Bellingham Washington Home Inspection (King of the House): Unsafe Panel - 09/28/07 01:44 PM
This is the electric cover removed from the main panel in a mobile home park. The burn or arc marks are from high voltage - 240V. At some point, the two legs of the 240 volt conductor came in contact with the metal cover. This was an old, and unsafe, … (3 comments)
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Mt. Vernon WA Home Inspection (King of the House): Showers and Wall Damage - 09/28/07 01:41 PM
It does not seem to matter if it is a shower curtain or a shower door, often the most significant water damage in a home is around the tub, especially when the tub has a shower. The problem is that people do not adequately caulk floor areas or they fail … (0 comments)
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Bellingham WA Home Inspector (King of the House): Odd Structures - 09/28/07 01:39 PM
As a home inspector, I see lots of odd crawl space structures and repairs that were not part of the original construction. These range from structures with an obvious purpose, such as stiffening the underneath of a tile floor, to the very weird. For example, this is among the poorer … (0 comments)
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Anacortes Home Inspection (King of the House): Tiny Fingers Do The Walking - 09/27/07 01:03 PM
Over and over again, as a home inspector, I see easily accessed outlets and light switches that have no covers. If a home is older, it seems that is very often the case. In fact, there should be covers on ALL of the switches, junction boxes or outlets in a home. … (3 comments)
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Skagit, Whatcom County WA Home Inspection (King of the House):Reverse Perimeter Slope - 09/25/07 01:49 PM
One thing a home inspector should look at, at least in a wet climate like the Pacific Northwest, is the slope of the property. Is the slope of the land going to lead to water running back against the structure of the home? If the answer is yes, and soil is … (0 comments)
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Whatcom-Skagit County Washington Home Inspection (King of the House): Conducive Conditions - 09/25/07 01:47 PM
You will probably have trouble figuring out the photo below. It is not a loose plumbing supply pipe. This is something a home inspector sees over and over again. The drain from the temperature pressure relief valve from the hot water heater is routed to drain under the house into the … (0 comments)
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Burlington Washington Home Inspection (King of the House): Missing Vapor Barrier - 09/25/07 01:44 PM
A key to reducing the chances of attracting wood destroying organisms includes having a vapor barrier down on the soil in the crawl space. Without such a barrier, the moisture in the soil evaporates up into the crawl space and even up into the interior of the home. That leads to … (2 comments)
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Whatcom, Skagit County Home Inspection (King of the House): Tall Trees And Your Roof - 09/20/07 05:14 PM
Trees can cause a myriad of problems when they are too near, or hanging over, roofs. Sometimes the damage is pretty apparent: Like when the big branch blows in the wind and rips or breaks shingles off. Perhaps more devastating long-term, because homeowners do not pick up on it, is the … (2 comments)
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Bellingham Home Inspector (King of the House): Shake Roofs - 09/20/07 05:09 PM
Shake, and wood roofs, in general, can be very pretty roofs. But, if they start going south, they can deteriorate real fast. Because they are wood, if rot begins and moisture levels stay at twenty percent or higher, that rot will continue. Shakes are popular in my Pacific Northwest Region, but … (2 comments)
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Bellingham WA Property Inspection (King of the House): Leaky Faucets - 09/20/07 05:00 PM
While not a serious problem, and one that everyone seems to be able to deal with without anyone freaking out, the leaking faucet can be irritating and wasteful of water. The condition can be at any faucet in the home, you choose: Laundry sink, bathtub, shower, jacuzzi, kitchen sink, bath sink. … (0 comments)
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Bellingham WA Home Inspector (King of the House): Knob and Tube Wiring - 09/20/07 01:57 PM
Many insurance companies will no longer insure knob and tube wiring. Those that do tend to charge much higher premiums. In my view, often the biggest problem with knob and tube has less to do with the original wiring than the way people have butchered it over the years. For example, … (0 comments)
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Mount Vernon WA Home Inspector (King of the House): Your Crampin’ My Style -- Inadequate Clearances - 09/20/07 01:55 PM
For some reason, homeowners insist on putting in obstacles that make access to their electric panels unsafe. That in itself is a defect to be called out on an inspection report. To be considered accessible, a panel must have an open area at least 30" x 3' deep at the front; … (0 comments)
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Bellingham WA Home Inspector: (King of the House): Chimney Flashings - 09/20/07 01:52 PM
A masonry chimney on the roof almost always has, or should have at least, a metal flashing around it. This is usually described in four sections. At the top, behind the chimney, is the head flashing. At the front, low side, is the apron flashing. Probably the most critical flashings are … (0 comments)
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Pacific Northwest Home Inspection (King of the House): Unsafe Junction Boxes - 09/18/07 02:11 PM
The purpose of a junction box is to safely contain splices inside the box. This keeps people from coming in contact with live voltages. And, should the splices build up resistance and overheat, the box confines the wires and reduces the chances of a fire. If you think about it, it … (3 comments)
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Fire Safety: Dryer Lint - 09/18/07 02:08 PM
Keeping the duct from the dryer clean seems like a no brainer. On the other hand, this is one of the most often cited defects at the typical home inspection. What we inspectors see ranges from the duct having come loose behind the dryer (and lint is everywhere) to lint … (2 comments)
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Bellingham WA Home Inspection (King of the House): Keeping the Water Out - 09/18/07 02:07 PM
A much misunderstood aspect of home maintenance involves caulking. What to caulk and what not to caulk, and where does it work? Basically, caulking is not a substitute for good workmanship. I have seen houses where the siding was cut short, with an inch between the butt end of the siding … (0 comments)
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Bellingham WA Home Inspector (King of the House) Overheated Circuits - 09/18/07 02:06 PM
When looking at electrical safety, probably the two biggest concerns are shocks/ electrocution and fire hazards. With old wiring, as connections and insulation deteriorate, it can lead to wires and connections attaining higher temperatures. Physics is involved: You have voltage, amperage and resistance. As the resistance goes up, which happens … (0 comments)
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Bellingham WA Home Inspection: Fireplaces and Flues - 09/12/07 05:55 PM
A home inspector never knows what to expect when inspecting wood stoves, fireplaces and chimneys. In my part of the country you can usually expect to find a dirty flue, full of dark, oozing creosote. It seems that lots of people think that having a chimney regularly cleaned applies to someone else. … (4 comments)
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Anacortes WA Home Inspection (King of the House Inc): A Crawl Space Is Not A Repository For Debris - 09/12/07 05:52 PM
Out of sight, out of mind. That seems to be the attitude of many people when it comes to the condition of the crawl space. Often homeowners do not even know that the crawl space has problems because workers leave the mess and do not post signs saying they did a … (1 comments)
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Bellingham WA Property Inspection (King of the House): Shade On Me - 09/10/07 10:45 PM
While the two photos below are not from the same home, they are presented to make a point. The top photo gives a great example of the way people let trees smother a roof. This kind of vegetation, pretty much no matter what you do, will create additional stress on the roof. … (4 comments)
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A Faucet Called "Old Faithful" - 09/10/07 10:41 PM
I have seen many outside faucets that have had leaks, but this one was an award winner. I am glad I was not standing off to the right of it when I did the water pressure reading. By the way, those of you who are tuned into that kind of thing … (0 comments)
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Furnace interlocks - 09/10/07 10:36 PM
When a home inspector looks at a furnace, he or she is trying to determine the general condition of it, age etc. One thing I see, frequently, is the door or front panel interlock taped on. When an inspector sees that, there is little choice but to suggest that the appliance … (2 comments)
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Bellingham Home Inspection (King of the House): Neglected Maintenance - 09/09/07 06:54 PM
At home inspections, sometimes at otherwise good houses, I am often surprised at the simple things that are easily corrected but were not dealt with by the seller. For example, the dirt will be piled on the siding near the gardens. The one maintenance issue that I see over and over … (3 comments)
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Bellingham Home Inspection (King of the House Inc): A Common Appliance Problem - 09/09/07 05:55 PM
While it is not necessarily in the standards of practice, most inspectors do a limited inspection of appliances. From my experience, I find that one appliance problem seems to be the one that I see more often than the others. Some of the more common things I see are leaking food … (1 comments)
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Seeking Experienced Realtors: Zero Lot Lines - 09/09/07 04:03 PM
I would be interested to hear from some of you out there. In this area of the country where, historically we had lots of room, we did not have many, or any, zero lot line homes. Over the past few years a number of them have sprung up. I look upon … (7 comments)
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Shifting Sands and Murky Waters: Condo Inspections - 09/09/07 03:43 PM
In my part of the country, we are seeing more and more condos. Often like the condo in the photos below, these condos afford residents spectacular water front views. A private homeowner frequently cannot afford a lot in such an area, but common ownership by all the unrelated parties makes it possible. … (0 comments)
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Oh My Leaking Roof: Chimney Flashings - 09/09/07 12:58 AM
While I would not say it is unusual, it is also not all that common to be able to capture the photos below which go together so nicely and illustrate a point. Home inspectors see a multitude of problems with old metal chimney flashings. Often roofers do not help matters when … (2 comments)
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Bellingham Home Inspection (King of the House Inc): Downspout Drainage - 09/09/07 12:33 AM
While it is a common practice, a home inspector does not like to see the downspouts of the home up tight to the siding and draining down the roofing materials. When that is the case, and the rain is really coming down in our climate here in Washington, it leads to … (1 comments)
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Connecting those dots! - 09/08/07 05:57 PM
I was doing an inspection at a nice condo. Checked the dryer vent outside, or what I thought was the dryer vent, just to see if it had lint inside of it. Prior to looking, I had turned on the dryer. I was surprised to find that no warm, or cold, … (0 comments)
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Just To Prove I'm Not A Model A! - 09/08/07 03:23 PM
I recently wrote a blog explaining why I think there is limited validity to attempting to train serious home inspectors merely by supplying them with videos and Online courses. Now, I did not say that I do not think there is a place for modern technology in the training of inspectors. Much … (0 comments)
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Virtual Home Inspection Training -- To Be Or Not To Be - 09/08/07 02:07 PM
In this high-tech age, everybody wants to learn to do anything and everything Online or by video. If it cannot be taught on the web, or on DVD, then it is too time consuming. I am coordinator of a state accredited, college level, home inspection training program in Washington State at Bellingham Technical College. … (2 comments)
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Realtor Clock-Hours In Washington - 09/08/07 10:47 AM
As we come into the fall season, again Bellingham Technical College will be offering a professional, state-accredited clock-hours class for realtors who are working in the Pacific Northwest. This three hour class is affordable and taught by the home inspection faculty from Bellingham Technical College. Realtors who take the informative course … (2 comments)
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Bellingham WA Home Inspection (King of the House): Little Round Holes In The Logs - 09/06/07 11:11 PM
The photo below is something you prefer not to see at a log home. A log home, by its very nature, is more prone to possible problems with wood destroying insects and wood destroying organisms than most types of homes. The other problem is that it can be hard to impossible, … (4 comments)
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Bellingham Home Inspection (King of the House Inc): Conducive Conditions - 09/05/07 06:55 PM
In this state we talk a lot about conducive conditions. Conducive conditions are even written into the Washington State law -- part of the structural pest inspector law. I took this photo at an inspection yesterday and thought it does a good job of illustrating a point. In an earlier blog, … (1 comments)
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Bellingham WA Home Inspection (King of the House): Strange Things People Do - 09/05/07 05:35 PM
The crawl space photos below show, at least, a couple obvious concerns as far as the longterm well being of this home. The first issue, and I will cite it first as it is mandated as a concern by Washington State law, is that the so-called piers under the posts are wood. … (4 comments)
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Bellingham Home Inspection (King of the House): Assessing Anobiid Beetle Activity - 09/03/07 01:25 AM
I have posted before about anobiid beetles and the damage they can do here in the Pacific Northwest in a damp, unventilated crawl space. The home buyer's question is always the same: Are they still active? Sometimes the damage they have done is so extensive that that concern becomes a moot point -- … (7 comments)
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Municipalities Do It Best - 09/01/07 04:22 PM
I thought I should share this. I have made a number of posts lately regarding unsafe wiring. This is NOT home owner wiring. I was digging through some photos and, again, this is a photo I took near Cancun, Mexico. This is wiring in a public park. Seriously, this is a … (3 comments)
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Bellingham Home Inspection (King of the House Inc): Off With Their Pointy Little Tips - 09/01/07 02:54 PM
Okay, you are probably wondering what type of politically incorrect statement I am about to make here. In fact, I was wondering if I ought to post this or not. So, I decided that to backup my opinion, and to clarify the matter, I would supply a photograph of their little pointy … (7 comments)
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Bellingham Washington Home Inspector (King of the House): Termites In Our Midst - 09/01/07 02:38 PM
If you think you have a termite problem, well look at the kind of problem you might have. I took this photo in Mexico at a small island off Cancun. When I went into the city park I could not believe my eyes. This makes a caterpillar infestation look like the … (1 comments)
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Bellingham WA Property Inspector (King of the House): Electric Panel Safety - 09/01/07 02:08 AM
This is the photo of the inside of an electric panel. Granted, the big bent nail off to the side is not so impressive, but at least it is staying in one place. The thing that you need to see is in the lower left hand corner. That is oh so … (7 comments)
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