pleasant hill: The Dark Side of Ivy
- 03/07/12 11:28 AM
Ivy can look beautiful on house walls and brick chimneys, if maintained. The thick, green texture gives your home a woodsy feel. It can provide a canopy over a trellis or pergola.There is a dark side to ivy, though. As the ivy tendrils (a slender, whiplike or threadlike plant strand specialized to anchor and support vines) dig deep into brick; it can actually grow through the brick and mortar, damaging your home and chimney.Ivy had fully engulfed this chimney. From the roof, the home inspector could barely make out the spark arrestor/raincap assembly on top; and could not see the … (6 comments)
pleasant hill: Telltale Signs
- 02/17/12 12:29 PM
A good property inspector is always on the lookout for telltale signs. A door that rubs its frame… Exposed electrical wires… Loose handrails… Missing smoke detectors, etc. High water marks under a house; usually gets people’s attention. In the photo, the bottom of a heating/cooling duct in the crawlspace is rusted in a straight line… A telltale sign that the duct sat in water approximately 6-8” deep. This isn’t good. Who knows what grows inside a duct when water intrudes. Can’t be healthy. High water marks or silt marks can occur when:-There are no installed roof gutters-Downspouts discharge water next to … (4 comments)
pleasant hill: Red Flag at the Air Gap
- 12/17/11 03:41 PM
You’ve seen them… those small chrome cylinders with open slots attached to your kitchen sink deck or counter top. Have you ever wondered what that silver thingy is? It’s called an air-gap device that’s installed between the dishwasher drain line and the garbage disposer. The purpose is to prevent contaminated water (water from the dishwasher contains food particles that'll host bacteria in the hose) from siphoning back into the dishwasher, if there’s blockage at the disposer. It’s a one-way path for water flow and a health safety device. Your dishes come out squeaky clean from the dishwasher, but some of … (7 comments)
pleasant hill: Don’t Miss A Step
- 11/10/11 03:40 PM
Home inspectors see cracks in concrete surfaces at nearly every home inspection. This backyard concrete patio developed a large crack within a few years of installation. What happened? Cracks of this size are typically caused by a combination of things: - expansive soil - poor drainage - no reinforcing steel - poor installation Expansive soils contain a lot of adobe/clay and swell when wet… Not good for a concrete patio poured directly on the ground…. A bed of gravel or sand helps ‘float’ the concrete above the expansive soil. If there’s expansive soil and the gutter downspout discharges … (1 comments)
pleasant hill: A Sign
- 10/17/11 04:07 PM
Merriam-Webster: Definition of SIGN: 6b - something indicating the presence or existence of something else <signs of moisture> Every so often, home inspectors encounter mushrooms in damp crawlspaces. When water seeps into a crawl space for many reasons, it creates the perfect environment for mushroom spores to begin growing, if present. For the inspectors at Pacific Coast Inspections… it’s not uncommon to identify several other property conditions (signs) associated with mushroom growth: No gutters… Partial gutters… Clogged downspouts… Downspouts terminate next to building… Negative grading… Walkways slope to foundation… Poor yard drainage... Crawlspace ventilation… Bio-growth under house… Sprinklers… Hillside… … (1 comments)
pleasant hill: Glass in the House
- 10/06/11 12:15 PM
When ordinary window plate glass is broken, it breaks into angular shards which are very sharp, and can seriously injury someone… not so good.
One of the major disadvantages of plate glass is that it can be very brittle. For this reason, safety glass is used in situations where glass might be broken.
When safety window glass is struck, it breaks into small pebble-like pieces, without sharp edges as shown in the photo… a good thing.
Tempered (safety) glass is now required in specified locations including all door glass, most large windows which have their bottom edge … (1 comments)
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