everett wa home inspector: Sacrificial Lambs - 12/05/09 08:56 AM
When I first started building houses over 40 years ago in Upstate New York, I got to know the local electrical inspector pretty well. At some point he told me that when I called for an inspection I should always leave some minor glaring defect right out in plain … (30 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Saga Nodara----your home could be next! - 12/04/09 08:27 AM
Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the bunker, a new scourge has descended upon us.
“Saga Nodara.”
This insidious, odiferous, barely visible, gaseous bacterium is very common and pretty much everywhere! It can be found under … (28 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Who wants a box of crayons with only three colors anyway? - 12/03/09 10:08 AM
Red was in charge of everything Red.
This had been true as long as Red could remember.
One day Red noticed that some things were not quite Red, but were instead closer to Purple. Red also noticed that a small amount of Red had been misplaced.
… (33 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Righteousness. - 12/01/09 07:56 AM
We all know people that are more interested in being “right” than in being “correct.”
Now in a perfect world they would be one and the same thing----but in this world it is not always the case.
The “truth”----about anything----is merely what is “so.” The truth … (25 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Mom----why is it raining in the Bathroom? - 11/30/09 11:09 AM
A lot of the defects we find as home inspectors involve installations where someone knows that something is necessary but either doesn’t know quite how to do it properly or tries to make something work that would be proper in another installation----but not this one.
For example exhaust … (28 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Can you tell me what this is? - 11/28/09 08:48 AM
This is a picture of some debris on the floor under the basement stairs in a home.
Can anyone tell me what it is?
I am always having “Holy Moses” moments on inspections----it is one of the gazillion things I love about my job----this was one … (93 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Some times we can be grounded and not grounded all at the same time. - 11/27/09 12:34 PM
A common way that defects happen in homes is they simply get done wrong from the get-go. Improper installations that involve, clearances, types of materials and code violations are all common.
Another way that defects happen is when repairs to existing, properly installed, components get done wrong----during … (43 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: The Pail Princess! - 11/26/09 08:15 AM
She sits on a red, white & blue green five gallon bucket that says, “drywall-compound.”
Most of the fingers on her gloves are missing and frayed.
She wears an army-green trash-bag raincoat that is big enough to cover all but her Nike sneakers.
Her breathing … (14 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: She loves me----she loves me not! - 11/24/09 12:00 PM
One of my favorite Monte Python segments was the one about the Black Knight in, “In Search of the Holy Grail.” The story is about King Arthur coming to the Black Night that is guarding the bridge that “No man shall pass.” King Arthur ends up cutting off all … (25 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Don’t you just HATE cats! - 11/23/09 12:00 PM
It is bound to happen----that sellers and repair persons and I are not always going to see “eye-to-eye” about the things I find wrong in the homes I inspect. How could it be otherwise, they have one agenda and I have another----it is an almost naturally adversarial relationship. I … (29 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Probably not a “deal breaker!” - 11/22/09 10:22 AM
I frequently post a picture and ask what the defect in the picture is, or even what it is a picture of. This time I am going post a picture and want to know what the “oDdest” thing in the picture is. There are plenty of actual defects----and you … (24 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Breakfast of Bloggers! - 11/19/09 08:54 AM
Yup---I am going to blog about breakfast cereal!
OK----if you have kids you know what it is like to go to the kitchen cupboard and find the cereal box empty----and most of you will appreciate that I did not say “gone.” (Don’t pretend you don’t eat the kid’s … (25 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Wordless Wednesday in Seattle - 11/18/09 08:19 AM
… (31 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Why are there Monkeys and Rhinos in my Chimney? - 11/15/09 08:54 AM
When we bought our house----long before I was a Seattle Home Inspector----and started making it livable, I was heavily influenced by a couple of fun movies playing at the time: Jumanji and Jurassic Park.
The house had wall-to-wall shag, puce-green carpeting----if one could really call it carpeting. There … (31 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: “Breaker-Breaker-1/5” - 11/14/09 07:54 AM
Little Billy Breaker was 15 and had a job.
Quite a simple job.
A total “trip” really.
A perfect job for a teen like him.
All he had to do was sit there. Whenever someone sent too much stuff his way, it was his job … (31 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: When was the last time you played, “Dress up?” - 11/12/09 08:20 AM
People sometimes ask me how I come up with all my crazy ideas for blogging (well they don’t actually say “crazy”---but I know what they mean).
First of all there are a couple of techniques I use to keep myself focused.
#1. The total number of blog … (27 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Hide and Seek----it is for kids of all ages! - 11/10/09 08:59 AM
Kids L♥VE to play hide and seek. When my kids were little we used to have some really great hide and seek “events.” The little ones would always want me to hide them----before I hid myself. You see, they used think I knew all the really cool places for … (25 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: HERE----take your dang business card back! - 11/08/09 08:05 AM
After ordering pizza---delivered----to your new home the day you move in, the next big event at the home is the housewarming party. The one you hold for all your friends and family----to show off your new digs.
Having been invited as the "honored home inspector" at such events … (27 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: Rumpledsowsear - 11/06/09 09:10 AM
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 … (18 comments)
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everett wa home inspector: The Little Red Hen----pecking away in the RAIN! - 11/05/09 09:18 AM
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 … (39 comments)
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