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birch bay home inspector: Bellingham Home Inspector (King of the House) Guardrail Safety and Code - 07/17/11 11:56 AM
When a deck or a landing, outside or inside the house, is 30" or higher above grade or the floor, there should be a guardrail. And, to provide safety benefits for children and adults, it has to meet certain requirements. First, and pretty basic, it needs to be secure -- not wobbly. If a 200 pound person leans on it, heavily so, it may give a bit but not collapse or appear to be prone to catastrophic failure.
The rail, also pretty basic, must be a minimum of 36" high. That helps keep a kid from climbing over the rail or an adult from falling … (4 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Just Ducky - 11/06/10 06:37 PM
I got a surprise today. I was doing an inspection along Birch Bay Drive. I have done many such inspections on the west side of the road. I have done any number on the east side as well, but never right across the road. Usually they were up the hill. So I got an interesting surprise. On the other side of the road there is a channel. It is very peaceful and quiet and it is a habitat for ducks. Unfortunately, I had some sort of problem with my lens, so most of my photos turned out pretty poorly. However, I … (6 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Stories Behind the Music -- The Sounds of Silence - 09/11/08 05:49 PM
Probably most of you will remember the Simon and Garfunkel smash hit, their first hit -- The Sounds of Silence. Songs do not get much more classic than that and the vocal harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel are legendary today -- among the best harmonies ever recorded.
Fact is, it was 1966 and Simon and Garfunkel came real close to being a big bust. The duo had recorded an album that had gone nowhere. The tracks from that album were somewhere in the Columbia recording studio --lucky for Simon and Garfunkel! One night Bob Dylan was running late for his appointed time, … (5 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Stories Behind the Music -- Who Is Bernard Webb? - 09/09/08 09:31 AM
Once there was a famous Englishman. This man was having psychological problems with his being, his reality, his self confidence. He wanted to know -- Did people like, or love, him for what he offered, or did they only love him because of what he appeared to be -- his successful brand?
What had he become? Was he a true artist or had the public entered into a phase of blind worship that made everything he did turn to gold -- even if it was pure junk? That question plagued and bothered this proud Englishman.
The young man, for his own piece of mind, needed to find out if his popularity … (8 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Count On This One - 09/08/08 09:16 AM
There is one defect that involves conducive conditions for rot and other wood destroying organisms that I can almost always count on finding. Even when a builder has, generally, done a good job of building a home, it seems that this detail is wrong. When a home has a garage, I would say I find this 80% or more of the time.
The vertical wood trim is touching, pressed down on, the flat concrete.. This is almost always found around the vehicle door. In fact, the wood should be trimmed to end about an inch or a bit more over the concrete. That … (3 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Active Rain Can Be The Power In Your Veins - 08/21/08 10:24 PM
It is with reluctance that I write this blog. I consider some of the information to be bordering on proprietary, so I will write around that. If you belong to Active Rain, never take this site for granted. Work in the rain, tend to your crop in the rain, and the rain will richly reward you with a bumper crop.
I see blogs from new people who state that they received their first business contact from Active Rain. I have a confession -- Active Rain is the power in my search engine optimization. Two years ago, I had a nice little website for … (66 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Code Makes Sense This Time - 08/13/08 11:14 AM
I have been writing lately about some situations where common sense and code did not necessarily go hand in hand. For example, we were speaking of decks and stairs that were high enough to be dangerous, yet not high enough to require a permit or to require a code check.
The photo below is different. This is the temperature pressure relief valve from a hot water heater. It is on an on-demand gas water heater. These animals are different than a regular tank, however they still require a TPR valve and that valve and a drain line need to meet the … (2 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Does It Really Look Good to the Person Who Did It? - 07/16/08 12:10 AM
I think that, in this post, I can effectively skirt any concerns about being called a sexist. The repair pictured below is "unisex" -- not specific to a man or a woman. Both sexes are equally qualified, and misguided, when it comes to generating this kind of work.
In the world of some, certainly not all, homeowners any pipe that does not leak is a pipe that does not require further attention. I am amazed at the number of drains and traps that are held together with various tapes and glues.
Even if there is not gushing water at the exact … (17 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Who's Eatin' The Floor, Ma? - 07/15/08 10:54 AM
This is the final installment in a series of related blogs that introduce you to the common species of wood boring beetles that are found at, or near, our homes. While the information is general, the specifics that I describe are geared to Bellingham and the Pacific Northwest.
The last article was on the anobiid beetle which is, in my experience, the wood borer that causes the most damage. The anobiid is often, mistakenly, referred to as the powderpost beetle. I hear that term so much, that I decided to write a blog on the true powderpost beetle.
The true powderpost beetle, the … (19 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Wood Boring Beetles -- Flatheaded Borers - 07/09/08 08:51 AM
This is the first of a few blogs that will describe the common wood boring beetles that might be found at homes.
I will start with the flatheaded borer. Flatheaded borers tend to be non-reinfesting, at least at lumber in the house, so they are not considered to be a serious worry. That does not mean they do not leave distinctive exit holes in wood, it is just that once they have left the premises, they don't come back. Damage is not chronic or ongoing. That is not true of most of the roundheaded boring beetles, which will be described in separate blogs.
The exit … (0 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: USA and Canada: Do We Panic on the Streets? - 07/07/08 10:56 AM
This is probably overstating the case, but in going over my photos from last year's trip to Italy, I was reminded of what I consider to be a curious situation. People in the "old world" think that those of us in the USA and Canada are overly cautious or down right finicky. Or you could say we are subject to needless panic, when it comes to public and private safety.
I could cite many examples where the old world does not follow the same guidelines that we take for granted and are specified by codes that apply to homes and public buildings. … (10 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Toto Ain't Just In Kansas Anymore - 07/03/08 04:14 PM
It is with some reluctance, fear and trepidation that I post this blog. As those of you who read my blogs know, I always write in a serious vein, never joke around, and attempt to write with good taste and avoid the R rated topics. With that in mind, I was going to pass on this one. However, my alter ego, the intense and very wild inspector Charles "Charlie" Buell, suggested that a blog on this topic would be in order and, perhaps, even in demand by the AR community. Let me setup the scenario before I get into cleaning up the details. Charlie … (17 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Clarity of Information (Bellingham Home Inspector) King of the House - 06/29/08 01:57 PM
There are many people, primarily sellers and sometimes realtors, who prefer it if the home inspection report is brief and has only the most vital information. There are others, who like detail and clarity of information. The side that wants minimal information usually feels that too much detail spooks or unnecessarily alarms or distracts the buyer.
That could, of course, be true depending on the quality of the information being provided. A home inspector who does not understand something, can create problems that should have been avoided. I would argue however, that sometimes providing detailed information can actually make things go better.
The … (10 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Triple-tapping In Real Life - 06/04/08 12:40 PM
People hear inspectors talk about double-tapping. It refers to attaching two or more wires to a lug in an electric panel that is designed for but one wire. While an inspector should cite that as a potential problem, it is seldom the case that we see any obvious consequences of the decision to double-tap.
The potential problem is this: A lug designed for one wire may not safely accomodate more than that one wire. That can result in connections being loose. When connections are loose, that leads to increased resistance. Increased resistance will cause heat.
The photo below, an unusual but graphic find, is a … (7 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Government's Crazy Solutions to Non-Problems - 05/21/08 03:37 PM
I thought you might get a kick out of the photos below. They are good examples of city government planners trying to figure out a way to solve a problem that does not exist. In my view at least, what they came up with was more amusing and silly than beneficial.
Regarding the Bellingham warehouse below, my then business partner owned it about 15 years ago, when it was first built, so I remember the details well. I had not thought about it in a long time, but drove by the other day and decided it would be good blog fodder. This was … (11 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Stressed-out Decks - 03/27/08 02:21 PM
The deck below is the final blog related to an earlier post about tall trees near homes and how that impacts roofs and decks. The wood at this deck, at the time of the inspection, was still in satisfactory condition. At least, based on what a person could see under the debris, that was the case. Regardless, if this condition continues unabated, that will not be the case forever. A deck like this is designed to have gaps between the decking boards. Why? So the rain can drip through and the surface will dry. If the gaps are too close together, … (0 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Doing Goofy Stuff With Baseboard Heaters - 03/25/08 10:06 AM
Sometimes I wonder how so many people live their lives with electric baseboard heaters without catching something on fire. I will admit it, personally, that it can be easy to do something dumb with a baseboard. Years ago I was working at a rental property I own and left the premises. In so doing, I just dropped the hose of the shop-vac on the floor. I had not noticed that it flopped over against the heater. When I came back the next day, it had melted a big hole in it. Thank goodness for good luck and the proponents of duct … (4 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Pacific Northwest Home Inspections (King of the House) -- Wood Eating Plants - 03/22/08 12:02 PM
The little window box below could be hiding problems. People are so tempted to hang large and small planters on the side of the house. Heck, I have a rental house with a planter outside one window. If this is done correctly, which it seldom is, fewer problems will result. Think about it, hanging a planter against the house will result in earth, often contained in a wood planter box, being against the home. The planter rots, then the siding rots. Can you say wood destroying organism? There are two other related issues that make this bad: (1) you water the … (4 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Whatcom County Home Inspection (King of the House) -- Smoke Detectors - 03/20/08 01:34 AM
The photo above is a common sight for the home inspector. The smoke detector is missing in the line of duty. Poof and it was gone! Why, well there are many reasons for this. One of the most common is that the battery is weak, it starts squeaking and it is very irritating. Homeowner rips it down and never puts it back up. Sometimes people take them out of bedrooms, because they go off when they smoke -- also not a good idea. This particular one was removed for a more subtle, but still pretty common, reason. The smoke detector … (3 comments)
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birch bay home inspector: Bellingham Home Inspector (King of the House) -- Crawl Space Vent Problems - 03/20/08 01:26 AM
If you look at the photo below, you should see three problems. Now, two of the problems are pretty much the same thing, just 2x the problem. The other problem is related, but different.
Here goes: First the different problem -- The screen is torn out of the vent on the left. As a result of that, animals have been getting in the crawl space. Not sure just what, maybe cats. But these vents are big enough you could even be getting raccoons, opossums, maybe water buffalo -- just kidding on that.
The other two problems are foam plug and … (1 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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