Seattle Home Inspector's Blog

     Everyone can relate to how “inhospitable” crawl spaces can be, and I am not going to delight you with more horror stories typical of those places.

     This is more about what contortions your inspector will endure to get him or her self into these spaces; and what limitations are logical and necessary to keep them out of the “hospital.”  Obviously, the fire department cutting through the living room floor to retrieve a stuck home inspector would be very embarrassing no matter what the inspector found-----it would be good blog fodder though.

     For me it is my head and shoulders----an opening of 8” by 14-1/2” will do.  If I can get my head and shoulders through the opening----I am in there.

     So what about heating/cooling ductwork in crawl spaces?  Most inspectors are usually dealing with how to get around, over or under these installations----without doing more damage to them than the last wanker did.

     But what about the INSIDE of the ductwork----does your inspector go INSIDE the ductwork if he can fit?

     Well of course I am kidding----sort of.

     In a recent inspection of a houseboat of all places, I had to inspect a crawl space that was the heating system plenum----the cold air return to the furnace.  This was not the first houseboat that I had inspected but it was the first that had a crawl space (it was also not the first heated plenum I have inspected).  It is kind of weird to be in a crawl space that you know has water slapping against the foundation all around you.  The floor of the crawl space was at water level or a little below.

     One might think that this crawl space would be a water nightmare, but in reality it was one of the driest crawl spaces I have been in for quite a while----and no vents either----a great example of why venting of crawl spaces is unnecessary and should not be allowed.  By making this space what we called “conditioned” space it ultimately has no higher moisture levels than anywhere else in the house----assuming there are no plumbing leaks to fill it up.  This space has performed as designed for 26 years.

     The problem with the installation is that clearances throughout the space (1000 sq ft) were a little less than desirable----with less than 14 inches from the floor to the joists above.  When there is this little room, I am more than likely accurate in assuming that no other inspector has considered the space “accessible” since it was built 26 years ago.  This just reinforces even more the importance of me being the one that gets to do it.  It did make me wish I had a little rodent home inspection assistant like my buddy Steve.

     But no-----I get to be the rodent.

Welcome to the, “Twilight Zone”……..

     It is a great feeling when we as home inspectors call for repairs by qualified repair persons, that we can go to sleep that night after we send out the report, knowing that the repairs will be in good hands----to sleep well knowing that our buyers will continue to be as well taken care of by the repair person as they have been by their agent and their inspector. 

     It is great to know that when we are called back for the re-inspection of the repaired items, that the best part will be sharing a cup of coffee with the agent and the buyer and being able to sign off on what was done.

Welcome to the real world……..

     A world where all too often repairs are done like the one in the picture to the left.

     Spray foam insulation is a poor patching and exterior wall covering material for these damaged concrete blocks around the overhead door.  And while it may keep out drafts and vermin (temporarily) it is no substitute for epoxy and concrete----as would be called for in this repair.

     One could argue that this "repair" was worse than doing nothing at all since all that spray foam will all have to be removed in order to make "proper" repairs.

     I have a hard time understanding what the person making repairs like this can possibly be thinking when they read the report and it calls for, “professional repairs by a qualified repair person.”  These repairs are not “professional” and the person doing them was clearly “not qualified.”

     Why would anyone conclude that a knowledgeable buyer, being advised by someone committed to taking care of them, would think that this kind of repair would fly?  Add to this that someone is going to have to pay for another re-inspection fee.  Wouldn’t it have just been cheaper to have done it right in the first place?  It is not a pleasant sight to see me foaming at the mouth.

     I wish I lived in the Twilight Zone.

Dear Diary,

     Passion is a fickle task master. 

     It seems that as we master one thing in our lives it transforms itself into something else that is equally worth giving up everything else for.  It seems that the only thing about passion that endures is Passion itself----as we perpetually re-invent ourselves.

     So, while there is no one thing that I would choose to say that I am passionate about (and there are many), it is only because I would like the freedom to be passionate about whatever I want to be passionate about.  I would say that I am “serially-passionate”----“seriously-passionate”----“surreally-passionate.”

     A “Renaissance” approach to passion can sustain a life---it is contagious, and has the power to infect those around us with passions of their own.  We actually transform those around us by merely transforming ourselves.

     Some passions even overlap----or at least are not mutually exclusive.  For example we can be very passionate about our families and our work in the same time frame.  I would not call this “multi-tasking-passion”----but more that both require each other so much that they allow co-existence.  There are those who would say that one of the two will always suffer, but I think they can also feed each other---nurture each other if one is vigilant and honest.  While passions often are all consuming, sooner or later we must come up for air and perhaps focus on other passions in order to bring new energy to that other passion after a break.  There is Yin & Yang in all things and no one can stay on the Honeymoon for ever----it can actually get even better.

     In this sense passion is life.  We must find what we are passionate about and experience “Passion-Gone-Wild.”

     Passion has a dark side as well---while it sustains us and gives our lives meaning---it also eventually kills us.  That said, a life lived without passion, is a life not lived at all.  It really doesn’t matter whether our passion is removing a tumor from a child’s brain or painting sunsets----be passionate in all that you do----or don’t do it at all.  I am so grateful that we are all so different and have so many different interests so that there will always be someone that will be passionate about all the things that I have no interest in being passionate about.

     Passion is a choice.

    It is a gift we can give ourselves to make us feel more alive---to live our lives more fully.  We all know people hanging on by a thread, that for one reason or another put many stone walls and moats in the way of finding the passion in their lives.  Living there lives as if they don’t choose----blaming others for their lack of passion---for their lack of joy and aliveness.  So you see, being without passion, also kills----most likely even quicker.  Sometimes there are things worse than death.  There IS no getting out of here alive.

     Neil Young asked in one of his more recent albums, “Are You Passionate?”

     He also said, “It is better to burn out than to fade away.”

Charles Buell

     THAT hurts my brain to read----it most likely hurts yours too----though that is not really my intention.

     Do you ever think about the difference between “need” and “want?”  Most people throw them both around interchangeably----but they are actually very different.

     Is it ever appropriate to say I NEED a new car, or I NEED a bigger house, or I NEED bigger or smaller breasts etc?  Basic or primary needs cover territory like oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant body temperature.  Without these basic needs being met, life is simply not going to be possible for very long.

     After these basic needs are met we get into the more human needs associated with security, and love. 

     When these areas of need are met we then can develop self esteem and are free to pursue our dreams in life.  If one looks at these needs in the form of a pyramid with the smallest point at the top being self esteem and the pursuit of ones dreams, we can see how society can easily keep us trapped in the bigger base of the pyramid as we struggle to have our most basic needs met.  We can actually set up whole paradigms of madness to keep us from meeting our basic needs----resulting in whole generations of individuals (even whole cultures) that never get to pursue their dreams with self esteem.

     We can think of this in terms of the long list of things we call needs that are not really needs at all but are really just things we want.  What effect does it have on our brain at a chemical or electrical level when we tell it we “need” something that we actually only “want?”  The same things that are activated when we are deprived of food, air, and water are activated to some degree.  We become desperate, willing to fight, even kill to have those presumptuous “needs” met.

     In a very real sense, as Erich Fromm said, we have become an, “insane society.”  An irrational state of mind where as a society we are co-conspirators with all those around us to have our “wants” treated as “needs.”

     I think it might be a good idea to keep this in mind the next time we say things like we need more oil, we need more money, we need more guns, we need more government, we need less government or we need a faster car.

     Some of the things we want seem so entangled in what it takes to satisfy our basic needs, it is easy to understand how they might be confused for each other; but, we should not let that confusion interfere with making the correct choices necessary to maintain a difference----to avoid arriving at a place where we actually think that getting what we want is the pursuit of our dream.

     The old saying, “If you are not careful you get what you want,” is very true.

     I have done posts to my blog in the past about the stairs, and how as a component in the home, they are perhaps one of the most difficult things to get right.

     There is tread width, riser height, riser/tread ratios, consistency of riser height, nosings,  stair width, slope of treads and many other factors.

     Side barriers and hand railings are more things to take into account.

     On a recent new townhouse I found a hand rail that was not parallel to the run of stairs.  As in this next picture “A” and “B” should be equal. 

     In this case the railing at the top of the stairs, from a point at the stair nosing vertical to the handrail, measured over 41.” 

    At the bottom the height was 37.” 

     This meant that “A” and “B” could not be equal.

Current regulations require the hand rail to be between 34” and 38” from the nosing vertical to the handrail.

     While this might not be considered a “major” safety issue----it is new construction----and thus should meet the requirements at the time of construction.