seattle home inspectors: What is your ape index?
- 10/18/10 03:12 AM
Do you have a positive or negative ape index? I guess before you answer that question it might be a good idea to know what an ape index is-----otherwise who knows where your mind might go.
If you are or were a sport climber you most likely would know what one is. Stretch your arms out away from each other as far as you can. If the length from finger tip to finger tip is “greater” than your height----you have a positive ape index. If it is shorter than your height you have a negative ape index. Most people’s … (37 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: Well, how does that float your boat?
- 10/17/10 03:54 AM
As a Licensed Structural Pest Inspector, the inspection of House Boats for conditions conducive to wood destroying organisms almost seems like an oxymoron. And yet the few that I have inspected, or worked on, have had no more issues with wood destroying organisms than other Pacific NW homes.
It just isn’t logical that you could throw some logs in the water---chain them together---build a house on top----and not have any problems. Some of the Seattle House boats have logs that are 100 years old----and still floating. Many of the land-bound homes of Seattle, that are 100 years old, … (22 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: What is “100 Proof” and won’t get you drunk?
- 10/16/10 04:27 AM
So what is “100 Proof” and won’t get you loaded? The following picture is a hint.
The answer of course is the “Proof that I can Blog about anything” Contest----that has only 3 more days. Put on your thinking caps and find something under your kitchen or bathroom sink, find a way to relate it to your business, do a blog post about that thing and send it on in.
Click on the above picture or on “Proof that I can Blog about anything” to find all the instructions.
Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector
… (66 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: Why are there gutters inside my attic?
- 10/15/10 04:40 AM
Being an old New England Yankee myself, I always recognize “ingenuity” when I see it----no matter how misguided. Back in the days when the term was coined it most likely meant something “positive.” Today the “genius” root of the word often seems to be missing.
Take a look at this fairly typical chimney on a Seattle home. One of the most unusual things to notice, right of the bat, is how straight it is---given that it is an older home.
This is likely an indication that at some point the chimney was re-built. I don’t like … (28 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: If my house "MELTS" your house----is that a problem?
- 10/14/10 03:11 AM
It is usually pretty easy when I am inspecting homes, and I come across problems, to simply recommend what needs to be done to remedy the problem. Even if the problem requires “further evaluation” by some other professional----at least there is some kind of answer/resolution/repair than can be performed to resolve the issue.
For the most part a house is an assemblage of concrete, wood, drywall, doors, windows, electrical components, heating components, plumbing components, insulation, interior finishes and roofing materials. All of these components are assembled in a logical, coherent, and systematic way.
When they are not-----well … (38 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: Do you know where NOT to step on Wordless Wednesday?
- 10/13/10 02:38 AM
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seattle home inspectors: Camponotus Vicinus
- 10/12/10 03:39 AM
Carpenter Ants are very common in the NW. These ants belong to the largest genus (Camponotus) in the Family Formicidae.
Worldwide there are over 1000 species of Carpenter Ants----not all are wood destroying but when they are, they can do a lot of damage to wood structures. In North America there are about 20 species. In the NW we have mainly two of concern: C. Modoc and C. Vicinus. The “C” stands for Camponotus---the genus.
C. Modoc is pretty easy to recognize----these ants are pretty much all black and bigger than any other kind of ant you are … (31 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: The Red Blouse----a short story.
- 10/11/10 04:44 AM
She came out of nowhere it seemed----but isn’t that how it always is?
One minute David and I were driving along talking about miso soup and the benefits of organic farming, or maybe pondering some philosophical question like, "Is it easier to change direction----or to simply forget where one has been?”
The next thing we knew we were upside down on the grass on the opposite side of the road.
A woman had run a stop sign with her beater Ford Galaxy and had plowed right into us. Her car hit our right rear wheel so … (23 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: Did you find any "time" under your kitchen sink?
- 10/10/10 05:00 AM
When you have two sinks in your kitchen, it doubles your blog fodder----or more!
Like the hands on a clock, going round and round, the revolving shelve under my second kitchen sink can be seen as a reminder that you only have one more week and a day to get your posts entered in the “Proof that I can blog about anything!”Contest.
All the rules can be found by clicking on the Old Bathroom Sink below.
Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector
… (53 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: I got a call the other day to inspect the “White House!”
- 10/08/10 04:05 AM
No---not THAT White House. This was merely a house where every square inch of the unfinished basement was painted white. By painted----I mean painted---not just a light dusting to sort of cover everything up. It was more like it had been dipped in paint-----allowed to dry----and then dipped in paint again.
Now I have seen unfinished basements painted before, but this was closer to a work of art----without a gap showing anywhere----nothing bleeding through----just clean crisp white. The Beatles would have been impressed.
The fact that it makes ancient wiring even more dangerous should … (24 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: Would you sign little Tommy House’s Report Card?
- 10/07/10 03:17 AM
I frequently get questioned from both buyers and their agents as to whether the house “passed” inspection----as if we give the house some sort of passing grade or failing grade.
When we look to the inspector to pass or fail the house we may miss the entire purpose of the Home Inspection.
Information----simple as that.
Every buyer will take that information and make it fit with their dreams or not. Will it “pencil out” or not----it always comes down to “money” doesn’t it? How does what the inspector finds affect the dream? Does it … (30 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: Can't seem to get out of the bog again on Wordless Wednesday
- 10/06/10 04:33 AM
… (17 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: Sink or Swim
- 10/05/10 02:39 AM
Everywhere we look there are the signs telling us what we must do.
While there are the arm-chair media experts and real industry experts that would have me believe this, or that----the truth is that the message can be found even under my kitchen sink. Can it be any clearer than, ”S.O.S?” It even says right on the box, “Cuts Through Tough Messes!” (In two languages yet.)
Surely it means “Sink or Swim.”
Meaning the choice is ours. The key is, have we done what it takes along the way to have the “strength” to … (25 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: A Room With A View----always sunny in Seattle!
- 10/03/10 04:14 AM
Everyone wants a room with a view don’t they?
On a recent inspection the neighboring house----an older home in a gentrifying neighborhood----was VERY close to the building I was inspecting. Did I say it was VERY close? This modern building had a concrete block wall on one due to the proximity to the neighboring house. This is how buildings are constructed in any densely developed downtown areas where the buildings are stacked right up against each other----to provide a fire barrier between the two structures.
Before the new building was built, the people in the neighboring house---the … (30 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: Ants know how to Party-down!
- 10/02/10 02:23 AM
In the NW, the Home Inspector, assuming they are a Licensed Structural Pest Inspector, had best be on the lookout for ants wandering around the exterior of the building----especially Carpenter Ants. On a recent inspection of a building with EIFS siding (Synthetic Stucco), I noticed Carpenter Ants trailing along the sidewalk. Following the trail I found where they were coming and going from the building at a hole under some door trim. Note the Carpenter Ant at the center of the picture.
This is almost never going to be a good thing and I made a mental note … (20 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: To B-Vent or not to B-Vent----that is the question!
- 10/01/10 03:43 AM
A couple of weeks ago I had a soccer game at a local high school where I saw an "interesting" B-Vent pipe running up the side of the gymnasium. I didn’t have my camera with me, and I could have kicked myself in the head----as it is totally out of character to not have it with me. You just never know when blog fodder is going to show up.
I knew my next game was at the same field so I made a mental note to bring my camera with me the next time.
Now I know … (27 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: A Dozen Essentials for a Smooooooth Home Inspection
- 09/30/10 02:36 AM
For some time now I have wanted to put together a long list of all the things that a seller should consider doing to get their home ready for the home inspection. The more I thought about it, the more I realized my list was starting to look more like my 90,000 item report template, than a “to-do” list for a seller to get ready for the inspection.
And then I got to thinking----if sellers actually did all those things then I wouldn’t have a job! Well, I don’t “really” believe that---based on what I know about how things … (91 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: Wordless Wednesday----never heard one say anything yet!
- 09/29/10 03:10 AM
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seattle home inspectors: Not exactly Blazing Saddles---but it could be!
- 09/28/10 03:46 AM
As much as I am into movies, it surprises me a little that I have almost no use for video----at least most of them. Now I can appreciate a really good video----like one that captures something spectacular----like granny riding her Harley naked into the family swimming pool at the 4th of July barbeque. The ones I really hate are the so called “videos” that are nothing more than zooming in and out----and panning back and forth----on the grainy “still” photos of Penelope Cruz in a bikini on some beach. What is up with that anyway? Don’t we all want to … (36 comments)
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seattle home inspectors: I’m gonna knock your lights out!
- 09/27/10 05:05 AM
When choosing light fixtures for your home, it important to consider whether they will be subject to mechanical damage or not. I often find light fixtures that can be impacted when windows are opened, or hit by cabinet doors----or merely hung so low that one whacks their head on them when walking by.
There is nothing quite like hot sharp glass going down ones neck----or under one’s bare feet.
Here is a light fixture that was a poor choice for its proximity to a swinging door.
Just click on the picture to see what happens.
… (25 comments)
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Do you have a positive or negative ape index? I guess before you answer that question it might be a good idea to know what an ape index is-----otherwise who knows where your mind might go.
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