Seattle Home Inspector's Blog

As I was leaving an inspection the other day I drove by the house pictured here.

I have seen many attempts at putting roofs on these houses designed to look like old English Thatch roofs.  While I can appreciate the desire to mimic the old look, I have to say that I have never seen one pull off the mimic with much degree of success.

What is it about human beings that we have to make new things look like old things?  There is no end to the number of faux materials out there.  We see it in non-wood flooring made to look like wood.  Non-wood siding made to look like wood.  Non-wood roofing made to look like wood.  Painted wood made to look like wood.

Notice a theme here?

We love wood.  Wood is life.  Most of civilization revolves around the use of wood.  Second only to wood is stone.  Think of all the products made to look like stone.  How about faux-stone siding?  Stone imprinted concrete flatwork. 

Both consciously and unconsciously, we know that we can breathe a certain amount of life into synthetic materials by making them look like natural materials.

In the case of the roof above the use of natural materials to mimic natural materials is likely not going to be successful in the long run and was likely VERY costly to do.  I have seen this same type of roof covered with asphalt composition shingles done more successfully than the wood shingles.

No matter what is done, the roof will never look even remotely like thatch. For that reason we might as well choose materials totally suited to curved installations---like metal---or even asphalt.  No matter how you look at it, this is an expensive roof to build, to cover, and to maintain, so choosing the appropriate approach should probably have started back on the drawing board.

When someone said, “I want a house that looks like an old English Thatch roof house,” the designer should have said, “That is not possible.”  They then could have shown some of these various attempts and likely (or perhaps obviously in this case) the buyer would have chosen one of those possibilities. They could have been informed of the heavy cost of these possibilities that were going to end up not looking like the real thing.  They could have been informed of the considerable maintenance involved in the various possible choices.

If you look close at the curved areas of the roof, one can see the extent of the face nailing that was necessary to force these wood shingles to conform to the roof. 

Every single one of those shiny spots is a nail head.

For wood shingles to perform properly there should be no face nailing like this.  Every nail represents a possible leak point.  Some of the risk of leaks can be mitigated by various types of roofing underlayment, but I still consider the risk a nightmare over time.

Sometimes getting what we want is difficult.

Sometimes we end up faced with wanting what we get.

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

Compact florescent bulbs have become quite popular.  With any new technology, even if it comes with instructions, there will be a learning curve for most users. 

A light bulb is a light bulb right? 

When the old fashioned incandescent bulb burns out, what could be simpler than to replace it with a CFL?  Just take it out of the package and screw it in.

Most of the time that is going to be OK, but if one reads the instructions, one would have read that the bulb is not dimmable.  Now dimmable ones are made, but they may require replacement of the switch as well.

There goes all that savings you were counting on.  

It is for this reason that if you have lights that need to be dimmed, it is best to buy the more expensive LED type bulbs in my opinion.  These LED bulbs last so long that it is likely that real estate agents are going to have to deal with whether the bulbs are going to convey with the property or not.  I can envision stories of where the house is purchased and at move-in time the new buyer finds all the expensive LED’s have been replaced with CFL’s or worse yet the stored incandescent bulbs---saved for just this day.

The following is a VERY short, 15 second video of what happens when you install regular CFL bulbs on a dimmer.

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

I don’t have a long winded blog post for you today.

I just have one simple question---followed by a bunch of pictures.  After you have looked at the pictures, I hope you will answer the question in the comment section below.

THE $64,000.00 QUESTION?    

At what point does one realize there is something not quite right?

Sometimes the worst things about questions---are the answers.

Sometimes the answers just create more questions.

Sometimes things are more than just poor "housekeeping."

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

One does not have to look very close to see that this wood support beam is very badly rotted.  We can also see where the bottom of the beam has been patched previously with a wood block the width of the support pier.

The beam is rotted through and through to be precise.  I honestly think the paint is the only thing of any structural significance remaining---that and "habit."

One traversing squirrel, or heavy wet snow, might alter the habits of this trellis however.

It is time to remove the trellis and avoid the potential fender bender.

This is the tenant's vehicle---I wonder who is going to be liable for repairs if the trellis falls?



Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspections

"Rules are made to be broken" they say and, given permission to stretch the rules, people will do what they want---because they can.

There are so many examples in real life of things that should not be done even if one can.

For example, take a house where the main drain for the house is either below the city sewer or the septic system leach field and the house has to rely on a sewage ejector pump to get the effluent from the house to the sewer or leach field.  On my planet this would not be considered a buildable site and would never get a permit to be built at that location.  For me, every home should have at least one toilet that drains by gravity to its appropriate location.  There are however, MANY sites that require these systems---especially around waterways.  Many of these sites fall under "grandfathering" clauses that allow for what might not be allowed for new construction---all kinds of "compromises" to avoid the devaluation of the property (Devaluation means less taxes for the jurisdiction---you knew money was going to be involved didn't you?).

Slowly we have regulated where we are allowed to build in order to protect the environment.  People that own properly next to waterways often try to manipulate the rules.  It is not hard to understand the forces behind this desire.  After all who wants to own a piece of property that one cannot build a house on----if one has the desire to build a house?  This is especially true if the property was owned prior to the passing of rules against building in such areas.

Sometimes people go to great extremes to "get around" the rules, as can be seen by this riverside residence.

It is hard for me to imagine how this has increased the property's value.  I am not sure where the house drain goes to on this one.  



Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector.

Without dirt, the biggest trees in the world would not amount to much.  Redwoods may not be the biggest trees in terms of volumn but they are the tallest trees on earth---reaching as high as 378 feet---that is longer than a football field including the end zones.  They grow in dirt and when they eventually die, as much as 2000 years later, they return a lot of dirt to the earth as well.  Even the great redwoods succumb to wood decay/rot and wood destroying insects.

It is very common to see support posts in crawl spaces that are impacted by dirt.

Just like it took dirt to grow the trees that these support posts are cut from, so too will the dirt return them to the earth.  This is all part of the natural cycle of life.  

In our homes our goal is to  this process down.

In crawl spaces where the support posts are vulnerable to damage from eroding soils, they must be adequately protected from the dirt.  When dirt covers the wood, the wood becomes susceptible to moisture and wood destroying insects.

In this first picture one can see the stain on the side of the post where it used to be buried in dirt.  Someone knew this was a problem and put a barrier of concrete blocks around it to protect it.  Unfortunately the blocks, and the black plastic that covered them (before I moved it out of the way), only help in trapping moisture in the bottom of the post.  While the decay is slowed it still will continue quicker than if proper clearances for air circulation had been created.

As we look down inside of the space next to one side of the post we can see that the dirt at the bottom is wet and the post is badly decayed.  Even though much of this decay occured before "repairs" were made, the repairs have been insufficient to stop the progress of the decay/rot.  This whole post will need to be replaced with ground-contact pressure treated wood or other suitable means of support.

Remember.

The dirt giveth and the dirt taketh away.

Even if you are a mighty Redwood.

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

This past vacation, down the Oregon coast, led to an interesting experience at a motel

Now I know what you are probably thinking, but this is not your typical racy story about fun activities in a "notell-motel," it is about how a home inspector never really leaves his work behind.

This motel was a very modern, new construction unit, built in 2007 (according to the water heater and refrigerator date codes----you know I had to look).  

There was a little kitchenette in our unit and the unit actually looked newer than 2007, it was so well cared for.

In the morning, my sweetie decided to try out the toaster and immediately proceeded to make charcoal.  To avoid setting off the smoke alarm, she turned on the kitchen range hood but nothing happened.  The smoke just sat there.

I decided to open the kitchen window to see if that would help.

As soon as I opened the window the kitchen range hood actually started to do its job and air poured into the room through the open window.

This was a great example of how all modern, tightly constructed homes function.  

When we turn on the exhaust fans in our homes, there has to be a way for the air that is being displaced by the fans to come into the home from somewhere else.  If it cannot, a negative pressure is created on the home and the fan will not function.  It will just sit there and whine.  The fan will spin and spin doing nothing but spin.  As soon as the window was opened the spinning fan could start to do some work and move the smoke from the room.  The fact that the fan was actually "working" could be detected in the sound difference as soon as the window was opened.  The fan got noticeably louder and the smoke started leaving the room.

The best thing of all---the smoke alarm never went off.  

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

Life is full of "plan ahead" moments.

When it comes to building things, if things aren't well thought out, all kinds of unintended consequences can occur.  The less experienced the "doer" is, the more likely someone is going to end up the "doee."  I realize "doee" is not a proper word but it ought to be.  

A doee is anyone that has to deal with the unintended consequences of a doer.

Now granted, not all unintended consequences can be foreseen, but when it comes to residential construction most things have been done over and over again so many times, that the only real excuse for things being done wrong are laziness, ignorance, arrogance, or fraud.  

Today we will pick on ignorance.

Take this driveway for example.

 

The settled areas are the result of the collapse of the ground under the asphalt.  Now there can be many causes of this settlement but all of them relate to improper preparation of the ground before the asphalt was laid down.  

Pulling out stumps and filling the holes with the surrounding dirt is a common cause of this type of settlement.  Another cause is where the stumps were simply cut off  and left to rot under the driveway.  This eventually results in settlement as the stumps disappear.  A properly prepared substrate for the driveway, including drainage gravel and proper removal of stumps and roots, can make for a very long lasting installation.

This is where the "experience" and "understanding" of the doer assists in having a happy outcome for the doee.

Another example of unintended consequences is where the original installation itself may have been well thought out, but some element was included that over time creates unintended consequences.

In the following pictures one can clearly see that the doer had no idea that trees grow.  

What likely started out as a nice little tree at the center of this nice patio, has---over time---has completely destroyed the patio---unless the original intention was to create an "evolving skate board park."

The thing is---that in both these instances---there is no new information involved.  

Trees have always grown---and stumps always rot

You know those staged kitchens with the tall glass jars full of noodles?  

Are those "real" noodles?

As a Seattle Home Inspector I see my fair share of down-draft vented ranges.  For these vents to function properly they have to move a lot of air because the natural flow of hot air is upward.  To counter this fact, the blowers on these things are considerably more powerful than an exhaust fan in a typical hood above the range.

I am not much of a fan of these vents, but if you have an island installation and don't want the look of a hood above the range, I guess they are OK.  They are more problematic with gas ranges than electric ranges.  The ones on gas ranges can really make the flame dance.

At a recent vacant home, that had been completely repainted and cleaned before it was put on the market, it seemed a little incongruous that the grease screen and components of the range exhaust had not been cleaned as well.  The "inside" of the oven had been fairly well cleaned, but this opening for the down-draft vent had been overlooked.  Perhaps it was deemed too disgusting to clean?

My buyer was not impressed---and neither was I---but at least it did show that the noodles were indeed included.  Right in plain view above the noodles one can see the instructions about keeping the screen clean.

When I checked the connection of the vent under the unit it did not surprise me to find that the vent pipe was disconnected.  This lack of connection would result in most of the exhausted air staying in the kitchen---and in particular, staying inside the cabinet under the range.

Of course the grease screen in this unit was so packed with grease it likely was not venting out of the kitchen anyway.

Range exhaust vents should always be smooth wall metal pipe, and should be routinely professionally cleaned.  When was the last time you cleaned the grease screens in your vent hood or down-draft vent?

Depending on one's cooking habits, lots of grease laden air gets pushed through these vent pipes and the grease can solidify on the inside of the pipes.  This is also why the vent pipe should be insulated to reduce the risk of condensation inside the duct.  Of course at the exterior, it goes without saying, there should be a cap with a back-draft damper and there should be no small mesh screens installed in the cap.  If there is a small mesh screen, eventually, it will look just like the grease screen at the entrance to the exhaust unit.

Noodles anyone? 

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

No this is not the Twilight Zone.

No I didn't write this before I had my morning coffee.

And while "eventually" the correct wording of "what goes up must come down" will no doubt come into play, for the immediate future I have the wording correct.

The original saying of "what goes up must come down" of course only applies to gravity scenarios and I suspect that we have shot a few things out of  Earth's gravitational pull that will likely never come down---at least not back to Earth.  Eventually they may succumb to some other gravitational field.

But back to today's story.

In the following picture I think you can see that due to settlement of the ground outside of the foundation, the drain pipe on the inside of the foundation is being lifted up.  Can you see the slack in the hanger strap?  The red line below the pipe is where the bottom of the pipe should be.

The pipe had lifted high enough that the pipe was full of water to the right of the picture.  This is a less than ideal situation for optimal drainage and over time the drain could clog.

What is more problematic with this particular installation is that the drain goes to a large sewage ejector pump buried outside the foundation.  Settlement of the drain outside the foundation all by itself can be problematic in promoting good drainage.  In this case, where a sewage ejector pump is involved, we have to think about the drain connections in and out of the sump tank, the vent pipe connection to the tank, and the electrical connections run to the sump as well.

It is not uncommon to see the drain lifted up on the inside, and sometimes the fix is as simple as breaking the pipe at the foundation and installing a flexible coupling---or two.  With this one the entire ejector pump set up at the exterior will need to be evaluated for any problems associated with the settlement.

See, I told you, what goes down must go up!


Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector