Some of the Natives are Getting Restless - 02/25/09 08:49 AM
I have a niece that is starting to investigate buying her first home.  She and her husband have been renting - and saving - for years.  She was asking for advice on home inspections when she gets that far and I thought her reply was really interesting.
"Sounds like we are on the same page about the market.  A hard place to find any company, I notice!  We are in no rush.  We have been waiting for a buyers' market this long and are not going to rush it now.  Portland is still 20% above the upper end of the affordability index.  … (5 comments)

Washington State -- Possible Elimination of Boards and Committees - 02/14/09 09:49 AM
With things getting turned upside down already with Licensing coming in, this news is a bit disturbing.  I'm hoping that the board will have enough time to get all the big things squared away before the bureaucracy takes over....
Anyway, thanks to Steve for keeping us all updated.
Via Steven L. Smith, Bellingham, Wa. Home Inspector (King of the House Home Inspection):
Due to a budget crisis in Washington State, there is a hearing today in Olympia, the state capital, in which the lawmakers will seriously look at elimination of most boards and committees. One entity, that they are looking at eliminating, is the … (0 comments)

Thinking About Building a Custom Home? - 02/14/09 09:18 AM
My friend, Lori Cofer, just posted an article on her blog about custom home building and the advantages of including a Realtor in the process.
I got me to thinking (which is preferable to cleaning the garage which is what I am supposed to do this morning - thank goodness I'm working this afternoon!) about my experiences on custom homes.
Unfortunately, my experience has come as an expert witness in litigation against builders.  As a home inspector that also has code experience and credentials, combined with a small community, there are a limited number of readily available experts.
My first experience … (5 comments)

FPE Panels seen on Infrared - 02/13/09 07:01 PM
FPE can't hide from Infrared!
Following up on my discussion of FPE panels earlier, here are some infrared pictures from a home I did on Wednesday.  It was a big house, built in 1980 with 5000sf on three levels and FOUR (4!) Federal Pacific Electric panels installed.  Four in a week is a bad week for panels.  Four in one house....
To look at them, not much was happening - there were some double-taps but that's not exclusively a problem to FPE.  Here's the picture of one of the panels.  The double-taps are in the lower righthand corner.  The sheathing isn't … (11 comments)

"I don't see it as a critical issue." - 02/13/09 03:09 PM
That's a direct quote from a local electrical contractor to me in an email late last week.  As he put it,
"you and I are having some difficulty with the FPE panel issue"
and he was exactly right.  We are having issues with it.  I think they are inherently unsafe.  He thinks that they have a history of good service.  Recently, I had a streak (a personal worst, if you will) of 5 consecutive houses with a FPE panel.  One of the panels was referred to the contractor I'm quoting.
I am one of the inspectors in my area that will … (11 comments)

A Light-hearted Look at Recycling from the Other Half - 02/10/09 11:12 PM
"Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" is the clarion call of the environmentally conscious individual. This is suitable advice for everything we buy, use, or dispose of. I would like to take it one step further. What if we applied some of this common sense to other areas of our lives?
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle for Modern Relationships
So, you are in a long term relationship and you just seem to grow closer to your significant other as the years go by. You work together, play together, and even start to look kind of like each other. However, underneath all this domestic harmony you … (5 comments)

Moscow - "Heart of the Arts" - 02/10/09 09:50 PM
 A devotion to the arts is a signature quality of Moscow, Idaho.  The city is divided between the more liberal university students and professors and the somewhat conservative farming community but one area of agreement is the appreciation of myriad forms of art. 
The local paper, the Moscow Pullman Daily News, had this article of one of our local artists.
The rural life: Local artist inspired by life in small southern Idaho town
Forrest Gilchrist usually starts a piece of art without knowing what the final product will look like.
"It all has a human element, but there is no predetermined … (2 comments)

Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow ID - 02/09/09 07:37 PM
If you're a jazz fan, Moscow ID has a treat that you really should indulge in at least once, the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.  I know - Idaho.  Not where you would expect to find a hotbed of jazz.  but there is a long jazz tradition
The University of Idaho sponsors the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival every year. The Festival is a major regional highlight.  Imagine an environment that has world class jazz musicians sharing the stage with elementary, junior high and high school students.   
I've had several childern participate in the competition.  The level of commitment that even the youngest bands … (2 comments)

Just What Industry Are We In? - 02/09/09 07:04 PM
The title of the post and the question itself probably seem a bit silly.  Everybody here on AR is in the same business whether they're a Realtor, Inspector, Mortgage Broker, Stager.  Quite often though I see people confuse industry with job. A good example was this last Friday.
I was taken by surprise during one of my inspections Friday, of a Clarkston WA house. I had an exchange with a Realtor from Lewiston ID that went something like this:
Inspector:  So, have you been keeping tracks of the changes in the home inspection side of things?
Realtor:  No.  Why should I pay attention to your … (8 comments)

Concrete - Not Just Grey Slabs - 02/09/09 09:48 AM
Everybody has an idea of what concrete is - hard, gray, cold.  That's been changing for the last decade though as more and more people experiment with concrete as a decorative element in homes and businesses. Some areas of the country have already seen some of these finishes but here in the hinterlands of Washington and Idaho, they're fresh and exciting.
Through the use of stains and colored pigments, stamps, textured patterns, ornate sawcuts, epoxy overlay, and more, the concrete elements of homes and commercial buildings concrete are becoming increasingly attractive. Let's take a look at a few techiniques....
Exposed Aggregate
One … (1 comments)

Will Your Washington State Home Inspector Be Running Naked This Fall? - 02/07/09 09:16 AM
If you are going to recommend home inspectors in the state of Washington, this post is a MUST read.
Steve is a member of the home inspector board in Washington and, while the board is doing the best it can, there are some weaknesses in the new laws coming into effect.  Steve discusses one of those "holes" here....
Via Steven L. Smith, Bellingham, Wa. Home Inspector (King of the House Home Inspection):
This title is not misleading and makes sense if you read this post.
Since I am on the Washington State Home Inspector Licensing Board, which is fine-tuning the basic rules passed … (0 comments)

For Pullman Realtors and Home Buyers - 02/05/09 11:20 AM
Pullman Inspector Comparison
As you know, the State of Washington just recently established a new regulation that each agency must provide a written policy for referring home inspectors.   I thought that the above chart might help in determining the standards you set in the policy. 
Obviously my information is complete but you might find that it makes it easier to build your referral list with chart similar to the one above.  I have tried to provide accurate information for the other inspectors but I have a few blanks.
Feel free to adapt the above if it is useful.  I do ask … (2 comments)

Appaloosa Museum - 02/03/09 07:53 PM
Quoting the webpage for the Appaloosa Museum,
The Appaloosa Museum is a non-profit organization established in 1975 to collect, preserve, study, and exhibit objects and information that illustrate the history of the Appaloosa horse.
The Appaloosa is a breed of horse  known for its spotted coat pattern and other distinctive physical characteristics. The Nez Perce people of the American Pacific Northwest are credited with developing the breed. They were once referred to by white settlers as the "Palouse horse", possibly after the Palouse River, which ran through the heart of Nez Perce country. Gradually, the name evolved into "Appaloosa".
The Museum has … (1 comments)

Concrete Reasons to Go to France - 02/03/09 07:26 PM
When I first started inspecting, it was as a Special Inspector for a firm called Southern California Soils & Testing - perhaps the best people I have ever worked with.  While there, I added multiple code certifications but worked primarily as a Pre-Stressed reinforced Concrete Inspector.
In short, I was a concrete nerd.  I still am so I found this article in Popular Mechanics to be very interesting. 

Most people go to France for the wine and the scenery. There is also a more concrete reason to go. When we heard that France had moved to the forefront of concrete … (4 comments)

10 simple ways to a greener home - 02/03/09 07:06 PM
Whether you're moving into a new home or just in the mood to refurbish your current pad, going green does not necessarily mean spending green. By simply making a few appropriate choices, you can get a whole new look, that's both environmentally friendly and cost effective.
#1 New uses for old stuff- Before throwing anything into your recycling box, think of its recycling potential. A nice shaped wine bottle makes a perfect vase for a sprig of fresh flowers in the bathroom. Or a lamp-stand for the lampshade that you picked up at a flea market last year. Yogurt cartons can … (9 comments)

Hell Yes, inspect that custom home! - 02/02/09 01:49 AM
I have agents ask me whether they should have a new home inspected. We're a little more trusting out here - everybody knows everybody else and new homes are supposed to be "inspected" by the local building departments.  I always tell them yes and tell them the story of a home that I did the forensics on - this one is still in litigation.

 
Now this is a bit extreme - I don't normally cut into walls to see what's happening but in this case, the homeowner was paying to have the structural components checked so we were intrusive.
… (7 comments)

Living Off the Grid with Batteries - 02/02/09 01:27 AM
I did a home inspection not long ago on a home that was completely off the electrical grid.  It was one of the more fascinating homes I've done.  In addition to the solar panels, wind turbine and assorted other advanced renewable energy technologies, it had a bank of industrial batteries.
Now these are not part of your everyday home inspection. 
Since I was a certified Home Performance Specialist for the state of Idaho, I have a fair amount of experience with alternative energy and energy efficient housing, so I got the job.  That's one of the advantages of being the … (12 comments)

 
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Paul Duffau

Lewiston, ID

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National Property Inspections in SE Washington

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