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bellingham wa home inspector: Green Building, By Default -- King of the House, Bellingham Home Inspector - 03/25/12 09:09 AM
Green building is a buzz word in our society today. I hear many agents and builders discussing green building and I run into clients who wish they were buying a green building.
Despite there being considerable controversy over the whole topic of green building and just how environmentally beneficial it is anyway, there is a type of green building that involves no controversy at all. We see this one frequently in the northwest and we can all agree that it is not a green condition that you want to have going on at your own house.
That is a gutter … (5 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: Bellingham Home Inspector (King of the House) Perimeter Slope - 01/21/12 12:07 PM
One issue, often found to be present during the course of a home inspection, is perimeter pavement or soil that slopes toward the home. Here in the northwest, more often than not, houses have crawl spaces and not basements. I have even seen soil or pavement slope directly toward a crawl space vent. Below is a shot from an inspection, this is my indicator to myself, often displayed in reports, to get the point across about the slope of the soil.
This is, in most cases, not difficult to correct by grading soil. But, if the problem is not corrected, … (3 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: Merry Christmas from King of the House - 12/25/11 02:35 PM
I want to wish all of my Active Rain friends -- internationally, nationally, statewide and locally -- a great Christmas. As I write this post, we have a really windy day here. I am hoping that the power does not go out. I am so glad I no longer am involved in being an engineer in radio, wind often led to power outages and real headaches. And, due to the time of the year, this often happened between Thanksgiving and New Years. That is a responsibility from my past life that I do not miss at all. Dead air meant no … (7 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: You Can't Always Do What You Want (Bellingham Home Inspections) - 12/25/11 11:09 AM
It is my goal, at a home inspection, to try to look at all components and systems. That not only earns me repeat business from clients and agents, but it provides some insulation against potential client complaints. Logic prevails: The more you see the less important stuff you miss.
It is not possible to find everything that might be wrong at a house. Finding 100% of the problems is not achievable within the confines of a home inspection. Sometimes mother nature herself interferes. This time of year, it is not unusual for the home inspector in this region to have restricted roof access … (1 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: Bellingham Home Inspector (King of the House) It's Cold Outside - 12/22/11 01:25 PM
Recently, as the weather has gotten colder, I did an inspection on a cold day -- at least it was cold based on our wimpy Pacific Northwest standards. It was 28 degrees F.
At first, I thought that someone had left the garage door to the outside ajar or open. On closer examination, the fit of the door was something less than ideal.
Since it was cold outside, and my little knees were knocking together, it made me think of an appropriate song for the season and the weather.
… (7 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: Bellingham Manufactured Home Inspections -- King of the House - 12/04/11 09:38 PM
Often, when people are purchasing manufactured homes, they are under the impression that the cost of the home inspection should be cheap. After all, the home is usually selling for less than 1/3 of the cost of a stick-built home. However, if you look at it from the inspector's standpoint, even though these units usually do not have an attic, there is still a lot to look at. And, honestly, often the quality of manufacturing is not up to par and the condition of the crawl space is such that it more than makes up for, in work required, lack of an attic.
At a … (6 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: 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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bellingham wa home inspector: 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: 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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bellingham wa home inspector: 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: 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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bellingham wa home inspector: Oh Rats! -- Past, Present Or Future? - 09/20/11 11:48 AM
In northwest Washington, we are having an insurgence of rats. It does not seem to matter whether I am inspecting a high-end house or a modest home or a foreclosure, rats may be present at any property. Dan Suomi, field officer with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, says that we are having an infestation of roof rats and Norway rats. They are probably coming from ships that pull into ports at the various harbors.
Sometimes, when a home inspector enters a crawl space, the odors and the conditions, such as damaged insulation, make it obvious that rats have been partying. Other … (5 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: Smiling Students -- Fundamentals of Home Inspection Training - 06/12/11 11:41 AM
Bellingham Technical College is a leader in the state in providing home inspector training. The BTC fundamentals of home inspection training was the first such course approved by the state department of licensing a couple years ago. Since that time, we have run a number of such courses and graduated many students.
The class we ran in January 2010 was one of our larger classes. I remember taking this photo. It was a brave bunch. I told them I was going to take a photo and if they did not want to be on my blog, then they should look the … (4 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: Luxury of A View (Not What You Expect) - 04/14/11 04:32 PM
In almost all circumstances, the home inspector really has little to no idea of what is inside walls or between floors. Honestly, we hope that a new house has building paper or housewrap under siding, but who knows? Did some plumber or worker at a new house accidentally drop a tool down the drain at the toilet, when no toilet was in place. There is no way that person is going to tell the boss. The buyers will find out at some point, that you can be sure of.
Below is a photo from a draw inspection -- a progress inspection … (8 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: Blaine Home Inspector (King of the House) Gutters - 04/08/11 12:51 AM
When gutters are allowed to fill up with organic debris, they are prone to leakage. That might be a leak over the top of the gutter, or it might be more subtle.
The high quality aluminum seamless gutters have ends and some have corners. These ends and corners are attached to the gutter and then mastic is applied to seal them.
In the photo above, we have a leak at the end of a gutter at a relatively new home. This is cement-based siding, not prone to rot like wood but, just the same, this is a conducive condition. This … (6 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: It Looked To Be So Innocent -- At First - 04/01/11 07:58 PM
I do not understand why some people have decided that venting the dryer under the house is a commendable idea. In some cases this issues is an unexpected problem, at least on the part of the homeowner, because the hookup was done with the wrong type of ducting. That would be the case below. It might look like an innocent enough problem. No big deal, right?
But let's take a look at the amount of lint produced, and discharged into the crawl space, in real terms.
That might look disgusting, and it is when you realize that it is about … (6 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: Bellingham Home Inspector (King of the House) Octopus Wiring - 10/27/10 09:54 AM
Can you identify octopus wiring? Do you know what it is? I see lots of it in Whatcom County and Bellingham. Basically, it is often found in older homes where there are too few receptacles to meet the needs of the occupant's electric demands. It is easily recognized by anyone who knows what to look for -- electric extension cords being run all over the house -- heck they might be routed over the burners of the stove and often receptacles will have one or more multi-outlet adapters plugged into them and additional electric outlet strips plugged into those.
Octopus wiring … (17 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: Whatcom County Home Inspector (King of the House) -- Gutter Problems - 09/03/10 07:03 PM
Gutters and downspouts come in many materials -- plastic, steel, aluminum. While plastic does not rust, it generally is a poor gutter material. Plastic gutters are usually assembled by homeowners from a variety of parts they find at home stores. The gutters tend to come apart, break and be low capacity.
Then there are steel gutters and downspouts. When these are new they might not be bad. In fact, they might be okay for many years. But, eventually, since steel rusts, the gutters and downspouts will start going the way of the gutter in the photo below.
In my … (11 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: Whatcom County Home Inspection (King of the House) -- Frost-free Hose Bibbs - 08/31/10 09:14 PM
In a climate where it freezes in winter, like here in Bellingham and Whatcom County, WA, it makes sense to have the new frost-free hose bibbs. When I do home inspections and find that the faucets, or worse yet, the pipes to the faucets are exposed to the weather then I know that one of two things will happen in winter. (1) The homeowner is going to have to find a shutoff and drain the pipes or (2) they will end up frozen.
The best tip I can give is for the purchaser to install frost-free hose bibbs or frost-free … (7 comments)
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bellingham wa home inspector: Washington State Real Estate Agent Alert -- Home Inspector Licensing - 07/01/10 08:25 PM
As of today, July 1, 2010, residential home inspectors in the State of Washington must be licensed.
Yesterday was the last day that any inspector who has not gone through the licensing process could perform inspections (four and fewer dwelling units) without a state home inspector license.
When phase one went into effect, nearly a year ago now, a select few inspectors were allowed to continue inspecting -- as they acquired their education, field training and tested. But those days are now over. Deadline passed -- Inspectors must be licensed and DOL plans to take a tough stand on any unlicensed … (5 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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