Seattle Home Inspector's Blog

     One of the things I like to do in my Inspection Reports when writing about concerns involving water leaks is to give a rough “visual idea” as to what the issues are by doing a color “overlay” of the issue.  Whether it is suspected water behind the tiles of a tub/shower enclosure, water under the vinyl floor around a toilet, or an improperly installed sink trap, I think these pictures help get the point across----and worth the few seconds it takes me to do it.

     The particular defect that I am going to discuss today, of an improperly installed sink trap, is sometimes difficult to convey to the buyer just why the installation is wrong----after all----water is going down the drain.

     This first picture shows a normal trap and the overlay shows the amount of water that is in a properly installed trap.  The small amount of water in the trap is easily pushed over the dam and down the drain.

     This next picture shows an improperly installed trap with an overlay that shows the amount of water trapped in the pipes. 

     From the picture you can imagine the extra force necessary to push all that water out of the trap. The result is poor drainage with the likelihood of clogging over time.  Sure it will still work----just not as well as the first picture.

Charles Buell

     It is St. Patrick’s Day on Phinney Ridge in Seattle.

     This is the second post in a series of posts I am doing to document the seasons of a plum tree in the Phinney Ridge Neighborhood of Seattle.  The last post was for Valentine’s Day.   As long as I have been in the Northwest, the owners of this tree have decorated it for whatever holiday was applicable. 

    To me, this shows a lot of commitment, and I hope the decorators get all the kudos they deserve for what must take a lot of effort.  It also makes me wonder what their storage facilities look like----to keep track of all the lights and ornaments for the different holidays. 

     Up next----the Easter Bunny.

     The tree is always spectacular----whether night or day.  One cannot miss it as you head down the hill West on 65^th Street, from Greenwood Ave.

     If you are in the area----check it out.

     Here is a little Irish Music for you----and now go get your Irish on!

Charles Buell

     Everyone knows that a picture is worth a thousand words, but did you know that a picture can also actually contain words? 

     Now I am not talking about words captured “on” the picture itself.  I am talking about words “hidden” in the picture code that only shows up when you pass your cursor over it.  It is a sort of, “Braille for the sighted” and a distinct advantage of computer images.  These “words” also show up in the picture place holder while the picture loads----if it doesn’t load instantly (as has been known to happen)----especially if you have an old dinosaur turtle computer.

     But the type of computer you have is beside the point.

     If you are going to use pictures in your blog posts why not give them something to say beyond the image?

     Almost all picture-loading applications on websites----including activerain---give you the option of labeling your pictures (image description----this is what The Google sees) as well as giving the pictures something to say.  For example let’s say I want to give that annoying bird Polly something to say, I might fill out the picture application something like the one below:

     Just fill in the “title” box with whatever you want the picture to “say.”  When someone runs their cursor over the picture that is the message they will see.  Now try running your cursor over both the “application picture” above and the “Polly picture” below.

     Whatever you put in the “Image description” box is what Google will find.    So, go ahead and try a “Google Images” search for “Polly wants a cracker.”  You will find the nasty creature on page two----last time I looked.  If you are looking to improve your SEO this is the place you might put something like “Seattle Home Inspectors” etc.

     I love to have hidden messages behind all of the pictures I post.  I see them as little tantalizing morsels that more observant readers of my blog can glean additional information from----as well perhaps get an additional unexpected chuckle (always after the monitor splatter).

     It makes your own activerain puddle deeper than you might have known it was.

Charles Buell

Ok, so let’s play a little game.

In this picture we can see two windows in a basement bedroom.

The question is:  “What do you see and why do you see it?” 

     Side note---wise-ass comment:  And I don’t mean because of anything to do with the way optics work or the ability of the human eye to function as it does.  I am talking about the “reason,” or the “interpretation” of what your eyes see----if they see “anything” that needs interpreting that is.

     So go ahead and feel free to ask questions.  I will hopefully answer in a helpful manner---or not----depending on whim and the question asked.  All questions and comments from Nutsy will be handled with the usual respect and admiration----befitting a beast of his intellect.

Charles Buell

     Who doesn’t like those flaming, charred clouds of sweetness?

     I am pretty sure that most things will burn or melt if one gets them hot enough.

     I am also pretty sure that “most” plastic materials typically found within ones home are susceptible to burning and/or melting.  Take your average Corian type "plastic" countertop.  While they are pretty resistant to heat, if we get the material hot enough, it will melt----if not catch on fire.  Of course the wood cabinets below the countertop might not fare as well.

     This countertop is in a commercial kitchen. 

     Because the countertop is higher than the adjacent stove, the overhanging pot was able to direct flames and heat onto the countertop----making it look more like a marshmallow over a camp fire----than an appropriate countertop material.

     Plastic water piping for homes is becoming the standard and these too need proper clearances from heat sources. 

     Take the exhaust hood on your water heater----you certainly don’t want anything plastic near that.  The same goes for vent pipe from furnaces and water heaters.  Even double wall vent pipe like B-vent, typically requires at least an inch of clearance.  In this next picture we see the plastic PEX-type pipe right next to the draft hood of the water heater and jammed right between the single wall vents of both the furnace and the water heater.  Single wall pipe requires at least 6” of clearance to plastic pipe.

     This is all a fairly new installation----but, over time the piping will succumb to the heat----and those nice white fittings will look more like marshmallows too.

Charles Buell

     For some reason this defect at a door lock-set reminded me of that movie Airplane (can no longer remember which one) and the play on the word “striker,” where the word was not only some guys name but also what was done to one of the stewardesses.  In a similar way this Strike bolt, struck me as kind of funny----even though no stewardesses got hurt and no little kids had to see Peter Graves naked.

     It does make me want to strike myself in the head though.

Charles Buell

     I like to think that almost anyone could look at the following picture of a tub drain and know that something is just not right with it.

    When one looks at their tub drain they should never see the threads and gasket that shows inside this drain. 

     Most tubs have a polished chrome or brass fitting (that the stopper sits on) that threads into the threaded portion that shows in the picture.  It is what makes the gasket tight against the bottom of the tub and keeps the whole thing from leaking at the connection.  It makes the water glug down the drain instead of around the drain.

     Given that this tub was over finished space below, I expected to find damage to the ceiling below.  It was not much of a surprise to find my suspicions confirmed by moisture meter when I checked the space below.

Charles Buell

     Your house foundation.

     It is what holds your house nice and level and keeps it from sliding down driveway and out into the street.

     Foundations in new construction are designed for the slope of the land, as well as soil conditions, numbers of stories and other factors.   Not long ago I inspected a home where, way back around 1900, four trees had been cut off on the site and these cut-off trees became the four corner supports for the home.  In the following picture one can see one of the tree stumps that is now surrounded with “additional” foundation that has been added over the years.

     Yes it was very small and was most likely nothing more than a get-away cabin that was built before the area became overrun by “progress.” 

     A tree is a relatively good analogy as to how foundations work.  We have the support post (the trunk of the tree) and the footing (the roots that spread the load out over a bigger area).  Any tree, when impacted by forces it was not “designed” to deal with, can become uprooted and the tree will topple over.  The footing of trees is pretty much designed to secure the tree in place and counter the forces placed upon it by wind.  A bunch of trees together will do more to help each individual tree than any lone tree can do.

     A house foundation is similar.  If it is supported by four corner supports and we loose just one of the supports bad things are likely to happen to the furniture, and occupants---never mind the structure itself.  Now if we divide the spaces so we now have 8 supports, we go from catastrophic failure to something in between “catastrophe” and “sloped-floors”----commonly referred to as “character.”  If we divide those spaces again, we now have supports at 16 points and it becomes even less likely that loss of one of the supports is going to be as problematic.  Of course this is all relative to the distance between the supports and the type and size of beams spanning those supports.

     Obviously if we fill all the spaces between the supports we have what we call a continuous foundation and some of that foundation could be effectively taken away without much consequence to the whole house.  If one thinks about a foundation in this manner, it makes it easier to understand how inconsequential some cracks can be.  Of course one still needs to be able to interpret the cracks----because they could mean something more.

     We still have a fair number of post & pier type foundations around the NW that were built around the turn of the century----the 20^th century.  They almost always have inadequate supports even though the spacing of the support posts would likely be adequate by current standards.  What was usually NOT adequate however was the size of the footings under the support posts.  Lots of times these posts were simply placed on large stones----including both stones found on site as well as cut blocks of stone brought to the site.  Sometimes they were merely set on blocks of wood----or as previously stated---tree stumps.

     These houses almost always have “excessive character” that would not be tolerated in any other type of construction.  The best solution almost always involves either replacing the support post footings with ones engineered for the soil conditions (always considerably bigger than the ones originally used) or install an actual full foundation under the home.

     These post & pier homes can be very difficult types of houses to “fix.”  Fixing usually involves making a decision about whether one can live with the amount of sloping of the floors or not.  If one cannot, and the house is to be leveled, factoring replacement of all the lath and plaster throughout the home will become a necessity as opposed to staying a cosmetic “feature” of the home.  This gets really complicated if the house has undergone interior work to counteract some of the settlement.  Floors that had been leveled to compensate for the sloping may now become out of level.  Windows and doors installed level and plum will now no longer be level and plum.

     Most people opt for simply “stabilizing” the home with proper supports and/or foundation and bank on retaining the cosmetic “features” and “character” of the home.

     At a recent inspection all or most of the support footings had been “upgraded” at some point in the past---maybe 50 years ago.  Because these footings were undersized and located so that the post was not centered above them the house has continued to settle and is about to play tiddlywinks with the footings.

     These supports will need to be re-done or a new foundation poured under the house----they did not succeed in stabilizing the house at all with this repair.

Charles Buell

     Two years ago today, I got my second featured post when I asked the simple question:  “Why is there a BARGE on my roof?”

     Two years later, this post is still a pretty decent post----even if it isn’t as “pretty” as the ones I do now.

     As a sequel to that post I thought I would share something I saw at an inspection the other day.  It not only shows how nicely the barge rafter end can be shingled to protect it, but shows how even the small amount of water that would otherwise run off the end----bypassing the gutter----was re-directed into the gutter by the installation of a simple little metal diverter.

     Pretty cool----no?

Charles Buell

     In another one of my shameless promotions of one of my favorite places in Seattle, I thought I would share some recent pictures. 

     What is a Seattle Home Inspector to do when they finish their inspection and there is no report to write?  In this case, because the inspection was only a few blocks from The Conservatory, I decided to see what was blooming.  This is a place where it is really hard to be disappointed.  There are always orchids present, but on this day there was an exceptional number of orchids in bloom.  When you enter the Conservatory you immediately enter the Orchid area.  If you go east you head toward the Desert House.  If you Head west you are headed for the Tropics.

     On the way to the desert house, I had to check out the Mirror Ball.

     I was going to use this picture of myself as my new profile picture but decided to not scare little children needlessly.

     The desert house has always been one of my favorite areas.  I have always been fascinated with the spiral patterns of the cacti.

     And the juxtaposition of hard and soft----or at least the “illusion” of soft.

     Of course the Tropical Houses are never ones to be out done.

     When you visit Seattle make sure this place is on your list----and maybe you will even see me there.

Charles Buell