Our four-week winter here in San Diego -- San Diego winter being defined as

• the temperature is below 70° F regularly
• there are clouds in the sky almost all day long
• there is water falling from the clouds in the sky

means that it's time for past Clients to call or email me for help concerning problems that they are having. They know that I'm available 24/7, in perpetuity, to help them.

I've done thousands of inspections since October 2001 when I started in this business, but I only get about five calls each winter. The problems invariably concern one of the following:

• heating system doesn't work
• fireplace is filling the room up with smoke
• roof is leaking.

I suspect there are two reasons for the lack of calls:

1. I spend a lot of time documenting not only the conditions at the time of the inspection, but predicting the future concerning problems they might have due to older construction methods.
2. My report is an interactive report so that Clients can click on links to various documents that I've written and web sites that I've found useful. They can go at any time to the inspection report and simply click on links to read about problems that I predict they will have.

Even if my Client chooses one of my services that doesn't include a full home inspection -- such as a pool inspection, or a tennis court inspection, or a rental inspection -- they still get my full interactive report and access to my SOLUTIONS Internet Real Estate library that contains thousands of documents that I've written or collected in my 43 years of experience working in all areas of real estate.

Recently a Client called with a roof leak that was right above his fireplace. When I pulled up the report, I knew exactly what was going on. The chimney in question was a large chimney at the lower end of the roof, shown in the following picture:

Such a chimney needs what is refered to as a "cricket." Although most building standards say that chimneys wider than 30 inches need a cricket, as a former roofing contractor in Texas, I firmly believe that any chimney at the bottom of a large roof needs a cricket, especially in areas that are subject to high rainfall. When rainwater flows down that large roof and bangs against that chimney, it's not a question of if the chimney flashing will leak right there, it's a question of how soon.

I designed the chimney cricket in the following picture on a renovated house with a new wrap-around-the-chimney addition in Texas.

Although the roofing contractor did not follow my exact instructions, and the flashing at the chimney leaves a little to be desired (both of which were ultimately corrected), the picture does convey how to prevent roof leaks at the chimney by redirecting water flow around it.

Regrettably, few builders in San Diego install chimney crickets, which invariably causes problems if we get an unusual rain storm or an El Nino winter. Out of all the inspections I've done here in San Diego, the following are the only chimney crickets that I've found:

Although the definition of a "cricket" involves a chimney, crickets can be used in other places, such as when a second-story wall is at the low end of a large first-story roof, as shown in the following picture.

So for those of you who dislike chirping crickets keeping you awake at night, well, not all crickets chirp all night long. Some just spend their time protecting you from water falling from the sky.

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Russel's Top 25 blog entries.

1. ActiveRain success story -- ActiveRain Feature
2. All God's creatures great and small -- ActiveRain Feature
3. An open letter to Realtors -- ActiveRain Feature
4. Just because they sell it doesn't mean you should buy it -- ActiveRain Feature
5. 12 reasons why I won't comment on your blog entries -- ActiveRain Feature
6. What happens when two home inspectors show up at the same time at the same property -- ActiveRain Feature
7. ActiveRain tags are very powerful. Here's how to use them effectively
8. Cracks on our properties and in our homes -- seven lessons
9. Did you take a shower today?
10. Go for the GOLD: How to use your time wisely
11. Hey! We have fall colors in San Diego
12. How my Clients got $17,800 from the bank on an "as-is" foreclosure
13. How sellers can prepare for a buyer's home inspection
14. How to trip, fall, and break an arm more efficiently
15. I purposefully burned a bridge yesterday
16. Is your dishwasher dish washing?
17. Out of sight, out of mind, skip the work, charge for it
18. The Client is always right, right?
19. We're three strange men. May we babysit your children?
20. What are you thinking? Yes, you! (electrical extension cords)
21. What are you thinking? Yes, you! (sink cabinets and chemical storage)
22. What part of that don't you understand? (Reading 101, English 101, & Spanish 101)
23. Which trees cause the most damage to our properties? -- five lessons
24. Would a foreclosed seller purposefully leave an explosive device behind?
25. Would you like what's behind Curtain #1, Curtain #2, or Curtain #3?