troy michigan home inspections: VOCs And Clean Air In Michigan
- 10/01/10 11:18 AM
What are VOCs? Volitile organic compounds (VOCs) sound like something we should have learned about when we were snoozing in Mr. Smith's 5th hour chemistry class. We hear about them, occasionally see them in the news... but what are they? They are a group of chemicals that contain carbon and easily evaporate at room temperature. But maybe the question should be: why should I care about them? And here's why: they change from liquid or solid state into gas form when exposed to air, and when this happens, we can breath them into our lungs. Actually, besides inhalation (called "respiration" … (4 comments)
troy michigan home inspections: Michigan Innovation: The Daisy Air Rifle
- 09/30/10 04:41 PM
Sorry, antigunners. I know a lot of people hate BB guns, but I loved mine growing up. And why wouldn't I? After all, the Daisy Air Rifle had its beginnings here in Michigan. The Daisy's humble beginnings can be traced back to 1882 and the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company. A local inventor developed a product that was a combination of metal and wire, vaguely resembling a gun, that could fire a lead ball using compressed air. The President of the company gave it a try, and after his first shot exclaimed, "Boy, that's a daisy." The rest, as they say, … (3 comments)
troy michigan home inspections: Michigan Innovation: The Stove Capital
- 09/29/10 07:08 AM
Detroit... The Motor City. But what was Detroit before the automotive industry revolutionized the way we lived and traveled? Detroit was known across the nation as the Stove Capital of the World, with five major companies manufacturing stoves inside the city limits at the turn of the 20th century. In 1860, the city's first stove company set up shop on the East side on Mount. Elliott. The popularity of their product caused several other companies to open their doors. The result: Detroit innovation changed how the country cooked food. Detroit Stove Works owned the largest stove manufacturing plant in the … (6 comments)
troy michigan home inspections: More Bank Failures
- 09/28/10 06:55 AM
From this morning's Wall Street Journal: The largest number of bank failures in nearly 20 years has eliminated jobs, accelerated a drought in lending and left the industry's survivors with more power to squeeze customers. Some 279 banks have collapsed since Sept. 25, 2008, when Washington Mutual Inc. became the biggest bank failure on record. That dwarfed the 1984 demise of Continental Illinois, which had only one-seventh of WaMu's assets. The failures of the past two years shattered the pace of the prior six-year period, when only three dozen banks died. Two more banks went down last Friday, and failures are … (4 comments)
troy michigan home inspections: Who Comes Up With These Numbers?
- 09/27/10 04:45 PM
Who Comes Up With House Numbers? Ever wonder about your house number? In the United States, odd numbers are on one side and even numbers on the other. Typically, the address number assigned is proportional to the distance from some baseline, so that's why there is a big skip in numbers on a typical street. In many cities, addresses often increase by 100 for each cross street, sometimes within each block. So a block where one side is numbered 5501, 5513, etc. is followed by a block beginning with 5601. Until the widespread adoption of 911 Emergency Systems, an old … (22 comments)
I drank the Kool-Aid again. (Doesn't make sense? Don't worry... Detroit Lions fans understand.) Do you know that definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result? Well, I must be certifiably insane. Because this was the year the Detroit Lions were going to make big improvements. Whatever. Waiting for a flight to get back to Michigan, I had the opportunity to watch another loss. Well, 13 games more to go, but we are already effectively eliminated from the playoffs. Not that I expected we'd get to the playoffs, but I was … (15 comments)
troy michigan home inspections: Taxes: How Long Until We Get A Proposal Like This?
- 09/26/10 11:53 AM
I read this on CNBC's site earlier in the week: The UK's tax collection agency is putting forth a proposal that all employers send employee paychecks to the government, after which the government would deduct what it deems as the appropriate tax and pay the employees by bank transfer. The proposal by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HRMC) stresses the need for employers to provide real-time information to the government so that it can monitor all payments and make a better assessment of whether the correct tax is being paid. Currently employers withhold tax and pay the government, providing information at … (3 comments)
troy michigan home inspections: Lead Testing Kits: The Lowdown
- 09/26/10 11:45 AM
For people concerned about the possibility of lead paint in their house, the EPA now recognizes three lead test kits: LeadCheck®, the State of Massachusetts kit, and D-Lead®.LeadCheck® The EPA recognizes believes the LeadCheck® lead test kit can reliably determine that regulated lead-based paint is not present on wood or ferrous metal (alloys that contain iron). This kit is not recognized for use on plaster and drywall. State of Massachusetts The EPA recognizes that when used by trained professionals the State of Massachusetts lead test kit can reliably determine that regulated lead-based paint is not present on wood, drywall … (0 comments)
troy michigan home inspections: How To Keep The Air Inside Your House Clean (part I)
- 09/25/10 04:22 PM
How To Keep The Air Inside Your House Clean Have you ever gone into a house or building and smelled, for the lack of a more scientific term, yucky air? Not a pleasant sensation, and one that can ever cause health problems in the long run.
Potential Problem #1: The Coils One of the problems can be the heating or cooling coils in the HVAC system. These coils regulate the temperature of the air that passes by. In the case of the AC, the cooling coil also provides dehumidification. After passing through the filters, warm air is blown across … (5 comments)
troy michigan home inspections: American Ingenuity: Embracing the Freedom to Dream
- 09/25/10 04:06 PM
American Ingenuity: Embracing the Freedom to Dream SE Michigan residents: The Lorenzo Cultural Center at Macomb Commnity College's Central Campus has some great programs coming up in October and November. The themes: innovation, invention and entrepreneurship. Things actually kicked off this afternoon when Joe Donovan, morning co-anchor at WWJ AM 950 shared how WWJ was the first commercial radio station in America, then covered its 90-year history. Several presentations are going on each week. The one I can't wait for happens on Friday -- Enjoying the Ride: The Story of Harley-Davidson. Another one I'm looking forward to is A Day … (0 comments)
troy michigan home inspections: Fire Hazards: CSST (Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing)
- 09/17/10 09:20 AM
Fire Hazards: Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing (CSST) CSST is a relatively new type of gas tubing that has been widely installed in houses and in commercial applications in recent years... but it is believed to make it susceptible to fire due to lightning strikes. When lightning travels down the CSST, it can burn holes into the tubing. Not a good combination -- gas leakage and lightning. While CSST is thought to cause fires from these leaks, in some cases the leaks have lead to powerful explosions. Additionally, CSST can be damaged from even nearby lightning strikes. These claims have lead to a class-action … (1 comments)
troy michigan home inspections: Water Temperature and Scalding
- 09/08/10 07:38 AM
Have you ever checked your water temperature? It is easy to do, and if you have children around, you have good reason to check -- children's skin is particularly easy to scald. You can use any thermometer you have available (even those to test meat or used to make candy)... just as long as it can measure between 100 and 200 degrees F. To give you an idea of how easy it is for an adult suffer a scald burn, check out the following chart:
Temperature Time in contact before scald burn Setting on water heater 150 degrees F 1 … (4 comments)
troy michigan home inspections: Smelly Dishwashers: Stop the Stink!
- 09/02/10 06:47 PM
Smelly Dishwashers: Stop the Stink! I spent a lot of my youth washing dishes by hand, so I am a big fan of my dishwasher. But earlier this summer I had a major problem: it smelled like something was dead in there everytime I opened the door. Since I am a home inspector, my wife expected me to know what the problem was, fix it, and get the silly thing odor-free ASAP. Or else I'd be reliving my youth and washing everything by hand once again.
I tried all the usual tricks. First I checked to make sure there was … (2 comments)
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