Steven L. Smith's Blog

Open-ended Gutters

2008-05-06T09:07:35Z

Many new homes in the Pacific Northwet, older homes too, have gutters installed that have open ends. These are almost always on dormers so they drain the water from that smaller roof down to the end of the gutter where it keeps on a movin' down the rooof to the main gutter system. Many builders, and buyers, feel that the look of open-ended gutters far exceeds the look of a long downspout going down the roof. That may be true to some people, but open-ended gutters have their own issues. One of those issues is they dump heavy water, especially during major rain, near the siding at dormers (hope the metal flashing at the wall is good) and that river of water does, over time, deteriorate the granular material on compositon shingles. After only a few years, you can see the track of the water. When that granular material goes, UV from the sun will take a toll on the roofing as well. This arrangement stresses wood roofing too. These open-ended gutters, due to design and neglect, often have blocked ends. Organic debris loves those ends, see the photo below. You will notice that there is exposed wood at the end of the gutter. That is very common and should be avoided. The gutter will be running water against this in the best of times. In the worst of times, a big soggy sponge of debris will be resting against the wood. That causes rot.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Good Lookin' Bad Idea

2008-05-04T15:09:13Z

Crowding. Crowding. Crowding the house. How else would you describe this? I am sure the homeowner likes this plant, probably likes the way it covers the siding. But the problem is that siding needs some space between it and the vegetation. How much? Well usually a foot is recommended. In actuality, you can probably get by with less space than that as long as there is a big enough gap to allow the siding to dry after a rain. Otherwise it retains moisture and is prone to rot. You need some air circulation in there. And the other concern is that those darn lazy wood destroying insects, they like to get from here to there on the quickest and shortest possible route. That means that they will take any shortcut they can find -- such as climbing the plants. Bad, bad wood destroying insects, they spoil a gardeners fun. Don't believe me, just ask my wife when she has to trim her plants. Oh, on second thought, she never does. Drat!

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Creepy Crawlies

2008-05-04T13:56:33Z

It seems that almost everybody has some living object that creeps them out. For me it is the snake and lizard variety. For many other people it is insects in general but especially spiders. The other big fear for some people is the vermin variety, rats and even mice -- who I think are pretty cute. One we do not think about but that certainly has an element of the "creep" factor is bats. I think a lot of that goes to horror movies and books, Count Dracula and all. Then we read about them maybe having rabies too.

I, generally, do not mind bats but they have creeped me out a couple times. Once I was staying at a log cabin in British Columbia, a big place, and bats were evident on the upper floor. You would see them swoop and dart by at night and see their droppings. Another time, the wife and I were in Cancun, walking down an alley from a restaurant after having great coconut prawns, and there was a really big bat -- can you say Bella Lugosi lives -- and he or she kept following us, keeping pace, and diving right above our heads. He made spacey noises too.

Now, had I been less of a macho man, more like my friend Charlie B, I probably would have started screaming like a little girl and run down the alley with my arms flapping. As it was, I just speeded up and got the heck out of there as soon as was possible. The wife was pretty mad about that by the way, I left her in my dust, that big bat firmly embedded in her neck. No just kidding about that.

I think if more people knew what bats looked like up close, they would find them even creepier. The photo below is one of the most common bats in my area. He is a good little insect catcher, much better than fly paper. But take a look at that mug. He sure ain't son in law material.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Mold? Fungus For Sure

2008-05-03T11:24:13Z

When an inspector sees sheathing under the roof, visible in the attic, with kind of a gray, hazy stain, it can be problematic figuring out what caused it. There are several possibilities. The first thought might be a roof leak but that is usually more isolated, in a given spot or two. When there is a more uniform gray staining between rafters, and it is widespread, that is more likely to indicate moisture floating in the air, condensation.

What would cause that? The most likely answers are (1) there is inadequate ventilation in the attic so hot air is not able to escape; (2) bathroom exhaust fans are venting moist air into the attic. In the picture below, the problem was related to poor attic ventilation. Often, it will be related to both of those causes.

If you look at the photo below (where the problem is much less than one often sees) you will notice that the insulation has blocked the soffit vents. Proper attic ventilation should include both low and high venting. In this case the low venting is blocked so there is no "cross-circulation" of air coming in and then going back out at the ridge or roof vents. I have seen extreme cases of this where the attic has significant mold. Often the sheathing is falling apart.

There is another possibility too. That is that the sheathing was stained at the job site prior to it being put in place. To come to that conclusion, the inspector needs to rule out the other possibilities and, even then, it is an educated guess.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Just Rollin' With The Flow

2008-05-02T08:56:39Z

You ever see one of those driveways that slopes toward the garage vehicle door? If you have, and you have ever wondered what happens when it rains in a wet climate, the photo below gives you a pretty good idea.

This is really a bad situation. First, the garage cannot be used to store anything other than the cars -- thank goodness they are up on rubber tires -- and there is another problem. That is, if the sheetrock is pretty low to the concrete floor then that runoff water will get on the interior walls and that can lead to mold growing on the sheetrock. Some sloped driveways have a drain in front of the door. Sometimes they are designed to work, other times the drain is useless. At best, they need to be kept clean of leaves and debris. A driveway, sloped toward the garage or carport, is something a home inspector should take a look at.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

No Flashing, Big Problem!

2008-05-01T21:23:26Z

This photo is a good example of why it is important to properly flash an exterior wall that is located at the side of the roof. Some short-sighted builders think that, since the water is going to be running down the roof, it will not hurt to have the wall touching the roof. That is why we call these builders short-sighted. They do not have the foresight to realize that only a few years down the road that wall is going to be soggy and rotten. Doubters only need to look at the photo below. That is not an OSB (oriented strand board) composition siding. That is real wood and it is going into it's death rattle as my fingers do the typing. What should have been done? Good builders put metal step flashing under the shingles and up behind the siding. The siding is cut to end with a one to two inch gap down to the roof. The siding becomes what is called a counter flashing. That way, the water runs on the metal and not against the wood. That is a much better technique!

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Inspector Got Steamed Up On The Roof

2008-04-30T11:11:49Z

The whitish vapor you see coming out the flue that is closest to you is indicative of a safety problem. It is also something an inspector sees a lot of. I was up on a roof and had identified the two flues to the right as having come from abandoned fireplaces. In that case, they should have been capped off. However, as I was up on the roof, suddenly the steam and distinctive exhaust gases from a gas burning appliance started coming out the one flue. This is an unsafe way to vent gas appliances. Full details of why this common, but old-fashion arrangement, is a problem are listed below.

Sizing: A flue needs to be sized for the appliance it serves. The furnace and water heater in your home have a BTU (British Thermal Unit) rating usually listed in terms of thousands of BTU. It is the heat generated by the appliance that promotes venting. If you have a large, cold chimney and a small BTU appliance, it may not generate enough heat for the flue gases to rise inside the chimney. Adding a properly sized flue liner reduces the area to be heated by the appliance and therefore increases the venting capacity of the chimney.

Vapor: One of the byproducts of burning fossil fuels such as natural gas or oil is water vapor. If the chimney is unlined and cold, the water vapor will condense inside the chimney and the chimney will become wet. A wet chimney can stain the walls and ceiling of the home and rust out the metal flue pipes.

Gases: Other byproducts of combustion are nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide. When the water vapor produced by combustion combines with nitrogen dioxide, the result is nitric acid. Acid vapors can eat away at the mortar in the brick chimney. When the chimney passes through a home, if there is a problem like this, it can result in poisonous gases making their way into the home.

Efflorescence: This is a whitish mineral powder that forms on the inside or outside brick of the chimney that is exposed to the air. When water vapor soaks into the brick, the moisture migrates through the brick, usually to the exterior, where it evaporates, leaving behind minerals collected by the water. The minerals form a whitish powder that can usually be brushed off. In winter, the migrating water freezes inside the brick, resulting in damaged brick or a cracked chimney. For more information, check out this blog by James Quarello, home inspector.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Nice Plumbing Repair

2008-04-17T22:41:38Z

My friend Charles Buell is always very critical of duct tape -- the miracle cure of last century and still a hot commodity today. I have seen everything from the skins of mobile homes and fuel tanks to shoes repaired with the stuff. I always love it when I open a cabinet and find it at the drain under the sink. Come on folks, the stuff really is not very waterproof and let's be honest it is a really lousy way to repair a leak. The photo below does a wonderful job of capturing a leak in progress. What --- a leak from a sink that has been repaired. Yeah, afraid so. Check out the big droplet of water. It is as big as the tear that will be coming from Charlie's eye when he finds out that I have done one more blog this week than he has done so far.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Another Close, But No Cigar, Job

2008-04-17T22:15:53Z

Below is an electric water heater with an installation that is close to right. But close is not good enough. There is a temperature pressure relief valve and the drain line from it is even routed down and out of the home. And the lower section of the drain is CPVC tubing which is a plastic that is approved for hot water. If you look at the vertical section that goes up to the valve, well that is plain old PVC. PVC works with cold water but is not approved for use with hot water and that includes at the TPR drain. This tank requires a qualified plumber to come in and upgrade the TPR drain. A TPR drain should be 3/4" pipe or plastic tubing and must be rated for hot water. Around here we see copper and CPVC in this application. Also, the drain cannot be a flexible tubing of any type, including copper flex that might be bent in a manner that would change, or get away from, the level to downward slope that is mandatory for safety. A TPR drain cannot go up for even one teeny weensy centimeter.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Common and a Real Mess!

2008-04-16T23:30:26Z

The view in this photo is so very common, but I always hate to see it. When a roofer takes an old wood shingle or shake roof off, it seems that about eight times out of ten the wood debris ends up inside the attic. Just what a homeowner wants is a bunch of old wood shingles in the attic. What makes better kindling than old, dry wood shingles? The answer to that I do not know because old, dry, wood shingles work pretty good for me. In my own house, and a rental I own, I had to go up there myself, after the roofers, and I got bags and bags of this stuff. My mistake was I did it in the summer and it was one hot job. A home inspector is obligated to call out this kind of mess. Who cleans up? Sometimes the seller from what I have seen and sometimes the buyer accepts it as is.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Gambler's Guide To Home Buying

2008-04-16T09:44:45Z

In life there are many gambles. Anyone in business has to assume some risk and take some gambles. Even hanging out your shingle, doing whatever it is you plan to do, involves risk. I am not one who is afraid of some risk. One of the best business decisions I ever made, which I can now look back on, was a risk. That was buying a radio station on a shoestring in the mid-1980's. Worked out great more than a decade later but it was not without lots of worry in the middle. So, as far as business and getting ahead, some risk and gambling is to be expected and, in fact, often the element of risk is essential if you are going to do anything innovative that has a strong chance of returning a profit. If it was simple, and without stress, everyone would do it.

Now let's talk about real gambling. The most famous term that comes to mind when I think of gambling is Aces and eights. Aces and eights are the deadman's hand.

The deadman's hand, if you do not know, is the hand that Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was shot in the back of the head. He normally sat with a wall behind him so he could see all around the room and nobody could get behind him. His changing chairs that night was a gamble that did not pay off.

Now that we are talking about taking big gambles, that can lead to a loss, I will tell you one gamble that people should not be taking -- buying houses on their own, with no professional guidance, when they know nothing about houses. Houses are a huge investment and a bad one can break the homeowner's bank. When people purchase a home without a professional home inspection, or substitute uncle Harry who used to build chicken coops from the ground up as the inspector, it is a bad choice and a silly gamble. As a home inspector who has seen the fallout from such errors in judgement, I urge real estate professionals to have their clients seek out a professional home inspection when their clients are buying. Lord forbid, you do not want to end up with clients who are holding aces and eights and sitting on the wrong side of the table.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

They're Alive, They're Alive

2008-04-15T22:35:00Z

This is not an out of body experience, or some tale that will make you think I am any weirder than what you might already think. After all, you have probably heard stories of the dead coming back to life -- on shows like the Twilight Zone. Call it reincarnation, call it hibernation, or call it whatever you want but please don't call me late for dinner. Take this story as you will, perhaps you will think it silly, perhaps you will think it a miracle, but it is my story and here goes.

In December I did an inspection at Birch Bay and found a major infestation of carpenter ants. I smacked a joist that I knew was bad and here they came. Because I teach wood destroying organisms for Bellingham Technical College, I grabbed some of the damaged wood, the frass (shavings and chewings from the ants) and yes, a few live ants. I threw them in the back of my truck, tied up in a plastic bag. Call me cruel if you wish, but that is what I did. Then I got a cold, kind of forgot about them but decided to leave them in the truck. That was then and a photo of the wood, when taken from the home that day, is below.

This is now. I am teaching a class this week and took the bag out of my truck. Did not even know if it was still there till I had a revelation. But, sure enough, I found the bag and tore it open on the way into class. A couple early rising home inspection students were there and I told them of my treasure. As we were looking at it and I was pointing out the finer points of frass, the "dead" ant on top started moving, ever so slowly. We decided that we would keep him from escaping, so I can save him as a permanent part of the great ant exhibit. Needing caffeine, I put the two students in charge. Officially, in my capacity as the instructor, I made the most interested student temporarily -- "Keeper of the Ant." After making this appointment, and assigning the responsibility, I went for coffee.

When I got back, the students were both working, and busily so, as keepers of the ant. Except things had changed. Now they were both keepers of the ants. Ended up that about eight of the bugs were scurrying about. I guess, like bees in firewood that come to life when they warm-up, same with the ants. Ants tend to slow down in cold weather, so they did that in the canopy of my truck. Long story short, I put them in another plastic bag and, come Thursday and time for class, I will have quite the display ready. Real C. Modoc Carpenter ants. Silly story but amusing if you could have seen the students keeping track of these hustling insects.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Steve's Greatest Hits And B Sides

2008-04-14T23:48:18Z

I was looking at my statistics the other day and found that my first serious activity at Active Rain was one year ago yesterday, as in last Sunday. Wow, how time flies when you are getting all wet in the rain.

A while back, a friend had suggested that he had positive comments by posting, or re-posting, links to blogs that were popular. I decided to do the same thing here, with a twist. I am posting, for you to review, five of my most popular blogs, all featured by AR over the past year. I weeded through the featured blogs and put links to some that I liked.

Below that is the twist: I am posting five also rans. Read that this way -- bombs, stinkers, turkeys, losers. They were just slightly more popular than skunks at a wedding reception.

I think all of us have written more than a few of those types of blogs. We like them but nobody reads them. Why? Sometimes it has to do with the time of day, or even what else is on the site that day.

Loser blogs, which the last five below might be, were personally selected from many choices because I thought that they were better, or more interesting, than statistics might otherwise indicate. I hope you find something here that you consider to be worthwhile. Many of them focus on wood destroying organisms, which is an area I have special interest in.

Five featured blogs that earned significant points and comments:

Home inspection, it is all about straightening the pictures on the wall

Carpenter ant infestation in all its glory

Electric heaters and related fire hazards

Duties and scope of a professional home inspector

Moisture ant infestion (most people had never heard of this pest)

Five never weres that floated like yellow submarines:

Cell phone towers and the trouble companies go to to hide them

Spoof of home inspector lingo and acronyms

New wood destroying organism in WA State per WSDA

Fattening up the wood destroying organisms at your home

Anobiid beetles and their path of destruction

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Canada and US Border Communities

2008-04-11T09:37:30Z

The local daily newspaper, the Bellingham Herald, had a story today that confirmed a trend I have noticed in my inspection business for the past eight months or so -- the rising Canadian dollar, which fluctuates from a bit below to a bit above the US dollar, has led to more Canadians spending money in the US at communities located near the border.

The figures, in the story, are retail sales; however, not a month goes by (no I am not challenging the universe here) where I don't have Canadians using the services of my inspection business. That means they are buying US homes, as I cannot legally work up there. If trying to generalize, I would guess that the majority of them, that I see, are buying at Point Roberts, followed by the Mt. Baker area (skiing) and that is followed by Birch Bay. Point Roberts and Birch Bay are right on the border and both communities are near the water, some with great beach property.

Back in the 1970's the retail market in Bellingham was dependant on Canadian shoppers. That faded away a few years ago and many businesses geared to that trade failed. But now that business is strong again, especially in communities like Sumas that had gone almost dark. The negative is that now I can no longer, on the cheap, pop into Canada for a weekend. I can still go, but it ain't that cheap! To read the story in the newspaper, you can go here.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Cricket, More Than Just A Game

2008-04-10T19:04:01Z

No wonder people who are learning English go crazy sometimes. Take, for example, the word "cricket." You probably think it means an insect or a game the British favor that is similar to baseball. Well, there is a third meaning as you are about to learn. The photo below is a good example of a wide chimney, more than five feet across, that should have a "cricket" behind it, at the junction with the roof.

If you are wondering why anyone would want a cricket, as in a little insect, behind the chimney then you have never learned, or heard, that third meaning of the word cricket.

A cricket, also called a saddle flashing, is a device that should be put behind a wide chimney. You can see that, while not perfect perhaps, it does help guide leaves, debris and water around the chimney instead of it all collecting across the chimney in back. At the above chimney that moisture had lead to damage of the roof sheathing at that location. That much was clear, despite limited visibility. Recommended widths vary -- that is when is the cricket needed, depending on whom you talk to, but certainly this chimney needs one. A photo of a cricket is below.

Some people believe a cricket should be installed on any chimney that is two feet or more across. Others go with 30 inches and wider.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Home Inspection, Why Must We Get Out Of The Car?

2008-04-09T22:02:52Z

Charlie Buell and I sometimes joke around that there are times you could do a home inspection from the publicity photos of the property. It is amazing the things the trained eye can see and, from the photos, you know to look very carefully at certain areas or you might be able to predict a problem in advance.

The photo, an inspection photo, is one of those instances where you know most of the story from looking at the picture. If this was an inside shot, then the problem would be the missing cover on the receptacle -- little fingers can get in there and get a shock. Big ones too if a person is not paying attention.

Now, the tree makes it pretty clear that this shot is outdoors. So that brings up some other things. Not only is the receptacle missing a cover, it is actually missing a "waterproof" cover. The other thing, being located outside, this receptacle needs to have GFCI protection (which helps prevent shocks). You can tell all those things from the photo, except you can't identify if it is GFCI protected or not. Obviously it is not specifically a GFCI receptacle but an outdoor receptacle such as this could also be protected by a GFCI circuit breaker or it could be a slave of another GFCI receptacle located elsewhere in the system.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

If It Fits It Must Work

2008-04-09T20:48:01Z

This photo has to go in that goofy and misguided category we home inspectors see so often -- "if it fits then it has to work". The photo below, believe it or not, is a dryer vent. If you have ever cleaned a dryer vent, or looked at all the lint and junk they spit out, you know just how illogical the location of this vent really is. It has maybe, at most, an inch of clearance between the concrete and the lower lip of the vent. This, by the way, is the new location for the dryer vent. They did not like where it was located before, decided to move it to this ideal spot and, in so doing, they left another open hole in the side of the house.

This is another good example of the old proverb -- just because some bozo can get two things to squeeze together, that does not make it right.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Little Mistake, Big Problem

2008-04-09T16:02:06Z

Warning, unsafe workmanship on display.

In some cases, getting something "close" to right will probably get you by for quite some time. There are other times when "close" just does not cut it. No truck driver thinks "close" is good enough if his or her semi whacks an overpass.

The photo below is kind of like that. A drain on a hot water heater temperature pressure relief valve (TPR) must be routed down.

To the uninformed, this one is routed down. Right? Heck yes, it does go down over at the right side. The problem is there is also a small section that first goes up. So, it is routed up before it is routed down. That is absolutely wrong and makes the whole installation unsafe. We will hope that it does not turn out to be, but we will call it, a fatal flaw.

Small discharges of water will come out of this valve -- it is seldom the steam-filled gushing geyser that people anticipate. These small discharges are trapped, by gravity, against the valve. Over time, that can lead to deterioration of the valve and then it is no longer safe.

Believe me, if it quits working altogether, you might get to see something less like a geyser and more like a bomb. Sometimes, close is just not good enough!

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

And The First Clue Was

2008-04-09T15:24:44Z

We home inspectors look for clues to problems. For example, the leak from the bathroom sink might have also created conducive conditions or damage that is apparent in the crawl space. One component of a home that we look at carefully is the furnace. Especially gas and oil furnaces, are complex and can be dangerous so, as inspectors, we are searching for clues that they have been properly maintained or serviced. By service I mean an annual going over by an HVAC professional, not the homeowner. The older the furnace gets, and the farther into it's design life we get, the more critical that issue becomes.

A general rule of thumb with most inspectors is, unless the furnace has been serviced by an HVAC professional within the previous few months, it is best to have it looked at. No inspector wants to have a client mad because, a month after the inspection, the furnace dies and then the professional says it is not worth fixing. Better to find that out going into the sale.

Sometimes, at least to the seller and some parties, it can be harder to justify calling for professional service than it is at other times. For example, if the last service on the furnace is not established, but the unit is clean inside and running, there are those who think it is just fine. Now, the furnace in the photo below is an easy call and probably nobody will argue if you recommend service in that case. When a furnace has this kind of lint and debris, you want and need a professional to give it a whirl. That includes checking burners, carbon monoxide levels and the heat exchanger, any motors, switches, safety features. In my market the typical fee for this basic service, excluding parts if they are required, is $100 or less, so that is really quite a deal that nobody should balk at.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Moldaphobia

2008-04-09T11:58:48Z

Mold is a topic that, today, creates fear and anxiety. Unfortunately, a number of law firms (wanting to pursue mold litigation) and also companies wishing to capitalize on re-mediation work, help incite this feeding frenzy of both information and mis-information.

There are many posts about mold here at ActiveRain. Of the blogs that I write, and that I track, those few that I write on mold are at the top in ranking and hits. Make no mistake about it, mold is a hot topic with the public. Unfortunately, as stated above, much of that interest is overblown and has been fueled by the media and advertising hype. Caveat -- there are excellent abatement operators, who identify and deal with mold honestly and efficiently, but buyer beware. To objectively think about, or contend with, mold people must not be paralyzed by fear.

The M word, in a real estate deal, is about as welcome as the C word is to the patient in the doctor's office. I am pleased to say that, in our damp region, we have a state agency that does a good job of objectively working with the public on issues involving mold. The Northwest Clean Air Agency has an environmental specialist, Dave Blake, who consults on indoor air quality, asbestos and related matters. For years, Dave has worked in the field -- not only performing inspections, but also giving consumers and homeowners advice. We ask Dave to lecture at the home inspection classes at Bellingham Technical College. Dave has had to go into some hairy situations at schools, day-cares, public buildings, offices, rentals, private homes. Dave, in his official capacity, has been a witness to moldy environs that most home inspectors will not see in a lifetime.

The Northwest Clean Air Agency, with Dave Blake as narrator, has produced a short streaming video on mold: the causes and how to get rid of it. This video tends to calm people down. While I do not bring up the topic unless people are worried about mold, when a client is overwhelmed with doubt, I send them the link to this free video. Again, that M word terrifies some buyers or homeowners. Because of all the publicity, they often envision the remainder of their earthly time spent participating in medical tests, along with investing thousands of dollars in cleanup costs and people in moon suits tromping over their property.

The video is unbiased. It states that mold has an explainable cause -- moisture in different forms. And, the homeowner, if aware of those causes and willing to eliminate them as much as is possible while still living, can usually keep it at bay. The video also acknowledges that, yes, sometimes professionals have to come in to do the analysis or cleanup but that is not the norm. This video demystifies mold and turns it into an understandable concern. Being a state funded agency, the staff at NW Clean Air is not trying to hawk any wares -- just provide sound information.

If you are a real estate professional, and you ever think about mold or hear about it from clients or prospective clients, I suggest that you take a look at this video. Being in wet Washington, we will put our mold and conducive conditions up against anybodys, so this is a good general video even though it is designed for the Pacific Northwest. You will get useful information here. It is free and you are encouraged to copy it and distribute it, so you should do so or send the link to your friends or clients.

See mold video from Northwest Clean Air Agency.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Mushrooms on the Siding or Anyone know a Mycologist?

2008-04-05T14:48:11Z

L-P innerseal siding was the oriented strand board (OSB) siding that probably received the most negative media coverage and, among other manufacturers, was involved in a huge class-action lawsuit and a payout to consumers. This Louisiana Pacific product went off the market, officially, in the late 1990's. Fact is, as most inspectors will tell you, the jury is still out or lukewarm regarding even the newer generations of OSB sidings. My experience is that, yet again, they are not all that durable in a damp climate like here in Washington.

Below are some recent photos of L-P innerseal siding that is over ten years old. They were taken recently and show OSB siding that is going down for the count. At a house, the first problem a person might see would be darkness, swelling or de-lamination, often at the bottom edge of the siding. Buckling, waviness, is common too and that can also be related to installation errors.

The photos below are the end stages as the siding goes south. Once it gets to the condition, even in photo one, there is no going back. This first photo is a heavy buildup of algae or fungus, call it converting to "green" building. The next picture is a heavy accumulation of fungus, again at that vulnerable lower edge. The third picture is what we need the mycologist for -- mushrooms are growing on the siding and that is never a good thing. I read somewhere that oyster mushrooms, like you can buy in the store, grow on wood. Wonder what these are? I can send you some if you want to try them.

If you have ever wondered why many inspectors warn that OSB siding, or other compostion wood sidings, are susceptible to moisture damage, these photos tell the story pretty well.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Another Close One

2008-04-05T14:23:22Z

I have done a few posts in the last weeks about people with good intentions, who kind of understand something, but end up missing the mark. You might call it the "close but no cigar" category. The photo below is a good example. This installer must have known that routing gutter water away from the home, and into an underground drainage system, is a good idea. They came up with a way to do this, but it is not working. They seem to have put in the drain and then they installed small grills over that. So the water coming out the downspout hits the ground hard, still bounces back up, collects at the foundation and then a tiny fraction of it makes it's way into the drain. The problem is further complicated by the grill not being in a hole in the ground, no indentation, basically it is about an inch over grade. How much better this would be in the connections were made that would take the downspout over to, and down into, the drain.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

You've Seen It From Both Sides Now

2008-04-03T10:35:07Z

Especially at new homes, the builder often leaves a couple inches of clearance between the bottom of crawl space vents and the soil. Then the landscapers come in and they install landscape bark. In so doing, they (about 90% of the time from what I see) end up putting the bark up past the bottom of the vents. Crawl space wells are one solution to protect the vents from debris, grading the soil back sometimes works too if it is practical.

Then there are the people who do not think it is a problem, either way. Those are folks who have not been in the crawl space. The photo at the left is a vent that is at grade, presently it has plugs in it which is not a good idea either. Then the photo to the right is just behind that very vent, inside the crawl space. As you can see, all of that wood (conducive debris) is making its way inside the crawl space. Multiply that problem by about 5 vents, the number at grade at the home, and you have lots of potential for conducive debris. Also, obviously runoff water and moisture is more prone to being able to enter this crawl space too. Again, this is an example of the importance of having a few inches space between the bottom of the vents and the earth around them.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Pressure-treated Lumber

2008-04-02T14:23:11Z

In the State of Washington, a conducive condition that is mandated by the state is "wood to earth contact". Wood to earth contact will, sometimes sooner than later, lead to rot or decay of the wood. Generally this is pretty clear cut -- if wood does not have proper clearances to soil then it is listed as a conducive condition.

There is a common scenario that is less straight forward and I spoke with the WSDA about it a couple years ago. That discussion involved pressure-treated lumber, some of which is advertised as being able to last 40 or more years when buried. Moisture and soil conditions are likely to have some effect on longevity. I admit, I have dug out some old pressure-treated fence posts, from 20 years back, and they were in pretty fair shape so maybe the manufacturer's claim is no brag, just fact. However, WSDA gave me a suggestion -- that I probe the pressure-treated lumber and, if it is sound, state that it seemed to be okay but that "even pressure-treated lumber will last longer with no soil contact."

I try to keep that suggestion in mind and, certainly, if wood is structural material, like in a crawl space, I call out wood to earth contact regardless of whether or not it is pressure-treated. On the other hand, if a post is being used simply to support a rail at a deck, or something like that, that is another story.

As an aside, one thing I find often is that the buyer can easily eliminate wood to earth contact, regardless of the lumber involved. For example, under the deck shown below, the posts were secured on piers and some posts were up above the ground, yet others were not. Removing soil from around the few posts that were below grade would take almost no time. I bet this whole deck could have all wood to earth contact eliminated in ten minutes -- tops! Think about it: If pressure-treated wood might last 40 years with soil contact, how long might it last with zero soil contact? The answer is a very long time and the results would certainly be worth the ten minutes of effort.

Start diggin' Nice clearance

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Oh My Achin' Back

2008-04-02T13:27:49Z

It is like workin' on the chain gang. But the fact is, despite the title, my back is fine. The photo below is a good example of something that can really complicate and slow down a home inspection. And, since so many realtors have to ensconce themselves on-site during the inspection, that is usually not a popular thing -- dragging out the inspection. So, there is not any point in doing so unnecessarily. Obviously, normal issues and conditions often do a pretty good job of stretching out the inspection anyway.

This is a photo from inside attached garage. Often, when people are moving out, they pack. The catch is that, at this home, all the plastic tubs and boxes were stored under the attic access hatch and in front of the main electric panel. Being a strong and swarthy home inspector, often mistaken for Tarzan by AR icon Charlie Buell who is more the slight, retiring and intellectual type, I swiftly moved the boxes and tubs out of the way for the lady of the house (seller) who was unable to do so. They were pretty heavy, full of paperwork. There are home inspectors who would not have moved these to gain that access and, according to most standards of home inspection, the inspector is not required to move heavy objects, furniture, storage, etc.

This scenario triggered my memory gland so it seemed like a good opportunity to send you to one of the first articles I ever wrote here at AR. Tips for Realtors that will speed up the home inspection. This is most valuable for the seller's agents. Please take a look and feel free to print these tips, or put them on your own letterhead, to give to clients. When all of us in this field of real estate work together, to make things better for our mutual clients, it helps everybody.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections