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Bellingham, WA: Happy Halloween from King of the House Home Inspection - 10/31/11 11:27 PM
I would be remiss in not wishing many of my friends here at Active Rain a happy Halloween. Moments ago, I got home from dinner with three of my favorite Active Rain members. Charles Buell from Seattle area, Don Hester from Eastern Washington and Curtis Brown of Bellingham, along with yours truly, went to Boundary Bay. Heck, the Bellingham mayor, Dan Pike, even joined us for a few minutes -- I think he really likes home inspectors. These home inspectors, all affiliated with the Bellingham Technical College program in one way or another, are all top-notch individuals who are very good at what they do and they … (3 comments)
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Meet the Beetles -- February 7, 2012 - 10/30/11 04:21 PM
The title of the upcoming class, offered at the Washington State University Puyallup Structural Pest IPM facility, caught my eye and my ears. It is called "Meet the Beetles". I am of such an age that a distinctive image is brought to mind when I hear those words. If you lived through the 60's, you have to remember that groundbreaking album, title above modified slightly to meet my journalistic requirements for humor. This course for inspectors is the brainchild of Dr. Dan Suomi, our state's leading expert on beetles. Dan did his Phd studies on the beatles and, today, he is a … (4 comments)
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Washington State Approved Home Inspector Training -- Bellingham Technical College - 10/30/11 12:35 AM
We have one class in progress right now, students from the Seattle area and Eastern Washington. The schedule for the next home inspector training course, to be offered at Bellingham Technical College, is hot off the presses. The first course of 2012 starts on February 6, 2012.
The Bellingham Technical College course, the first course to be state approved, includes 40 hours of field training and 120 hours of the basics or fundamentals training.
Classes tend to be smaller, so students receive lots of attention and classes are informal. For additional information on the upcoming course, please call 360-752-8796 or 360-676-6908. … (3 comments)
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Legendary Performer Reborn, #1 Song In America, 1974 - 10/27/11 10:05 PM
In February of 1974, there was a re-birth for one of the original artists and songwriters of the early days of pop music. The artist's star had faded pretty badly in the USA. He had not had a hit of any magnitude since 1964, ten years before.
Despite everyone being ho-hum about his career back home, the performer was still a well-respected artist in the U.K. This man, being incredibly creative, was not willing to rest on his laurels and he presented a new sound to the British audience at a major London concert. They liked what they heard.
Shortly thereafter, at a star-studded party … (4 comments)
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Speaking of Photos -- Whatcom County Museum, Bellingham, WA - 10/27/11 10:19 AM
I am often posting photos at Active Rain that I shot in Italy, Mexico or Canada. For a promotional piece that I am working on, I have taken photos of four or five of the best known buildings in Bellingham. I think that the most distinctive of those has to be the Whatcom County Museum. This building goes back to 1892 and was, for many years, the Bellingham City Hall.
Ever since I was a kid, 1950's, it has been the Whatcom County Museum and a main cultural meeting point for the county. Some people think the building is lovely. There … (4 comments)
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Italy Photo -- Pretty Impressive - 10/26/11 08:13 PM
I have been so busy catching up, after getting back from Italy just over two weeks ago, that I have not had time to go through many of my photos. This was a hard building to photograph. There was another building across the street and it was of such gargantuan size that it was difficult to get far enough away to get it all in. To complicate matters, there were a zillion pedestrians and construction taking place in front of it. Therefore, the best way to take the shot was up high. Even if it is a limited view, it is … (2 comments)
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Bellingham WA Home Inspector (King of the House) Multi-layer Roofs - 10/25/11 10:16 AM
At an older home, it is quite common to find multi-layer roofs, composition material over old comp or even over wood shingles (a real no no). Despite the popularity of shingling over a worn out roofing surface, the practice is marginal at best. In the photo below, the rust colored shingles are the old roof below.
The psychology of the consumer is such that clients tell me they plan to put yet another layer over a roof that already has two layers. And somewhere in folklore, they have been told that it is okay to have three layers.
There are many problems with … (5 comments)
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Washington State Home Inspector Training, February 2012 - 10/23/11 11:24 PM
It is amazing how fast time flies. The schedule for the next home inspector training course, to be offered at Bellingham Technical College, has been released. The first course of 2012 will begin on February 6.
The Bellingham Technical College course, the first course to be state approved, includes 40 hours of field training and 120 hours of the basics or fundamentals training.
Classes tend to be smaller, so students receive lots of attention and classes are informal. For additional information on the upcoming course, please click on the video link below. For specific information, call 360-752-8796 or 360-676-6908.
… (0 comments)
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This Day In History: That Louisiana Boy and his #1 Hit from November, 1966 - 10/23/11 07:04 PM
When the Beatles ruled the pop charts, in the mid-1960's, there was a young hitmaker, who had moved from NYC to Louisiana, with his family, when he was a toddler. The young fellow had grown up, not with the British beat, but listening to the New Orlean's legends, not the smallest of those being Fats Domino. This had a huge influence on the young man's performing style.
Back in 1957, this wannabe star, at the tender age of 15, made his way back to NYC (birth place) to meet the famous rock "n" roll deejay, Alan Freed. Freed, who made superstars, liked the kid's music … (7 comments)
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Whatcom County Home Inspector (King of the House) Deck Building - 10/23/11 04:14 PM
When I inspect decks in Bellingham and Whatcom County, not unlike at other areas of the country based on what I am told by other inspectors, I find a multitude of problems with decks. The average homeowner, hyped by being told how easy it is to build a deck on a weekend, often ends up constructing a monstrosity that is unsafe or will degrade the quality of the house. Some of the most common problems involve improperly flashing the deck, so rot might develop at the junction of the ledger board and the exterior wall; failing to anchor the deck to … (1 comments)
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Bellingham WA Home Inspector (King of the House) Bugs by the Number - 10/23/11 01:09 AM
We have many problems with rot and wood destroying insects in this region. A few months back, I was inspecting an older house that had a number of issues with wood destroying organisms. Since many of the insect pests are attracted to wet and decayed wood, it is common to find wood destroying insects living in rotten and wet wood.
At this particular crawl space, the first thing that I noticed, when opening the hatch, was frass or shavings from carpenter ants.
Honestly, that was no big surprise, since I had previously seen the little devils crawling around at … (20 comments)
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Bellingham WA Home Inspector (King of the House) Sliding Glass Doors - 10/22/11 05:38 PM
At about seven of ten houses, that I inspect in Whatcom County and Bellingham, there is at least one sliding glass door. Often these can be difficult to operate or test. Sometimes a seller will have a keyed lock on the lower track, that keeps it in a stationary position. In that case, it may not be possible to check the door. Other times, you have to fish a wood stick or similar bar out of the track, security measures.
Once the door is free, so it can be tested, I often find that the latch is out of adjustment. In what … (2 comments)
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Washington Home Inspector Training (Bellingham Technical College) A Room Of Our Own - 10/22/11 03:42 PM
The home inspection training course at Bellingham Technical College now has its own "assigned" room. In years gone by, we were given a classroom that was available by virtue of it not being in use at the time the course was offered. As of this year, we have been assigned classroom B-12. The room is fully equipped with computers and media equipment. Here is a photo of a few of the recent students working on report writing in the new facility.
Bellingham Technical College, for more than a decade, has been offering professional home inspection training. Students come from all over, … (0 comments)
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Whatcom County Home Inspector (King of the House) Keeping the Water in the Tub! - 10/18/11 10:01 AM
Often people, especially renters, have a casual attitude about slopping water from a bath or shower onto the floor. Obviously, a tub or shower needs to have a satisfactory surround and, at a shower, a curtain or a door. But there must be a decent seal at the floor, between the tub or shower and the floor covering, so water does not seep under the floor covering.
In checking a tub or shower, the inspector may find damage at the caulking or seal that could allow moisture into the area below. This it the best photo that I have showing the extent … (5 comments)
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#1 Album In America On The Day The President Died - 10/15/11 06:24 PM
"This Day in History" posts feature music and nostalgia. On the 4th of July, I speculated that, in the course of every person's life, there are historic moments, and horrendous events, that will be remembered until a person's dying day. In my lifetime, those events would be (1) JFK assassination (2) Armstrong walking on the moon (3) Challenger explosion (4) Oklahoma federal building bombing (5) 911 attacks. I remember where I was when JFK was shot: School lunch duty at Parkview elementary in Bellingham, my teacher was Mrs. Thon.
In a previous article, I identified Deep Purple, by the duo Nino Tempo … (7 comments)
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Standing in the Shadows-- ATM Scam in Italy - 10/09/11 10:02 AM
Well, I am back in Bellingham after our recent Italy trip.
For the first time in my many years of traveling, my wife and I were victimized by an ATM scam at a small, and very charming, small city in Italy. We had taken a daytrip from Tuscany and, after lunch, decided to get some cash. We were in a tiny piazza, off a retail area, only a few people were around. We saw a Bank of Lucca, ATM machine.
Odd, but we walked up to it and a young woman, with a baby, was standing in front of the device, … (75 comments)
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Steven L. Smith, Bellingham WA Home Inspector
Bellingham,
WA
More about me…
King of the House Home Inspection, Inc
Address: Bellingham, Ferndale, Lynden, Blaine, Sumas, Nooksack, Lake Whatcom, Lake Samish, Anacortes, Mount Vernon, Whatcom County, Bellingham, WA, 98225
Office Phone: (360) 676-6908
Cell Phone: (360) 319-0038
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