Many people may find themselves in this situation today. You need your car and you need the tree parts or other debris removed so you can get on with things. But your insurance agent or his appraisers may not be available, or won't be available for days. And they will be over worked, it not overwhelmed. You may be stuck can't contact your agent … (1 comments)
house inspection: What Is It? And Why Did A Chippie Make It?
- 03/29/11 03:06 PM
What Is It? And Why Did A Chippie Make It? Well first you might ask is 'What's a chippie?' Well that's simply an old term for a carpenter or wood fitter, because they were very effective in removing large amounts of wood with adzes, axes and chisels. This is of course in the days before power tools and literally 'the chips were flyin'. A good tradesman kept his tools sharp so when notches or long rip cuts were required they reached for the blades first. In skilled hands this was faster than the alternative and very accurate. That's the chippie, … (12 comments)
house inspection: Is 'CAULK' a 4 letter word ? (Part 1) Connotations of 'CAULK' and 'FLASH' .
- 03/21/11 07:54 AM
Is 'CAULK' a 4 letter word to you ? Does that mean "FLASHING" reminds you of a 'perv' in the park. I would think so judging by the number of places I'm seeing that should have flashing in use but has none or is relying on caulked seams instead. A blog Relying on Caulking by a fellow inspector, Steven L. Smith here in AR got me thinking about the defects that I commonly see regarding these products. His main points were about the life expectancy of caulking and their being used instead of the proper flashing. I concur with the points he makes and … (6 comments)
Yes it’s popped open or lifted when a door or window is opened somewhere and it’s a windy day or the wind is hitting that side of the house. The sudden increase in air pressure will lift the hatch (it’s not heavy). It can even be pulled up as sudden gust of wind create a low pressure zone over the roof. This partial vacuum will pull higher pressure air form the house, lifting the hatch cover with it. Most times it will just fall back down to the … (9 comments)
This does several good things; 1. It gets it out of tight closets that are difficult to position ladders in. 2. It does not require the emptying of shelves to gain access to the hatch. 3. Opening the hatch does not cause loose insulation or other attic debris to rain down on the clothes in the closet. 4. Positioning in the swing area of the doorway ensures that there will never be any furniture … (6 comments)
Curses.. Foiled again! The foibles of faulty .... what is it?..... The gold brownish colour that you see is not true. That's a reflection of the wood paneling colouring. You can see the true colour in the section by the floor and if your guess was aluminum foil insulation / vapour barrier you would be right. This home building product was used in the seventies in new construction and renos. It only resembles aluminium foil, but is much thicker with an internal layer of a tar waterproofing. It was designed to be used as a vapour barrier and an additional … (6 comments)
house inspection: Invasion of the house snatchers! They’re not teenagers but they’ll eat you out of house and home!
- 02/27/11 03:36 AM
Invasion of the house snatchers! They’re not teenagers but they’ll eat you out of house and home! It happened here. At a million dollar estate, a beautiful house in semi rural 'horse' country. With big beautiful evergreens towering behind the home. Picturesque. The Tree -Up close; -It’s away from the balcony deck, 10' from the house wall, so not perfect but OK.
-Shallow root system - low plumbing or footing interference risk, OK -Within range to hit the house if toppled but healthy free standing tree, seems low risk, but:
I see dust, like saw dust, at the … (4 comments)
house inspection: Snap, Crackle, Pop
- 12/01/10 04:14 AM
Snap Crackle Pop "I was working in the lab late one night when.." snap crackle pop the lights went out.Actually I was in my basement wood working shop trying to put together an impromptu kids toy. The toy was a contraption made of small pieces of wood, bobby pins and elastic bands. Something slipped, the elastic snapped and small parts went flying.Snap - crackle - click - no lights. (The pop came later.)Oh! oh? Burnt ozone smell. Quick - flashlight - electrical panel. Tripped circuit breaker - that won't reset.Eventually I found it. A bobby pin fused across the positive and neutral prongs (also called … (3 comments)
Usually I'm presenting an aspect of home maintenance, value improvement or 'how too' instructions to feature best practice ways to do things around building and property issues.
Some times it's building tech history or how thing came to be as they are, the back story on terms, expressions and phrases.
I keep track of the strange, the unique, the special and interesting things I get to see, including the dangers. These are filed as OMGs. OMGs always have photos, so I share the file with you from time to time.
The rest come out of thin air. More than once I start writing a comment on someone else's blog and end up inking a whole new blog. Am I inspired or am I ranting? You can decide.
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