albuquerque home inspections: Sweet smell of sewer gasses
- 01/09/19 10:10 AM
I could smell it as soon as I walked into the house. Sewer gasses, not that pleasant of a smell! I knew there was a drain or venting problem somewhere in the house. When I got to the kitchen and opened the sink cabinet door, there it was... a Cat! Can you find him in the picture? Scared the crap outta me, lol... but he never moved! Maybe he was delirious from the sewer gasses! Also there was this... no P-Trap! What is a P-Trap and what does it do? A P-trap gets its name because it combines two 90 degree joints … (4 comments)
albuquerque home inspections: Gutter Downspouts Fail
- 03/18/18 10:16 AM
Gutter downspouts... if you have gutters, you have them. Or.... maybe not! I see all sorts of downspout configurations. The one I seen the other day though took the cake, the prize, the Oscar! See, this guy was really tired of his side yard flooding whenever it rained. He was sooo smart, he figured out it was being caused by his gutter downspout discharging right beside the house. Well... he knew his neighbors property grade was lower than his so hey... why not send it over to the neighbors? We see all kinds of configurations, from extensions to the ones that need extentions! I always get … (2 comments)
albuquerque home inspections: What the heck is an AAV valve?
- 10/12/16 01:30 AM
We learned a long time ago that plumbing must be vented to allow smooth flow through the drain pipes. The way architecture is in our world today; people are putting water fixtures and sinks everywhere! The problem was the venting. Conventional wisdom had them running up the walls and through the roof. But some houses have island sinks or bathroom sinks that cannot be plumbed this way. Along came the AAV or Air Admittance Valve. They have been around since the mid 90's or so. They are designed to allow air to enter the plumbing drainage system and equalize pressure when water drains out … (4 comments)
albuquerque home inspections: Is this a repair or a patch?
- 10/06/16 01:24 AM
Are Re-Inspections important? You betcha!! You have put a contract on your dream home and have had a Home Inspection done and discover some problems that are in dire need of repair. The seller agrees to have them fixed, and gets back to you they have been done. Great, are you sure? Did they do them correctly or just apply a little lipstick to get by? In the pics, it shows the damaged stucco on the parapet walls. Stucco cracked and deteriorated to the point of rotting the OSB sheathing under it. And then the after pic of the repair. Is this … (6 comments)
albuquerque home inspections: Time to fire up your swamp coolers!
- 06/06/16 02:19 AM
Well, about this time of year everybody has been using their air conditioners, it's getting hot out there! Here in the southwest area of the country where it's drier and less humidity, people use evaporative or "swamp" coolers to cool their house. Swamp coolers are much cheaper to operate, provide relief from the heat for much less money! An evaporative cooler cools the indoor air using evaporation. It lowers the dry-bulb temperature of the indoor air. The major components of an evaporative cooler are the: Cabinet Water pump Blower and motor Media or water pads
When the blower fan turns on, it draws … (2 comments)
I could smell it as soon as I walked into the house. Sewer gasses, not that pleasant of a smell! I knew there was a drain or venting problem somewhere in the house. When I got to the kitchen and opened the sink cabinet door, there it was... a Cat! Can you find him in the picture? Scared the crap outta me, lol... but he never moved! Maybe he was delirious from the sewer gasses! Also there was this... no P-Trap! 
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