most of us have even said it.  Usually I am likely to say something like, “And that is a good thing that they don’t”

     Now you are probably wondering how this relates to whatever you are thinking about---especially those of you looking to get tossed in The Active Rain Gutter.  But this time I am talking “beams.”

     Take a look at this Beauty!

     She’s a 10 x18 x 16!

     Now those are some measurements!

Charles Buell

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.