The mighty eucalyptus tree is not indigenous to Southern California, but it has naturalized itself due to the wonderful weather we have here which is very similar to the weather in its native Australia.
I never knew about these trees until I moved to San Diego, but I'm always fascinated by them whenever I see them because of their majesty in reaching to the sky and the wide and varying colors and texture of the bark.
Unfortunately, this tree has many characteristics that can cause havoc to residential properties. It is a relatively fast-growing tree, which is one reason why many people like it, but it also has brittle branches that are subject to breakage in windy conditions, and large and invasive root systems that can damage a foundation, sidewalk, or driveway just as rapidly as the tree grows. Another problem in both its native Australia and here in Southern California is that the eucalyptus is full of an oily sap that is highly flammable, making it virtually a torch tree in the wind-drive wildland fires that occur both in Australia and here.
If you have this tree on your property, make sure that you keep an eye on the branches and the roots. Keep it trimmed well away from your house, and if it looks like it could fall on your house and damage it, it might be time to top it or remove it altogether.
Following are some of my favorite pictures that I've taken recently to show you the majesty and beauty of these trees. If the slide show here doesn't work on your computer, click here to watch it at slide.com.
This morning's inspection found me and the Realtor alone by ourselves since our Clients are in Washington, D.C., (wife) and on board the USS Ronald Reagan (husband).
We were told that there would be a dog at the inspection but we weren't told whether it was big, little, mean, friendly, whatever.
Fortunately, I'm a pet person and I know how to make friends very quickly with dogs.
The doormat wasn't encouraging, though, since a corner had been chewed off:
We rang the doorbell and entered carefully, not knowing what to expect. Nothing.
"Maybe they decided to take the dog after all," I said.
"Good," Mr. Realtor said.
I was secretly hoping that we would still find the dog.
So I proceeded to make note of the room locations, and when I entered the master bedroom, here's what I saw:
Dogs have pretty good hearing, especially big dogs, so I was concerned that this big dog didn't even acknowledge us being in his home. I walked to the other side and saw this:'
Notice that she does have one eye open, and that one ear just has to be listening to us, right?
I did finally get Mrs. Dog to sit up and give me a few swipes with her big ol' tongue, and once she decided that she had enough, she laid back down, at which time I got the following pictures.
First, I focused on her eye.
Then I focused on her nails:
Then I went for just a picture of a big ol' nail:
For those who are wondering, Mrs. Dog is a Rhodesian Ridgeback. You can see her ridge in that first picture.
Several years ago I was asked to become certified in mold inspections. Everyone was claiming that it was the new plastics. In fact, it seems everywhere I went I saw "Mold is Gold!" plastered on windows, cars, and lawsuits. Mold, of course, reached its zenith a few years ago. Even my competitors are no longer doing mold inspections.
Ah, but you knew there was more to this story, right? Seems that the new mold goes by the name "Chinese drywall." Like everything else the Chinese are making for the world markets -- maybe even specifically for the U.S. markets? -- toys with lots of lead in the paint, contaminated baby milk, contaminated pet food, etc. -- Chinese drywall seems to have some problems associated with it.
Once a high-profile person has problems with something, that's when it really makes the soundbites on your local news. Recently, New Orleans Saits head coach Sean Payton announced that he is suing the drywall manufacturer, the supplier, and the home builder due to problems in his suburban New Orleans home: electrical devices kept failing, his wife's silver jewelry turned black, 14 air conditioning service calls, five computer failures, three microwave oven panel failures, and "a whole set of phone lines replaced."
I would get certified to inspect drywall, but all one needs to do is determine if "KNAUF" or "Knauf plasterboard (Tianjin)" is anywhere on the drywall. Unfortunately, that often requires tearing open all the walls, and who wants to do that? You could try looking in the attic to see if the backs of any drywall are visible.
Chinese drywall apparently releases gases which, when combined with water or moisture in the air, can cause copper to corrode and fail. Copper, of course, is used in lots of electrical wiring applications. So if you start having a lot of electrical failures, suspect Chinese drywall, especially if your home was built in 2004 or 2005.
Yet one more way is the smell. If your house smells like rotten eggs, all the time, you probably have Chinese drywall in your home.
I've always been fascinated by flight, which I guess is why I was 24 before I took my first flight.
It was just a short flight on Southwest Airlines from Houston Hobby Airport to Dallas Love Field.
I still don't understand how something like a Boeing 747 that can weigh about 900,000 pounds at takeoff can actually take off after rolling down the runway at about 180 miles per hour. Doesn't make sense to me.
Now little birdies, that's a different story. They simply flap their wings and off they go! (If the slide show here doesn't work on your computer, you can click here to watch it at slide.com.)
If one were to talk to just about any home inspector about the quality of the Seller's disclosures, you'd probably get something like, "What disclosures?"
It's very rare for a Seller's Transfer Disclosure Form (TDS) here in Southern California to have any useful information.
When the TDS does have useful information on it, I want to find the Sellers, congratulate them, and take them out to celebrate the sale of their home, hoping of course, that it's a desired sale and not a forced sale.
When the Seller goes above and beyond, well, Sellers never go above and beyond. Ah, not so fast, grasshopper. As my wise old grandmother said, "Never say never."
Here's a Seller that did, indeed, go above and beyond:
Electricity is probably the area where most home inspectors are the most uncomfortable.
Sometimes it's because electricity is inherently difficult to understand because of all the weird terminology -- volts, watts, amperage.
Sometimes it's because we don't know what someone might have done to the electric system in their home under the false believe that if it works after they worked on it, then they must have done a bang-up job.
Too often, they did, indeed, do a bang-up job.
When I'm to do an inspection and someone tells me that the Seller is an electrician, I know that I'm going to find electrical problems that I wouldn't find anywhere else. It's not that they don't know better, it's that they practice what so many people practice: "Do as I say, not as I do."
In the following two pictures, you can see a big orange circuit breaker at the top of the electric panel.
That's a commercial circuit breaker, meant to be used for commercial applications in commercial electric panels. While it barely fits here in this electric panel, there are two basic problems:
First, that is a 175-amp commercial circuit breaker and this electric panel is rated for 125 amps. Ooops.
Second, if you have an electrical problem that requires you to file an insurance claim, when the insurance company sees this over-amped commercial circuit breaker in this residential panel, I can virtually guarantee you that your claim will be denied due to improper workmanship and installation.
It never seems to fail that when the Seller is a plumber, electrician, roofer, chimney sweep, etc., that's the area where most of the problems will be discovered by a home inspector like me.
I really like visiting and inspecting renovated properties because I've been involved with several hundred property renovations myself.
Consequently, it's always fun to compare what I might have done to what was done.
Invariably, of course, what I would have done is far, far, far, far superior to what they actually did.
Well, usually.
I never would have done this to a foundation crawl space, especially one under a house with about 3,000 square feet:
I can confirm that I certainly enjoyed this crawl space, especially since it had a heavy duty ventilation system installed, which worked very well:
Nope. I can honestly say that in all the property renovations I have done, I would never have thought about putting a concrete floor in the foundation crawl space and then installing a real cool ventilation system.
This was, hands down, my mostest uniquest foundation crawl space ever.
Most of the time when I crawl up into the attic I either find a lot of storage or I find just the usual stuff like a furnace, insulation, air ducts, etc.
At a recent inspection out in the boondocks, I came across the mostest unusual, mostest uniquest attic I have ever been in.
Now keep in mind that I was out in the boondocks, and I can tell you that it gets very hot out in the boondocks, so it's not surprising to find extra insulation in the attic, extra ventilation, etc.
My handy dandy new Canon Rebel XSi camera has me going to places that I have never been, or have not been in over 15 years.
One of those places is shown in the two pictures below.
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to tell me what these are, and, no, they, are not pictures of the moon or Mars.
I'll give you a clue: There are not very many left on the coasts in the United States, but we do have two of them here in San Diego, one at the La Jolla Cove and one at Cabrillo National Monument.
The two pictures here are from the one at the La Jolla Cove, and if you're coming to the 2009 Convention for the National Association of Realtors in November, especially if you're bringing some children with you, I highly recommend checking out at least one of them -- the one at Cabrillo National Monument is closer to the Convention Center.
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The mighty eucalyptus tree is not indigenous to Southern California, but it has naturalized itself due to the wonderful weather we have here which is very similar to the weather in its native Australia.
This morning's inspection found me and the Realtor alone by ourselves since our Clients are in Washington, D.C., (wife) and on board the USS Ronald Reagan (husband).
Several years ago I was asked to become certified in mold inspections. Everyone was claiming that it was the new plastics. In fact, it seems everywhere I went I saw "Mold is Gold!" plastered on windows, cars, and lawsuits. Mold, of course, reached its zenith a few years ago. Even my competitors are no longer doing mold inspections.
I've always been fascinated by flight, which I guess is why I was 24 before I took my first flight.
It was just a short flight on Southwest Airlines from Houston Hobby Airport to Dallas Love Field.
If one were to talk to just about any home inspector about the quality of the Seller's disclosures, you'd probably get something like, "What disclosures?"
Electricity is probably the area where most home inspectors are the most uncomfortable.
I really like visiting and inspecting renovated properties because I've been involved with several hundred property renovations myself.
Most of the time when I crawl up into the attic I either find a lot of storage or I find just the usual stuff like a furnace, insulation, air ducts, etc.
My handy dandy new Canon Rebel XSi camera has me going to places that I have never been, or have not been in over 15 years.
;)
;)
