ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS
2010
At 11:15 today my phone rings. It was a news reporter for Fox5 News here in Washington. She is doing a report on Chinese Drywall and ran across my blogs. She liked them enough to call me. "Can we meet somewhere for a taped interview? I want you to show me how you would go about checking for Chine...
06/21/2010
At 11:15 today my phone rings. It was a news reporter for Fox5 News here in Washington. She is doing a report on Chinese Drywall and ran across my blogs. She liked them enough to call me. "Can we meet somewhere for a taped interview? I want you to show me how you would go about checking for C...
06/21/2010
17
Comments
My phrase for improperly-wired stuff is that Uncle Bob came over to help out. And he always wires things the way he used to do it when he served during "the big one." Uncle Bob my term for unprofessional work. Such was the case on a recent inspection. From the back yard I noticed three spot li...
06/21/2010
17
Comments
Everything gets old. Some things turn gray as they age. Like this AC compressor. Poor thing. Getting old and gray, leaning a bit. It will only get older as the summer gets hotter. Actually this AC unit is only 4 years old. Sure, it shouldn't lean, but that is an installation problem and an e...
06/20/2010
17
Comments
On a recent inspection of a flip I noted that the basement was changed (a laundry was turned into a bathroom and a family room turned into a laundry room). This necessitated changing the heating and air conditioning duct work. All the new walls required movement of ducts. I was particularly int...
06/16/2010
11
Comments
Our thirteen year old* had to submit an extensive end-of-year portfolio for her Language Arts class. It included poetry, a short story, free verse and, interestingly, three haikus. A haiku is difficult to write because it only has 17 syllables. However, there is another restriction. It cons...
06/16/2010
23
Comments
As roof's age, the shingles begin to shed the granules that make up the color and provide UV protection. This shedding contributes toward the demise of the roof as the shingles dry out, curl, cup, crack and break. As they get drier, the shingles become more wind vulnerable and blow off more eas...
06/16/2010
12
Comments
"Capitalism encourages invention, innovation and technological advance. Creativity cannot be legislated. Only free people can bring significant discovery to society." Perry Gresham And if you want to stultify that creativity, start ...
06/14/2010
8
Comments
I love Chinese food. One item on the menu, it seems, in every restaurant is a variation of something called "Happy Family." It usually consists of three meats, say beef, chicken and pork, together with a bunch of veggies. But the meal always comes with three things together. In a recent inspec...
06/14/2010
11
Comments
I had to get home quickly after my last inspection. Sometimes work can get in the way of family things. This thing was important, and I was able to get there just in time! The last of the Markanich-ans* had a piano recital. She was to play Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake," and Handel's "Messiah, Hal...
06/13/2010
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Jay Markanich
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