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blaine home inspector: Bellingham Home Inspection (King of the House) Neoprene Stack Flashings - 04/16/12 09:54 AM
The commonly installed neoprene rubber stack flashings may be acceptable for a few years when used to flash the plumbing vents where they exit the roof. But these flashings are prone to problems, including deterioration as a result of the harsh environment up on the roof -- UV rays being primary, but also wind. This is a problem I run into frequently at inspections in Whatcom County and Bellingham.
If they are used with a roofing surface that has a fairly short design life, then they might last about as long as the roof or develop problems simultaneously with the roof. … (2 comments)
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blaine home inspector: You're In Hot Water -- Bellingham Home Inspection - 01/24/12 03:24 PM
My wife often tells me that I am in hot water. Actually, in most cases, that is an expression that refers to my poor behavior versus anything to do with water.
However, in the course of doing home inspections in Bellingham and Whatcom county, I often find water heaters that are set too hot -- the water temperature set so high as to lead to a high probability of a scalding burn.
In this photo, the water is almost 137 degrees F. To reduce the probability of a scalding burn, water should be set no higher than 120 degrees F. … (6 comments)
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blaine home inspector: Bellingham Home Inspection (King of the House) Water pressure - 01/17/12 11:00 AM
Assessing the adequacy of water pressure, among residents of a home, is often a case of perspective. I have seen people, used to a well system out in rural Bellingham or Whatcom county, move into a city home that had marginal pressure, per city standards, and they were thrilled. Other times, I have seen people look upon what I considered to be adequate pressure as poor pressure. It is all relative to what you are accustomed to.
Despite my saying it is relative, there are tests, and parameters, for pressure -- done with a simple water pressure gauge. The gauge above is showing water … (6 comments)
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blaine home inspector: Happy New Year from King of the House - 01/01/12 11:31 AM
I was online reading a news story about how many people found 2011 to be one of the worst years of their lives -- unemployment, no money, the usual things reported these days. One person interviewed referred to last year as shared misery.
It made me grateful to have my niche here in Whatcom County. I found last year to be a year of modest growth, although I did pretty much the same as the year before. I have gotten to a point where I can only do so many inspections so I have been sending overflow to some other friends … (11 comments)
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blaine 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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blaine home inspector: Short URL Tool for Google Maps - 11/07/11 02:01 PM
This information might save time, and be handy, for any Active Rain real estate professionals who send, or post, URL's or links to Online maps.
In the majority of the home inspection reports that I send out in Bellingham and Whatcom County, I insert a description of the home and provide a map link to an aerial view of the house. In the past, I have used mapquest, as the source of the map, because it provides a much shorter URL than google or bing maps. However, in the last couple of weeks, I have found that mapquest is inserting pop-up … (7 comments)
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blaine home inspector: Consumer Alert -- Outbreak of House Destroying Organisms (HDO's) - 11/06/11 04:10 PM
Just when people thought it was safe to get back into the housing market, it has been revealed that many houses in the USA are vulnerable to, and being subjected to, serious infestations by House Destroying Organisms. Inspectors have, for years, used the term Wood Destroying Organism or WDO to describe rot and insects that damage wood. In this post I will describe, logically and chronologically, the biology of the genus that has only recently been labeled as a virulent House Destroying Organism or HDO.
HDO's are deceptive and devious in every way. A known member of the HDO species might be masquerading as … (32 comments)
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blaine home inspector: Whatcom County Home Inspection (King of the House) Sometimes it is Easy - 11/02/11 11:22 PM
Often, in the course of doing home inspections in Whatcom County, detecting or locating a problem can be difficult and require lots of perseverance and utilizing one's powers of deduction. But, and it only seems fair, sometimes we get lucky and do not have to work or think quite so hard. For example, at a recent inspection, I had a huge and obvious clue that the newly installed range did not have an anti-tip bracket installed.
I felt inside that package (I squeezed it good) and viola, the bracket was still inside it. And, guess what, when I pulled on … (9 comments)
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blaine home inspector: 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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blaine 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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blaine 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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blaine 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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blaine home inspector: 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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blaine home inspector: 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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blaine home inspector: #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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blaine home inspector: Knowing When To Hold Them, Knowing When To Fold Them - 09/04/11 03:08 PM
Anyone who is a gambler, or has been successful in business, knows that, based on the hand that you are dealt, sometimes you have to hold them and sometimes you have to fold them. It all depends on circumstances, risk, consequences and throwing good money after bad.
This nail-biting gambling scenario often comes up during the course of a short sale or a foreclosure sale. I have seen times when the homeowner, realizing that the end was coming, managed to get a distressed property on the market and that person was able to come out okay -- at least minimizing losses or even making … (10 comments)
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blaine home inspector: Whatcom County Home Inspector (King of the House) Composition Shingles - 08/28/11 11:04 AM
Here in Bellingham and Whatcom County, it is common, with composition shingles, to find that some of the self-sealing strips have failed to seal, or melt, properly. When new shingles are put in place, if the weather is warm, the tar strips should seal. That holds the front edges down so they are not so prone to being blown off in the wind. When the inspector finds that most of the shingles easily lift
That usually means that it is an older roof, and the strips have failed, given up the ghost, or less likely, the roof is new and … (5 comments)
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blaine home inspector: #1 Single in America 24 Years Ago - 08/24/11 10:28 AM
In writing posts that feature songs, and stories about songs, that were big hits in the past, it is readily apparent to me that many of the hits were propelled to the top of the charts due to their prominence in movies that had huge followings.
The song that was #1 on the singles chart in November 1987 fits in that category. This duet was by a man and a woman. The man is one of the most successful male performers of the entire rock era, part a famous duet that was right up there with Simon and Garfunkel. He had been involved in … (5 comments)
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blaine home inspector: Conditions Conducive to Rot or Infestation - 08/20/11 08:40 PM
Some years back, in Washington state, the Washington State Department of Agriculture began using the term "conducive condition." It is not a term that, right out of the box, makes sense to people. However, it makes perfect sense once you get the point. A conducive condition is any concern or issue that is likely to lead to rot or infestation by wood destroying insects.
Over the years, clients and homeowners, have asked me for a list of things they can do to make it less likely that their homes will rot or be inhabited by carpenter ants, anobiid beetles, termites and … (18 comments)
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blaine home inspector: The Blues Revisited, Top 10 Song In America, 1966 - 08/19/11 03:13 PM
Many of us, who were kids back in the late 1950's and 1960's, did not realize that the music we were hearing, called rock and roll, had it's roots in the black American music known as the blues.
One of the most recorded songs ever, with pure blues roots, goes back to at least 1925. American blues singer, Ma Rainey (above) made it popular back then and, historically, the tune is considered to be one of the most famous of all of the blues songs. It has been recorded, at one time or another, by Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Janis Joplin and others.
In … (7 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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