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whatcom county home inspector: Relocation Inspections (Whatcom County) King of the House Home Inspection - 05/26/12 08:06 AM
The number of people moving to this very northwest corner of the Pacific Northwest, Whatcom County, is ongoing and the numbers are impressive. This is, to a large degree, the result of our geographical location -- the proximity to the USA-Canada border.
We have major border crossings in the county -- Blaine (two crossings), Lynden and Sumas. The Department of Homeland Security, over the last several years, has been moving more personnel to this part of the country. That includes U.S. Border Patrol, Customs, Immigration and all of the staff that guards or manages the border. The other phenomenon that we … (4 comments)
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whatcom county home inspector: Level II Chimney Inspections (King of the House) Bellingham WA Home Inspector - 05/11/12 10:02 PM
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), states that, at the time of a real estate sale or the transfer of a property, a certified chimney sweep should perform a Level II chimney inspection. This suggestion makes sense. The home inspector is a generalist and provides only a very basic visual inspection of a wood or solid-fuel burning appliance and any associated flues and chimneys.
Clients want to know what is involved in a Level II chimney inspection. The inspection begins with the chimney sweep examining (inside and outside) the chimney, flue and the associated fireplace or stove. The … (6 comments)
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whatcom county home inspector: Attic Venting (King of the House) Bellingham, WA Real Estate Inspections - 04/29/12 09:02 AM
In the Pacific Northwest, we have lots of precipitation and moisture. Since those of us who live here realize that, you would think that houses would be built in a manner that makes them resistant to moisture problems. It is amazing to me how many houses in our climate have roofs with poor to no drainage and poor or missing gutters or downspouts that empty next to the house.
Another problem, maybe not as intuitive to understand, is the case of the under ventilated attic. General guidelines for building state that attics should be ventilated. Around here that venting, usually, consists … (7 comments)
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whatcom county 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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whatcom county home inspector: Stepping Back In Time: Appropriate Song for Christmas Day - 12/25/11 12:42 PM
The first Billboard Top 40 Charts of the rock era emerged in 1955 when the Bill Haley classic "Rock Around the Clock" hit #1. Anyone who is into the era, and the evolution of the music, knows that rock 'n' roll was a derivative of the soul and gospel music that was created and popular with African Americans.
It is not surprising that the first #1 hit by an African American group was on the horizon, shortly after the inception of the Top 40 Charts. This group, today, is lesser known than some of the big 1960's soul groups -- Temptations, Supremes, Four Tops. However this … (6 comments)
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whatcom county home inspector: Bellingham, WA -- David Lanz Winter Concert 2011 - 12/10/11 11:18 AM
Since David Lanz , a musician of international acclaim, moved to Bellingham about six years ago, he has been performing wonderful, and intimate, small Christmas or solstice concerts here in his new hometown.
David Lanz was one of the innovators of "new-age" music more than 20 years ago and he has had several best selling albums and numerous Grammy nominations. David had a #1 Billboard Hit, on the new age charts, with the instrumental Cristofori's Dream. This year's show will be Saturday, December 17, at the Amadeus Music Project on Cornwall Avenue. The concert is now sold out but it will be a … (5 comments)
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whatcom county home inspector: First Ever #1 Hit By A Girl Group: January 1961 - 12/07/11 10:47 AM
There is much debate about what was really the first rock n roll song. One fact that cannot be disputed is that the firt rock song to top the charts, July 1955, was by Bill Haley and the Comets -- "Rock Around the Clock". To the casual observer, that might have seemed an anomaly, a blip on the radar, at the time, but the hot 100 charts would never be the same again.
Moving forward to January 1961, the charts had another first: The first ever #1 hit by an all girl group.
How time flies, that was 50 years ago.
… (7 comments)
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whatcom county 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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whatcom county home inspector: An Attached Garage is Not a Fire-Rated Assembly -- Despite What You Might Have Been Told - 11/29/11 07:15 PM
I hear the remark, even from home inspectors, that the garage is not fire-rated or 20 minute fire-rated. Home inspectors are not code inspectors, but this kind of talk is based on codes and a misunderstanding of residential code requirements. Let's look at garage/house separation requirements. The book, Building Code Basics: Residential, was published, in part, by the IRC (International Residential Code) which dictates most of the codes that apply to modern construction. Codes may vary from one jurisdiction to another. Below (bold) are explanations, from the IRC, that apply to garages. Below that are my comments.
"Dwelling separation from garage -- Unlike separations … (5 comments)
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whatcom county home inspector: Get Off The John -- So I Can Inspect It! - 11/27/11 04:23 PM
They follow me everywhere, I cannot get away from them. This last week I had to work with, and around, five house destroying organisms at various residences in Bellingham and Whatcom County. Their stalking me might have been revenge for the widely circulated expose piece that I wrote about the species.
At one home, they followed me into all the bedrooms and hid under the beds. They tried to follow me out onto decks where they were not supposed to be. There is no question about it, house destroying organisms love to hang out with the home inspector. The home inspector has … (10 comments)
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whatcom county home inspector: Happy Thanksgiving from King of the House Home Inspection - 11/24/11 12:04 PM
On behalf of the King of the House staff, I would like to wish all of my Active Rain friends, and my associates in Bellingham, a great Thanksgiving and a holiday season. I was reading an editorial today, in the newspaper, that claims that the period we are going through as a nation, right now, only compares in misery to, in order, the Civil War, the Great Depression and WWII as far as national gloom. It stated that the "true" unemployment rate is 17% -- taking into account those collecting unemployment, those who have been dropped from the rolls because their benefits ran out, and … (10 comments)
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whatcom county home inspector: Whatcom County Home Inspection (King of the House) Knob and Tube Wiring Systems - 11/20/11 10:29 PM
In the last week, half of the home inspections that I performed in Bellingham were at houses with knob and tube wiring systems. The minute I say that, the inspectors know that the houses I inspected were at least 50 years of age.
Knob and tube wiring, the first wiring system to be used on a widespread basis (after Thomas Edison figured out the light bulb) is a relic, an antique. However, that does not mean it is not commonly found. I own five residences, one a duplex and one house I inherited, and three of the five houses still have … (8 comments)
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whatcom county home inspector: Whatcom County Home Inspections (King of the House) Crawl Space Water - 11/18/11 03:40 PM
In the wet Pacific Northwest, an ongoing problem is trying to inspect crawl spaces that have an abundance of crawl space water or flooding. The concern is, at the least, three-fold. First, the water should not be down there and it is conducive to creating all sorts of problems -- wood decay, attracting wood destroying insects and high humidity levels that can cause microbial activity. Second, at times it is hard to determine if the issue is the result of runoff water or if it is caused by plumbing leaks. And, third, sometimes you cannot figure out the source of the water at all, … (5 comments)
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whatcom county 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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whatcom county 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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whatcom county home inspector: Better Safe Than Sorry (King of the House) Bellingham Home Inspections - 11/04/11 11:03 AM
A couple years ago I tossed one of those orange safety or hazard cones in the back of my truck. Somewhere along the line, at one of the Washington State Home Inspector Licensing Board meetings, a member made some mention that such a cone could be very handy. For example, such a device might be valuable if you had a hatch open that someone, like your buyer, the seller or an agent, might fall into.
Up until recently, although it rides quietly in my truck, I have never used the cone. Actually I found a use for it the other day. … (28 comments)
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whatcom county 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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whatcom county 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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whatcom county home inspector: 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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whatcom county home inspector: 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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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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