If you want to see a seller’s eyes glaze over, just tell them that the receptacles that have been located over their electric baseboard heaters for 50 years are dangerous. They do not want to hear about either relocating the heaters---or relocating the receptacles. Even though installing recept
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01/31/2011
I found a kitchen exhaust fan the other day that was installed in 1950. The thing even ran when I turned on the antique controller. Typically these old units, if they start at all, make so much noise they probably would not get used. But not this one---this one just “purred” like it was put in
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01/28/2011
We can never totally stop air movement in and out of homes. Not only are our attempts to seal homes never perfect, materials change over time and sometimes create new gaps where there were none to begin with. In this first picture we can see the very common black staining that happens around the
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01/25/2011
Now I have to assume that no one in their right mind really wants to get hit by a bus---but it does represent what it takes to succeed at whatever you are undertaking. (I won’t get into a long winded dissertation on the definition of “succeed” at this point. No one except the voice in the back
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01/23/2011
Water follows the easiest path. Sometimes the “easiest path” can be overcome by other forces---but usually water does run down hill. “Wicking” is just such a force that can literally make water go up hill---or horizontal. We all know about sponges and their ability to “lift” water. In the pictu
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01/21/2011
In my youth ---just yesterday--- when I wanted to be older, and I knew that I would live forever, or didn’t care whether I would live forever, I was dumbfounded by people who claimed that life is short. But now I’ve found--- that it was me all along who was dumb. Charles Buell, Seattle Home
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01/18/2011
I have had recent discussions with agents and inspectors about what to me is a scary proposition. These discussions are not scary because the result would mean less work for me and other inspectors---but because of the sheer risk to the consumer. It also reflects badly on how well the real est
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01/17/2011
Last fall I was sitting in my office working on an Inspection Report when the door bell rang. I can see from my office window (without being seen) who is at the door. We get lots of sales people pounding the streets and sometimes it is easier to just ignore them that it is to go into some long
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01/15/2011
Henry and his brother and cousins liked to fight great battles for truth and justice in the woods. One day it would be Davy Crocket fighting against impossible odds at the Alamo---or Robin Hood outwitting the Sheriff of Nottingham forest----another day it might be Zorro, or the Lone Ranger. Re
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01/12/2011
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