ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS
2011
24
Comments
For Father's Day my daughter gave me a Dandy dinner cruise on the Potomac River. It took a while to arrange the time to go, but last night we had our date finally realized. As you can see, she is 14 going on 29. She arranged everything, even choosing our food. The Dandy serves a 5 course meal f...
08/31/2011
24
Comments
On a one-year inspection, of which I do many, I asked the clients as I always do to tell me what things they have noticed about the house that I might not be able to know otherwise during the inspection. Some things you only know about because you live there. Is this a clogged drain? All year lon...
08/30/2011
10
Comments
"A Russian man goes to the official agency, puts down his money and is told that he can obtain delivery of his automobile in exactly 10 years. “Morning or afternoon,” the purchaser asks. “Ten years from now, what difference does it make?” replies the clerk. “Well,” says the car buyer, “the plumbe...
08/30/2011
A Realtor referred his neighbor to me. She was afraid she had a lot of water in her house, and walls, and had called three companies to dry her house out. One thing she had been told was, "We include demustification. Not everybody does that." Demustification? Really? I laughed at the word. W...
08/29/2011
In graduate business school they taught us about "paradigm shifts." A paradigm is a typical pattern or model, or way of thinking about something. Paradigm shifts are very important in business, being into some pattern of thinking before it hits, or seeing the wave and catching it early. I thin...
08/27/2011
29
Comments
Sorry for the cliched title. But if the shoe fits, wear it. There I go again. Sorry. But really, beauty is only skin deep. A couple of years ago the deck was sagging. It was getting old. So, wisely, the female homeowner hired a professional company to rework the underside supports, stabiliz...
08/27/2011
A popular construction material these days are floor I-beams, sometimes called "Engineered Floor Joists." You have seen them. They are convenient and easy to use. But there are strict guidelines for notching or cutting holes in engineered floor joists. From the side they look like a steel I-be...
08/25/2011
Often times decks are weakened by the way they are attached to a house. And a chimney should not be used to support the deck's structure. A chimney is not a structural member to attach to. This house has two wood-burning fireplaces. So, to accommodate both flues, which have to be independent, t...
08/24/2011
79
Comments
Interestingly, within an hour of the earthquake my phone began ringing! People with questions about what to do and what to look for around their houses. I had to admit to them that I have never done this before, but I visualized my house and checked off a verbal list for people to follow. When t...
08/23/2011
10
Comments
"If any behavior needs to be reined in, it should be the propensity of people to use the political system to take other people's money." Jeffrey A. Singer The word "propensity" is used a lot by economists. It means to have a tendency or inclination toward something. Is Dr. Singer suggesting that...
08/23/2011
Rainmaker
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Jay Markanich
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