seattle wa home inspector: Carbon Credits and Kermit the Frog! - 03/06/09 08:26 AM
As Kermit the frog might have said, “I was green before it was popular to be green.”
The “Green” movement has its roots in the late 60’s with the “back-to-the land” movement----when people really started to think not just about alternative life styles but different methods of building----including … (47 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: Home Inspection: Not Walking the Roof -- A Sign of Incompetence? - 03/01/09 12:30 PM
Steve Smith did an excellent blog about home inspectors and the issue of inspecting roofs.
For those who still don't understand the importance of Home Inspectors getting on the roof to do a proper inspection of the roof I am including a couple of pictures that show areas … (22 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: I am seeing “DDoouubbllee” again! - 02/11/09 02:49 PM
Unless you are a tap dancer, or you are tapping maple trees in the Spring, or you are knocking on someone’s door----double taps are typically not a good thing----at least when it comes to electricity. The only thing worse I guess would be more than two----multiple taps.
Today … (39 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: Want to buy a furnace? -----how about a water heater? - 02/04/09 11:59 AM
The blue lines in this picture trace the “high-water lines” from previous flooding of the crawl space. The interesting thing about this past flooding is that the three "flood lines" that one can see on the furnace indicate that the furnace was not replaced after any of the flooding. … (19 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: Werd!!! - 01/27/09 02:38 PM
A week or so ago, someone did a post about switching to Firefox for their Internet Browser. I wish I could remember who that was so that I could acknowledge them.
I made the switch and it is awesome. Now I can compose my blogs in Word like I … (26 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: What does “Thinking outside the box,” look like? - 05/08/08 09:49 AM
What is a box? The box we are interested in today is the one the mind is too often trapped in----usually unaware, except for the weight of the heavy lid---or the lack of "light"ness.
According to Wikipedia: "Box describes a variety of containers and receptacles...... A decorative box normally may be opened … (10 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: Did you know that gas is run to your home in plastic pipes? - 05/02/08 09:32 AM
On more than one occasion I have had buyers ask me what the wire coming out of the ground next the gas meter is---and whether it is "Live" or whether it should be connected to something. On first glance it does look like it ought to be connected to something. … (3 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: “The END of the WORLD……” - 05/01/08 09:33 AM
It seems like, for as long as I can remember, there has been someone standing on a street corner of every city with a sign stating that the "End of the World is Coming." Now either I am missing something really important, or the guys with the signs are missing … (8 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: SORRY-----I don’t have time to talk to you! - 04/30/08 09:52 AM
When does the Inspection start?
It starts when the phone rings. From the moment you answer the phone, at least to your potential buyer, the inspection process has begun. Some calls are merely to set a time, but others are because you are being "interviewed" and you don't have the … (10 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: Slay the “Fire-Breathing Dryer!” - 04/28/08 07:22 AM
The other day Preston Sandlin did a nice blog about the importance of cleaning dryer vents called "Clean-Me." Visit his blog for additional info and see a pretty cool tool for cleaning metal dryer vents.
Dryer vents are a common item in the home that needs routine maintenance for fire … (14 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: “No-brainer” house design. - 04/26/08 10:52 AM
Looking at the picture below, it shouldn't be hard for anyone to see that this is a bad design. On first glance it might all make visual sense but it is sort of like an Escher optical illusion. In the next picture the red arrow shows the flow of water … (13 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: Why is the “toilet lid” always down? - 04/25/08 08:52 AM
I am enjoying remembering my recent sailing adventure.
It only took a week for my sea legs to go away---and that was on calm seas and only a four day trip. (My first soccer game after the trip was interesting to say the least.) From a home inspector's point … (10 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: HOT! Water Heater! - 04/23/08 07:14 PM
I love it when I come up with yet another way to make Barbara and Leslie go scurrying off to check their water heaters. Well beaten paths are easy to follow. Water heaters should be cool to the touch. Now if you put insulation around them, the tank will feel warm between … (18 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: First of all---Visualize me getting on my soap box! - 04/22/08 05:29 PM
Some of the earliest building codes date to the Code of Hammurabi in 1760 BC as part of a general writing down of laws that would govern the public. The fact that the public could not read these laws did not exempt them from them (kind of the way it … (6 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: "Little boxes, little boxes, little boxes made of ticky-tacky....." - 04/20/08 09:15 AM
Any inspector will tell you that a large part of what we do is related to electrical concerns. The electrical portion of my reports almost always takes up the most space, and wins the most spots on the Summary of Significant Issues. I like the electrical portion of the inspection … (9 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: Finding the “Better-than-the-average-bear” inspector. - 04/19/08 09:06 AM
Questions one "COULD" ask---to find a "better-than-the-average-bear" inspector:
•1. Do you own and use a 32 foot (or longer) ladder? A negative response would mean they generally don't get on 3 story townhouse roofs---or they have it hung up on the side of their garage and enjoy remembering how they used to climb the … (36 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: The Zodiac---use it to keep your life “on course” - 04/18/08 11:39 AM
It is a REAL GOOD IDEA for home inspectors to know a lot.
The more the better. However, an additional quality to have, is the ability to recognize when something "isn't right" without necessarily knowing why---or even knowing what the thing is or does! This was brought home to me … (14 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: Jack is all "pumped-up" - 04/17/08 08:29 AM
Pump jacks are a type of portable staging that are essentially very tall posts that sit on the ground and are attached to the building roof at the top. There will be a scaffold plank attached to the posts that can be mechanically "pumped" up and down the posts to … (14 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: Why do we slope roofs? - 04/16/08 10:39 AM
Why do we put slopes on roofs? Seems like a simple enough question with an even simpler answer. What sort of builder would argue with this simple question and its answer?
While I have always been one to question authority, I pretty much stayed in the realm of the … (12 comments)
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seattle wa home inspector: I live in a “Monochrome” world! - 04/15/08 10:12 PM
One of the things I hate to find on an inspection is when I open up the electrical panel to find it all nicely "mono-chromatic." Paint is not allowed inside these panels and never has been as far as I know. Careful painters will mask the panel so this doesn't … (10 comments)
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