Ice dams are not very common in Seattle. I know in other parts of the country they are a huge problem. Many older homes---and lots of newer homes---are improperly designed and improperly built to prevent them. On top of the tremendous amounts of energy loss they represent, people spend thousand
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02/28/2011
The other day I read a post here in the rain that would have us believe that mold can cause bleeding lungs, cancer, ameobiasis, cholera and even typhoid fever. As I read through the list I thought, “Holy crap---those are some incredible claims!” I can be a pretty skeptical person, and if there i
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02/25/2011
In older homes that were what we call “stick-built,” finding roofs that sag a bit is not uncommon. Sometimes this sagging is cosmetic---other times repairs are called for to prevent actual collapse of the roof. As you can see in the following picture this old horse had quite a sag in half of the
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02/23/2011
We all love them and occasionally, just like little Oblio, we may even have a point or two. There are LOTS of ways to make points on activerain, but today let’s just talk about the typical 225 points you can get for simply posting a post that has more than 50 words. Everyone can do this and if
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02/21/2011
In the movie War Games, the computer asks, “Do you want to play a game?” I thought that today I would ask the same question of all my loyal readers. The game is to correctly identify the following picture. Let your imagination run wild---but it was taken at an inspection---of something that insp
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02/20/2011
Everyone has snake moments. You know, those times when something just jumps out at you and your heart sinks, your pulse rises, your knuckles turn white and your face goes ashen. If it is a big enough snake you might even experience the taste of adrenalin in your mouth and the smell of urine in
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02/18/2011
Lots of people are confused about the requirements for doors between the house and the garage. I will attempt to open that door and by the time I close it hopefully everyone will be a little less confused---but then again perhaps not. Some sort of “special” door has been required between the hou
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02/16/2011
Leaks are common where plumbing vent pipes go through the roof. There can be damaged flashings, wrong flashings, and improperly installed flashings. On a recent inspection I photographed this picture mainly to remind myself that the test cap had never been removed from the vent. When this cap
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02/14/2011
In the mid 1970’s when the United States was first awakened to the fact that oil might not stay cheap forever, Urea-Formaldehyde Insulation became all the rage. It would be nice to think that we came to an awareness of saving energy for the sake of conserving finite resources, but the harsh real
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02/12/2011
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