helm home inspections: FIRE! Waiting to happen!
- 02/14/09 06:21 AM
This post is about solid fuel burning appliances and potential chimney fires. Solid fuel appliances are usually wood burning fireplaces or stoves, including inserts. The chimney serving these appliances should be cleaned every year. The picture below shows a chimney with major creosote buildup. The very next fire in the stove could be the one to set off a chimney fire; and chimney fires often burn houses down!
Creosote What does all this mean for a home buyer? It certainly means you would need to have the chimney cleaned before ever lighting a fire in the stove. The National … (8 comments)
helm home inspections: My Book Meme with thanks to Deborah Pearce
- 12/07/07 05:51 AM
How does an avid reader talk about his five favorite books? I don't think I can choose five favorites. I'v been reading for 60 years and may have thousands of favorites. What I'll do, I think, is choose some recently read and some I think are notable. Last night we had our monthly Book Group meeting. This is a small private group. Our first read was Dante Allighieri's Inferno. We went on to read Purgatorio and will soon be going into Paradiso to complete the Divine Comedy. Last night we talked a bit about the completion of our most recent book, The … (10 comments)
helm home inspections: Nooksack Falls
- 08/03/07 07:43 PM
East of Bellingham, Washington there is a not very well known set of falls on the North Fork of the Nooksack River (A fork that is solely glacier melt water) at about mile 46 on the Mt. Baker Highway on the way up to Heather Meadows. This fall, which is two pronged, plunges about 100 feet into the gorge below. It is exceedingly beautiful, and scary. A few years ago a fence was built to prevent people from climbing out on the rocks. This was done in response to a young woman falling to her death at the falls. Here are … (6 comments)
helm home inspections: Tour de France. Uh, Bellingham
- 08/03/07 07:10 PM
The road I live on is very rural and thus has very little traffic. The local (Bellingham, Washington) cycling club uses it for practices and on Tuesday evenings, races. There are usually 60 to 70 bicycles involved in these races. The do a number of laps on a large loop that is several miles long. It's pretty fun to watch them go by every ten or so minutes. With that large of a group the sound of their passing is amazing, and they create their own wind. This past Tuesday I tried to get a few pictures of them. They happened … (6 comments)
helm home inspections: Commercial Fishing
- 07/28/07 06:27 AM
Bellingham, Washington has a long and active history of commercial fishing. In its heyday there were a number of very large Salmon Canneries around Bellingham Bay. Today, with the decline of Salmon runs and the major control of fishing grounds to keep the worlds oceans from becoming a desert, local fishers have to have licenses and nets for many different species, and have to travel far afield to keep their way of life. The following photos are acknowledging their commitment and honoring their profession. This is the original fishermen's memorial at Zuanich Pt. Park. The plaque on the left names those who … (13 comments)
helm home inspections: Coffee Boxes
- 07/18/07 08:50 AM
Back when our youngest was going to College, to get summer money she worked at a drive through espresso stand. She derogatorily called them "coffee boxes" because little boxes is what they looked like. Since that time, the drive throughs have gotten a little more creative in their design. Here, without any editorializing about the design or the quality of the coffee (I prefer to go inside the places I buy my coffee. I already spend way too much time in a vehicle.) are some photos of a few that I've come across over the course of a business week. … (15 comments)
helm home inspections: Realtorspeak, a Dictionary
- 06/18/07 05:27 AM
First a disclaimer. This is all in jest and is not meant to offend anyone. I spend a lot of time looking at listings, because I am a very small time RE investor. I always get a kick out of the adjectives used to describe homes in these listings. The following are some of my definitions. ELEGANT You can't afford it! FABULOUS See ELEGANT DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL Bring a bulldozer! CHARMER Old and in the way! LUXURIOUS See ELEGANT PRIVATE LOCATION You can't get there from here! REMODELED A few upgrades done twenty years ago! FIXER or FIXER UPPER See DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL HISTORIC See ELEGANT CUTE Your family won't fit in this … (15 comments)
helm home inspections: Ask the local inspector
- 03/11/07 10:39 AM
If you have any questions regarding inspections, problems with homes, the inspection process, please post them here and I will answer them to the best of my ability. … (8 comments)
My blogs offer a wide range of topics, from home inspection to cooking to woodworking to gardening to local area information and photos. I love talking about Bellingham, Washington and its surrounding area. Home inspection is my work; life is my passion.
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