birch bay inspection: Bellingham Home Inspection (King of the House): 240 Volt Circuits
- 12/02/07 11:27 AM
I have been looking at some of my "bozo" electrical photos today -- compilations from a number of my inspections. This is not an uncommon scenario. In this case, someone removed the 240 volt circuit from the water heater and just left the energized wires hanging there with a couple wire nuts on them. An inquisitive kid could be killed here as each wire, referenced to ground, which the tank was at by being hooked into the metal water pipes, would deliver 120 volts. If both nuts were off, the two hot wires would deliver the full 240 volts. While this situation … (5 comments)
birch bay inspection: Insufficient Heat In The Home
- 11/24/07 02:44 PM
One thing you cannot take for granted in a home is that it will have sufficient heat sources. In older houses the situation could be as basic as a space heater that is being used to heat too many rooms. I have inspected newer houses where, for one reason or another, one room had no heat duct. And with brand new homes, at least 30% of the time, I find heat ducts that DO NOT WORK. You might ask why. Well, almost always, the flex heat duct is not connected into the system or it has come loose or someone has … (6 comments)
birch bay inspection: Lynden Home Inspector (King of the House): Unsafe Wiring
- 11/18/07 11:50 AM
In the blog just before this one, I wrote about why re-inspecting a home to make sure all repairs were done by qualified parties, in a workmanlike manner, can be high in liability. I was browsing some photos and thought this would be a good example. These were live 120V wires in a crawl space. They were cobbled together. Obvious problems, no junction box, but clearly a sloppy job especially when down in the crawl space where it is wet and you really do not want to make contact with any bare live wires. Now, if an electrician comes in he is going … (6 comments)
birch bay inspection: Guess Who Is Coming For The Home Inspection?
- 11/11/07 01:30 PM
I was doing a home inspection on Thursday. It was in a wooded area. Now, at home inspections it is common to run into the buyer, the seller, realtors involved or maybe a builder or even a worker who is going to do repairs on the home. In this case, I heard a noise and peaked around a bush to see who and what was visiting. The photos below will give you an idea of who was visiting. They hung around for hours, I have a hunch that, in that neighborhood, they are real mooches.
Thanks for dropping … (5 comments)
birch bay inspection: Mount Baker Home Inspection (King of the House): Crawl Space Posts
- 10/24/07 07:29 AM
Imagine the surprise my client would have had, at some point down the road, had he not had an inspection. The example here is not one single, solitary isolated incident of a builder who was in a rush. There were about thirty posts under the house and all of them were like this. Longterm stability was not running in their favor. For one thing, there were no proper concrete piers. They were all resting on pieces of wood, some of which were round halves of firewood. They had no positive connections at the top and this one was much like the … (12 comments)
birch bay inspection: Whatcom and Skagit County Home Inspections (King of the House): Building In Your Wood Destroying Organisms
- 10/16/07 09:25 AM
I saw this deck over the weekend. I have seen this design element before, but not in a long time. The deck is non pressure treated lumber and this stump had either had the deck built around it or it is conceivable that, originally, the stump was really a tree and protruded up from the deck. It might have rotted so they cut it off. Either way, a stump that is decomposing is not what you want sticking out of your deck, or next to the house. Such a stump, especially in the damp climate in the Pacific Northwest, will … (2 comments)
birch bay inspection: Point Roberts/Birch Bay Home Inspections (King of the House): Failed Thermal Seals
- 10/12/07 05:03 PM
One thing an inspector should look for is failed thermal-seal windows. Sometimes they can be hard to spot, depending on how cloudy they have become. Another factor that can make it hard to identify them is the general cleanliness of the windows. More than once, I have found myself trying to wipe a window, both sides, just to see if it cleaned up. When looking for failed windows, hard to see locations can include skylights and windows that are high off the floor. One essential place to look, because it can be more costly to replace them, is at sliding … (0 comments)
birch bay inspection: Skagit County Home Inspection (King of the House):Can you identify this photo?
- 05/12/07 03:40 AM
Realtors often have a suspicion that there is something fishy with the siding. But they sometimes do not know how to tell if it is LP siding. The photo below is what they should be looking for, if they suspect LP inner seal siding. That was the oriented strand board that was touted as a wonder product in the mid 1980's through the 1990's, but it often turned to egg cartons when exposed to moisture. The signature knot is obvious, when you see it. Note the L and the P. The problem is, due to the way the siding is cut, … (4 comments)
Steven L. Smith, King of the House Home Inspection, provides information for real estate buyers, sellers and real estate industry professionals.
Blog posts emphasize issues commonly found in Bellingham, WA and Whatcom County. Smith is Washington State Licensed Home Inspector #207, a state licensed structural pest inspector, ASHI certified inspector #252760 and one of the most experienced inspectors in the northwest corner of the Pacific Northwest.
Steven L. Smith is lead instructor of home inspection at Bellingham Technical College and teaches classes for Washington State University and the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Steve was a two-term member of the state licensing board.
I have been looking at some of my "bozo" electrical photos today -- compilations from a number of my inspections. This is not an uncommon scenario. In this case, someone removed the 240 volt circuit from the water heater and just left the energized wires hanging there with a couple wire nuts on them. An inquisitive kid could be killed here as each wire, referenced to ground, which the tank was at by being hooked into the metal water pipes, would deliver 120 volts. If both nuts were off, the two hot wires would deliver the full 240 volts. While this situation … (5 comments)
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