Seattle Home Inspector's Blog

     Whether you find yourself crawling across a desert or across a garage floor there is little to support the notion that one can ever truly know where one is going.  The journey almost always involves foresight, planning, and balls.  In my experience, in spite of our planning, dreams and goals, we had better be prepared to have considerable “trust” in our journey----and a willingness to change course when necessary.

     When we start out on our journey, we are rarely aware of how few guarantees there are that we will ever get to where we are going, but we can find great comfort in knowing that we are always were we are.

     What if we don’t find any water in the desert, or a big car pulls into the garage while we are crossing?   Whether we are concerned with getting water into us or are worried about getting the piss squished out of us, it is guaranteed that there will be some sort of struggle in whichever path we take

     Knowing when to change course is very important.

     Knowing when we have come to a dead end is important too----and not being afraid to turn around.

     More important than knowing that you chose the wrong path, is knowing that it was you that chose it.

     So as you head out across your own personal “garage floor of life”-----s t r e t c h yourself----give it all you’ve got.  If you can get your head in the right place----your ass will follow.

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

      Raincamp in Bellingham yesterday was a hoot. 

     As always there was too much information to absorb and hopefully some of the stuff thrown at us will stick in some fashion. 

     One of the statistics that was interesting was that 10%-12% of people under the age of 25 say it is OK to send text messages while having sex.  I am all for social networking and think that it is important in both business and our personal lives.  I can’t remember whether the slide said 10% or 12%, and I guess it really doesn’t matter in relation to the point I am making.  It seems to me that ANY percentage above 1%, if not just plain wrong, or is at least a little kinky----and perhaps is an indication of one or both parties not being truly “present” to what is going on.

     I guess I fall in the “old fart” category for drawing the line at texting and social “intercourse.”

     I think for me the highlight of the day came at the end of the day when we got to hear Barry Long’s story of becoming disabled and how we are all disabled in a way----having our own particular wheel chairs to ride over the obstacles we encounter.  His advice?  Do whatever you do with a smile-----I could not agree more.

     The room was packed-----there was literally NO room between chairs for the over 350 participants.  On the way to Raincamp it was easy to find the room----you merely had to follow the crowd.  On the way there I passed by one participant that I am sure never got there.  It is important that when you plan to do something that you set realistic goals with realistic time frames-----all of which takes practice, patience and most of all willingness.

     Then again perhaps the snail is merely on his way to the next Raincamp.

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

     Far across the road……..

 …….over the stone wall and under the Rose Bush, there lives a group of beings with powers equaled only by humans.  One could argue that both they and humans are competing for the low rung on the ladder, as far as mammals go, but I will leave that for you to decide.  There is plenty of hard evidence to support both positions----and I have not yet made up my own mind.  I am leaning toward the Rose Bush however. 

     While we may have never been promised a rose garden-----wouldn’t it be nice to at least “smell” a rose now and then?

     The following conversation occurred between Nicodemus and Mrs. Brisby beneath the Rose Bush one romantic night----under a bright, full, Harvest Moon. 

     Once in a “Blue Moon” so to speak.

“Where have you been Nicodemus,” asked Mrs. Brisby, “I haven’t seen you under the old Rose Bush recently?”

“I have got the COOLEST new digs,” said Nicodemus, “Or perhaps I should say the ‘WARMEST’ new digs,” he added.

“Where is it,” asked Mrs. Brisby curiously.

“Well, do you know that underground tunnel, over by the ramp that floods with water whenever it rains----you know----from the pipe that comes out of the sky,” asked Nicodemus?

“Sure----I've run by it lots of times----but it never occurred to me to go in it-----one could drown,” said Mrs. Brisby with a worried look in her beady little eyes.

“If you follow the tunnel to where it bends to the North----bends again to the East----then bends back to the North; and then----if you go upwards at the first ‘T’ intersection, you enter a marvelous place never frequented by humans,” said Nicodemus.

“You can’t be serious----never,” questioned Mrs. Brisby doubtfully?

“Well, certainly VERY seldom----I have never seen any in over a year,” said Nicodemus, “Come on----I’ll show you.”

“ONLY if you have sunflower seeds,” Mrs. Brisby teased him.

“You know I do,” said Nicodemus.

     So, off the two went down the downspout drain, around the first bend in the footing drain, around two more bends, and then past the wooden stick and up into the crawl space at the unused downspout location.

“WOW!!! This is so cool,” exclaimed Mrs. Brisby, as she hopped off the pipe and into the cavernous space.  An ocean of black slippery plastic spread out before her like an ocean of black slippery plastic.

“Come on-----I’ll show you my pad----and my heated bed,” winked Nicodemus. 

     As the two scampered across the plastic, their claws made little scratching sounds like rice being walked on at a wedding.

     Mrs. Brisby was thinking to herself that for-sure Nicodemus must be “nibbling BAD cheese”----who ever heard of a “heated bed?”  But, sure enough, there it was----Nicodemus’s heated bed----complete with nice white sheets----covering that gritty nasty yellow stuff that takes days to lick out of one’s fur----way nastier than sex in the sandbox or at the beach.

“Want to spend the night,” asked Nicodemus----his whiskers twitching seductively?

     He didn’t have to ask Mrs. Brisby twice-----after all----it had been a long time since the last Blue Moon.

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

     I can imagine that whoever had to move all this insulation wished they were Moses, and that they could have parted that Yellow Sea of Insulation as easily as Moses parted the Red Sea. 

     Moving all that old dusty insulation---especially the underlying layer of rockwool insulation----by simply raising their hand in the direction of the insulation, would have made their day.  Personally I would take the pursuing Pharaoh and his chariots any day----over touching rockwool insulation (metaphorically of course----I am not too big on arrows and stampeding horses either).

     Looks like someone forgot to raise their magic wand and return all the insulation back to where it belonged----covering the beam that was installed while the waters were parted.

Charles Buell

     When we were born we were pure experiencing machines. 

     We grew and learned every day----literal sponges of the environments we grew up in.  Sometimes we soaked up good information and sometimes we soaked up misinformation and even disinformation.  Of course there were lots of soaked diapers along the way.  We became brainwashed, religious fanatics, rocket scientists----even real estate agents and home inspectors.  We learned from our parents, our siblings, and our teachers.  We graduated from college and had jobs, careers and many other life experiences that added to our wealth of knowledge.

     At some point we realized that some of this accumulated knowledge might be useful to others.  I think this is why I like teaching so much-----and why I like blogging so much.

     The older I get, the more I realize how little time there is to give away everything I’ve learned.

     Money and personal possessions are not the only things that we cannot take with us when we go. 

     An odd side effect of giving away what we have learned is the contradictory effect of creating room for learning something new-----and we get to be child-like again.  Giving ourselves away also uncovers layers of stuff we have forgotten and we get to re-experience hidden parts of ourselves----before we give that away as well.

     The notion that we “lose” something when we give it away is nothing more than an illusion.

Charles Buell

     This porch roof slopes badly.  While the picture doesn’t really do justice as to how much it slopes, I think you will still be able to understand my point.  Look at the gutter.  Can you see how the gutter has been installed to compensate for the slope of the porch----as indicated by being able to see more of the end of the left rafter than can be seen on the right one?  While in the picture it appears that the gutter slopes slightly to the right, where it would drain around the corner to the downspout, it in fact drains to the left----where it overflows onto the steps below. 

     In the NW, this is a problem year-round because if the overflowing gutter doesn’t result in icing conditions it results in moss growth----either way it leads to very slippery conditions.

     The next time it is raining hard, put on your rain coat and take a hike around the house and make sure your gutters are not overflowing anywhere. 

     This can be a really fun thing to do in the middle of the night with a strong flashlight and you might even get the whole neighborhood wondering what the heck you are up to.

Charles Buell

     There are a couple of obvious things about concrete.

     It is heavy and it cracks.

     Once the material is laid down, unless you do what is necessary to stop it, it will continue to go down.  Like I said---it is heavy.

     It is very common, when building houses, to fill around the foundation with materials that are either not easily compacted or can’t be compacted at all----except over many, many years.  Architectural drawings in the past---back when blueprints were actually blue----use to call out for all fill to be “puddled.”  Most builders today probably don’t even know what that means.  What it means is that the filled areas were to be flooded with water until there was sufficient puddling on the surface.  After all the water disappeared the process was repeated.  This was actually a pretty effective way to make sure the ground was compacted enough prior to installation of the “heavy stuff.”  Today we would use vibration machines to compact the fill and hopefully use fill that was compactable----usually not what is found on site.

     The other day I inspected a house with a great example of what happens when the ground around the foundation is not compacted enough. 

     This installation was lucky----at least the settlement was fairly uniform----2 to 3 inches.  When settlement only occurs right next to the foundation the slab sometimes then drains toward the home----creating water issues inside the basement or the crawl space.

     After 40 years, nature has likely done what man should have done during construction in terms of settlement of the earth around the foundation.  This concrete patio is now a good candidate for slab-jacking.

Charles Buell

     Leaking at the corners of gutters is very common.  Sooner or later the seals at these corners break down and need to be re-sealed.  Leaking at these locations can cause damage to the fascia behind the gutters and hidden decay/rot is common and even affects the ends of the rafters that the fascia attaches to.

     Damage from leaks at these corners typically looks like the picture below.

     In this case calling for proper repairs to the gutter connections by a qualified gutter installation company might have been the wrong recommendation.

     From the roof it is clear that it is not the gutter connection that is leaking but that water is running behind the gutter because of insufficient overhang of the roofing materials.

     In this case it would have been pretty easy to have called for the wrong repair person to make a simple repair-----I wonder what the outcome of that would have been?

Charles Buell

     No----not the elevator or the under-the-covers kind.

     Take a look at this picture.  This is new construction.  Can you tell what is wrong?

     A properly adjusted gas cook-top burner will be a nice even blue----with NO yellow.  In this case the entire flame is yellow.

   Why?

     Actually the answer is pretty simple.  This is a Natural Gas cook-top running on Propane----someone forgot to change the orifices is all----a pretty easy fix and the correct orifices may have even been included with the unit.

Charles Buell