Well, if no one took the time to look you might be shocked to find out that the area under your house is a nesting ground for critters, pooled water, decayed wood and other factors that contribute to poor air quality within your home.

This past Saturday I found what appeared to be a tasty and easy recipe posted by Karen Burket. Since I had all the ingredients minus the salmon I decided I would prepare it for dinner Sunday and surprise my wife. Baja Salmon Salad served with a bottle of your favorite chilled wine made for a perfect dinner. Thank you Karen for a great recipe, my wife and I both enjoyed it very much.

Please post your comments on Karen's blog.

There’s so much to share on AR beyond Real Estate. I always walk away with something new. Yesterday there was a recipe for “Baja” Salmon Salad, which I will be re-blogging, later. Today it was a recipe for Easy Summer Pie; I will re-blog that one later as well.

We usually don’t work on Sunday, but my wife had a photo shoot at a local Art Gallery set for today and I had several emergency service calls. With only the two of us to worry about I offered to make dinner.

Both dishes combined took about an hour to prepare and were totally delicious. The best part of the entire meal was being able to surprise my wife who totally loved the change from our usual menu. I should add that our son who doesn’t like fish is away for the weekend; so being able to relax and enjoy a nice salmon dish was an added treat.

So I will thank these two very kind AR ladies and plan to re-blog their posts in the near future.   

Once again it’s Friday and that means that it’s time to visit, like and support some of our AR friends by visiting their FB Fan Page and clicking the like button on the top of their page.

My Picks for this week are:

1. Gwenn Tavis - Wisconson Mortgages
2. Kathryn Acciari - Massachusetts Real Estate
3. Michelle Sims - New Mexico Real Estate
4. Tom Arstingstall - California Contractor
5. Frank Bailey - San Antonio Real Estate
6. Dianne Beck - Pennsylvania Home Stager
7. Scott Fogleman - Virginia Real Estate
8. Ben Blonder - Colorado Real Estate
9. Corrine Guest - Illinois Real Estate
10. Steve Stanros - California Inspections

Last week, we had a few of those flash flood producing rainstorms. The morning after I get an emergency call from one of my regular clients. He’s pretty shook up, say’s his living room is still taking in water from last night rain.

Upon arriving I find that there is deficiently water still dripping in along the roofline and there is some damage to the drywall on both the ceiling and the exterior wall in that area. Now I didn’t want to post pictures of the actual damage on the inside of the house. My client feels silly enough without having me do that.

I do however want to share with you the actual cause of the damage.

Really guys, cleaning the gutters takes less than 30 minutes of your time and will save you money in the long run.

It’s Time To Do It All Again

Hello folks, it’s time to do some more Facebook fan page liking. My picks for this week are:

1. Lora "Leah" Stern - New York Real Estate
2. Jeffrey Markell - Newport Real Estate
3. C. Lloyd McKenzie - Albuquerque Real Estate
4. Georgina M. Hunter - Maui Real Estate
5. Irene Kennedy- New Jersey Real Estate
6. Shar Sitter - Minnesota Stager
7. Jerry Newman - Texas Real Estate
8. Linda Scofield - Florida Stager
9. Norma Toering - California Real Estate

Crawlspace sump pumps play a vital role in keeping a crawlspace dry. I’m constantly surprised by how many calls I get for damaged, wet crawlspaces and how many of these don’t have a properly installed sump pump. This isn’t rocket science. It isn’t particularly expensive and it certainly isn’t hard to do.

• The first thing is to locate the area of the crawlspace where the water seems to puddle the most.
• Next you need to dog a hole of the appropriate width and depth to accommodate the Sump Pump Bin. A five-gallon bucket, inserted half way into the ground is not a proper sump pump bin. You can buy a proper bin at most hardware stores or home remolding stores. It should be approximately 22 inches deep, approximately 18 inches wide and have a lid.
• Once your hole is dug add some gravel on the bottom, insert the bin and add gravel around the bin between it and the dirt walls. If the bin did not come with pre-drilled holes you will need to drill some before installing the bin.
• Connect the check valve to the sump pump. Connect the discharge hose to the check valve and lower the sump pump into the bin. Run the hose and the power cord through the opening on the lid and secure the lid to the bin.
• Plug you’re your power cord into the outlet and you’re good to go. If you don’t have an outlet to connect to I suggest that you have one professionally installed.

We’ve been enjoying some nice weather over the course of the last 3 days. Saturday we even came close to hitting 60 degrees. Yesterday was not as warm, but the sun was out for most of the day making everything look beautiful.

Another 10 inches of snow!

Yes, this was the view this morning as we changed our work plans and went on to our snow plans. 

There’s always a plan.

My wife took these two pictures for my post. She uses a Canon PowerShot SX10

Is it fraud or is it an honest mistake?
The Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pa. passed a law requiring contractors to register with the state. The idea was to establish a database of all contractors working within the Commonwealth for the purpose of weeding out the unscrupulous contractors that were taking payment and not performing the work.

Now I’ve noticed a new practice I consider a little troubling. We were issued a Home Improvement Contractor number referred to as HIC#. We are required to have that number on all our advertisement including truck signs. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it? What’s troubling me is that some contractors have been referring to it and advertising it as a Pa. LIC#. 

While this may be innocent, it’s very misleading to homeowners who live in States that actually require contractors to be licensed. A license gives the impression that some sort of minimum training must have been achieved prior to being issued a license. It gives people a sense that the person has some idea, some training in what they are doing.

Being registered doesn’t mean the contractor is knowledgeable. It simply means the State has a possible way of tracking him should he fail to meet his obligations to the consumer. It means that at the time of registration he maintained proper insurance and a valid drivers license. What it doesn’t mean is that he has had any training or experience in the field which is the impression given when one is licensed. 

I’m a contractor here in the Pocono’s and I do a lot of re-modeling work. The only visit you’ll get prior to the start of the job will be from me. The only plumber or electrician you’ll see will be part of my crew. The only bill you will get is the one you were quoted and you agreed to. I find it’s not hard for a contractor to quote accurately if he’s honest, knowledgeable and willing to admit if a job is bigger than he’s capability.

Sure things can come up that no one expected and they sometimes do. If I’m not 100% certain from the start I will let you know you know about it. I give you a quote for additional charges that might be incurred. If after all that, I make a mistake it comes out of my pocket, not yours.