Let’s play a game. The home pictured below is a fairly common and normal looking ranch style home in the Seattle area. However, something is not quite right with it. While there are other things that one could point out in the picture, there is one thing in particular that is quite unusual. Regardless what the picture would have you believe, the home is level. So study the picture---and give it your best shot. What is not quite right?
Andrea! Look at the windows to the left of the door and then the window to the right of the door. What do you see? That's Jim's hint - the answer is "clear." My hint was to turn your head sideways... at least that is what I was suggesting.
And, you should know, Mosby is my personal ghost. If you haven't seen any Mosby posts, let me know and I will send you a couple.
Well, here they are anyway:
http://www.jaymarinspect.com/thermal-infrared-image-paint-porch-ceilings-blue.html
http://www.jaymarinspect.com/mosby-and-his-host-thermal-imaging.html
See! Ghosts!
Oh, and I'm not "there," I'm in Virginia. We don't put oil tank delivery pipes on the roof. They kind of LOOK like those pipes, but I'm certain they aren't... I was making a yohk.
Holly, that is a decorative rock---those papers in the window are forclosure information notices
Andrea, the chimney is OK---and the ghosts left by the time I got inside :)
Leigh Ann, the back of the fireplace is exposed in the entryway but the fireplace is on the other side--toward the windows
Kristine, the right side of the house is OK :)
Don, the stone facing was OK---and no settlement issues on this side of the house
Shannon, how come everyone wants to see ghosts? :)
Brian, great catch on the missing shingles and the poor flashings due to multiple roof coverings. A barrier at the top of the retaining wall is also a great idea. But---still not what I am looking for.
Jim---this is going to hurt when I finally give the answer :)
Andrea, what are you putting in your coffee?
Robert, I am not sure what you are trying to say but I don't think it is it :)
Mr, Anonymous---now who are you? I can't possibly give an anonymous comment the prize can I?
Leigh Ann, dang---perhaps Mr. Anonymous was right after all!
Nancy---I think you are going to be looking for a while
Jay, of course Jim is correct :) Regarding the rock---we don't "center" anything in the NW. No comment on Mosby. Regarding the oil tank---that would be a most unusual location for an oil tank fill. There is the electrical service mast with an abandoned pipe right next to it.
Andrea, don't hold your breath waiting for Nutsy to call :) And nothing to do with the oil tank idea
Robert, Mr anonymous is on the mark I am afraid
Frank and Karen, the chimney is fine.
Nutsy, nope
Jay, you are correct
Andrea, so I hope you have seen the issue by now---now that I am finally back.
To all: The issue is that the right window is really a single hung window that is installed on its side as a slider. What gives it away from a distance is two-fold. First of all the decorative dividers are missing on the left side of the right window (could be explained by the glass being replaced and the dividers left out:) and secondly, the left widows each upper pane has "two" vertical members in the divider, while the window on the right only has one vertical member. If that window was rotated counter-clockwise 90 degrees there would be two vertical members. This was done to all three bedroom windows and none of them---obviously--- slid very well. There was even a wood spacer installed in the track to keep the window from tilting out of the frame on the top---otherwise the sash would fall on the floor. While the window was the correct size for the opening the windows delivered were single hung instead of sliders.
Here is my earlier comment with the blanks filled in:
The chimney is out of alignment with the roof or isn't made of masonry. The dent on the right corner suggests its made of metal.
Now I know this is not the case because you've told us all about the location of the interior fire place.
I have encountered fake finishes surrounding a naked (uninsulated) metal flue and the outside is formed and painted to look like brick masonry. From the ground most people think it is masonry.
On this roof it appears the shingle tab lines are not parallel with the sides of the chimney, so something is 'off' there. What I thought might be a dent, has to be damaged masonry, (right lower corner).
One commenter mentioned the quality of the photo. Actually a better photo, like a good multiple choice question, might make it harder to spot.
I have a question for everybody:
How does someone post a comment as Mr Anonymous ? Did you notice there is no back link on the name. How does anyone do that? Is it an AR staffer? Is it someone outside AR? Was it yourself Charles?
I'm genuinely curious about that detail.
Robert, if a person who is a member makes a comment without being logged in they can sign any name they want---I think :) Also lining the shingles up is an East Coast thing---they are installed so that the tabs line up at an angle on this side of the country. Coming from the East Coast it was a hard thing to get used to at first.
Andrea - your Wallenda fund made me laugh out loud! I thought I would wake everyone in the house up!
As to the rock, Charlie, I don't center them either. Random is a bit more zen. But Mr. Jefferson, of Virginia fame, would be totally unimpressed with the lack of symmetry or center. Once when he got home from France
as ambassador, he looked at the large brick facade (the round room you and I see on the nickel), hooked up a wagon and chain, and pulled it down! He cleaned up the bricks he could and built the thing again! It wasn't centered properly! (The portico wasn't built yet, so it was an entire wall.)
The windows you see on the outside of the west face are long like that only for symmetry. From inside they look really out of place. For instance, the also symmetrical staircases inside go right up through the center of the windows (!) - imagine what the code would say today. And you notice the small windows under the two beside the stoop. Those are so a proper amount of light gets to the down staircases!
See the utter symmety of this view - of everything? Including the trees? Just as he had them.
When you come one day I will take you there. It is a fantastic experience. He was sooo ahead of his time. The house isn't as large as you think.
And how cool would it be that the oil tank fill pipes would really be on the roof! I was kidding Andrea of course, but imagine the oil company's surprise...
I remember that west coast roof detail when I visited last year. For sure it's not done that way here on the East side. You have bi-coastal experience :)
Of course not Andrea, in many ways. But it has AC! They put in the system with high-volume air flow passed through small ducts and openings in the ceiling that are only 2" in diameter! It's very neat. Mount Vernon has not gone so modern! It's really, really hot there in the summer! (Another very great house to visit, by the way...)
oh, so now we know why we hire professional inspectors, many of us agents only look for Ghosts!
Thanks! Love the game!
Jay, the older I get the less I am impressed with "symetry":)
Jim, being bi-coastal has taught me quite a few things :)
Shannon, well whether you are an inspector or an agent it is good to know what is "lurking" in the house
Mr Charles,
I had suspected for some time that you were bi-coastal so I am pleased to know that you have confirmed that detail. On another note, I would be happy to administer the Wallenda Fund with Ms Andrea as the Treasurer.
Nutsy
Nutsy you and the Ford Edsel have something in common---you are both lemons.
Well I would not have gotten it. I was looking at the slope to the front landscaping, but I don't think that would be an issue.
Mr Charles,
Despite the fact that you are hurling insults at alls of us, I am pretty sure I have it figured out. Is this it?
First of all the decorative dividers are missing on the left side of the right window (could be explained by the glass being replaced and the dividers left out:) and secondly, the left widows each upper pane has "two" vertical members in the divider, while the window on the right only has one vertical member. If that window was rotated counter-clockwise 90 degrees there would be two vertical members. This was done to all three bedroom windows and none of them---obviously--- slid very well. There was even a wood spacer installed in the track to keep the window from tilting out of the frame on the top---otherwise the sash would fall on the floor. While the window was the correct size for the opening the windows delivered were single hung instead of sliders.
Nutsy
Good one. I spent a while looking at that photo and couldn't figure it out. I showed it to my wife and it literally took her three seconds to say "Oh, they turned the window sideways!"
You should see what happens when I move something on her desk.
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