Home Improvement

Foreclosure Inspections

Many Realtors and Mortgage brokers have written articles on short sales and foreclosures.  One point the haven’t touched on is what is necessary to prepare a foreclosed home for inspection.  When banks own  the home they often (usually) have them winterized and often allow propane tanks to empty.  Other utilities are usually left on.  It is understandable that they would want to protect their investment as much as possible.  Unfortunately, this protection makes it impossible to do a thorough home inspection.

When buying (or selling for you Realtors out there) a foreclosed home, it is very important to insist that the bank has the home de-winterized and has propane put in the tank.  Without these items being taken care of, the water heater, heating system and plumbing systems can not be fully evaluated.  I just returned, today, from a re-inspect of one of these homes for just the reason I’ve stated.  Not only did this slow down the process, it also cost the buyer an additional fee for me to go back out to the site ( a rural one and some distance to drive).  So please, on foreclosure sales, get those utilities back in operation!

David Helm, Bellingham home inspector

Another Potential Fire

Why do home inspectors enter attics?  There are many things for the inspector to check in the attic including ventilation, insulation, wiring, plumbing pipes, termination of bathroom vent fans, moisture levels and the picture shown below.

 

 

 

Composition Siding: LP and others

There has been a lot of controversy regarding composition wood fiber siding. Many brands of this type of siding by different manufacturers are known to deteriorate and/or fail prematurely due to moisture penetration. Failure is typically visible in the form of swelling, cracking and delamination, especially at the bottom edges. Class action lawsuits have been filed or are being filed against most manufacturers of this material. 

 

The following photos show siding in the early stages of this deterioration.  These can all be treated with the “Permanizer Plus” product.  The important thing to note if you happen to won a house with this type siding is that regular maintenance is absolutely necessary.  If you are buying a house with this siding, be sure that your inspector looks long and hard at the condition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following photo shows LP siding inentification.  You have to look closely.  The knot in the pattern shows an L and  P in the creases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pittsburgh Paints, PRIMERS -THE FOUNDATION FOR A TOP QUALITY JOB
Failing LP Siding Help Page

Thanks for reading.

David Helm, Bellingham home inspector

http://www.helmhomeinspections.com  

No Support!

I have done a few blogs on this site about various things that are found on home inspections.  This one is structural.  We inspectors spend a lot of time in crawl spaces, looking at many things.  One common one is caused by plumbers and HVAC technicians.  This isn’t to badmouth them.  They have their job to do and may not know about how structures are supported.

 

 

 

Pest Inspection: What is it and what does it cover?

Back in the early days of home inspections all that was done was called a pest inspection.  These days, a home inspection is much more comprehensive, covering grounds, structure, roof, crawl space/basement, all systems and of course, pests.  The term for pests is Wood Destroying Organisms (WDO).  This is a state mandated term that covers very specific things.  A WDO inspection searches for evidence of all the state recognized WDO (see my earlier post on WDO) and conditions that are conducive to WDOs.  What are conducive conditions?  They are things like plumbing leaks, inadequate ventilation, restricted or non functioning gutters, vegetation touching siding, earth to wood contact, failed or missing caulk or grout in water splash areas and conducive debris (cellulose based or storage that restricts air flow) in the substructure.  These are all important issues and generally represent at least 50% of issues found in home inspections.  In order to report on these issues, according to current Washington law, an inspector must be licensed as a Structural Pest Inspector by the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

As always, thanks for reading this.

David Helm, Bellingham home inspector

http://www.helmhomeinspections.com

What Is It? and What’s the Difference

The following pictures are of three different siding materials that look quite a bit alike.  Knowing what each is and the pros and cons of each may be important when you purchase that next home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, each of these siding materials are similar.  The top, cement asbestos has been given a bad rap.  Asbestos is a problem when it is friable (fibres floating in the air where they can be breathed) but as long as it is intact and kept painted, it is one of the best and longest lived sidings ever invented.

The second siding, asphalt shingles, was popular in the forties and fifties (earlier in some farm communities).  This stuff is fairly rare in Whatcom County, but it does exist.  The picture was taken in Bellingham.  It doesn’t  last much longer than an asphalt roof (generally in the twenty year range) and doesn’t like hot weather because it softens and is susceptible to damage.

The third siding, striated cedar, is pretty common here in Bellingham and is often mistaken for cement asbestos.  It is a quality wood siding that, if maintained properly, will last a lifetime.

Thank you for reading this. 
David Helm, Bellingham home inspector
http://www.helmhomeinspections.com

Noxious Weeds

Most exotic garden plants are not particularly problematic.  The majority of garden plants do come from elsewhere in the world.  Some of them, because of their invasive nature, become a serious problem for the well being of native plants when the spread to wild areas.  One of the main ways they escape gardens is as seeds in the belly of birds.  Some of these invasive, noxious plants in the state of Washington are as follows.  Gardeners may be surprised by the inclusion of some of these plants.

Common Fennel, a non-bulbing type that has tall feathery licorice smelling foliage.  Escapees inhabit and colonize grasslands and crowd out native flora.

Purple Verbena, has attractive lavender tubular flowers, is vigorously self seeding and is rapidly spreading into fields and open areas.

Knotweeds, large, bamboo like shrubs with feathery white flower heads.  Bees love them.  The invade riparian areas, block sunlight and degrade habitat for wildlife and fish, including Salmon.  They have very deep roots and a difficult to get rid of.

Old Man’s Beard (clematis vitalba), is a climbing vine that when escaped get established in forests and along stream banks where the smother shrubs and trees forming dense mats in the understory.

English Ivy, spreads into forests and forms dense mats that block sunlight, smother trees and encourage rot.  In Western Washington there is a movement to remove English Ivy where ever it exists.

Purple and Garden Loosestrife, are a major threat to wetlands because they tolerate saturated soils and spread rapidly, it crowds out native plants and reduces wetland habitat.

Butterfly Bush, is problematic along rivers and streams where it traps sediment.

These are just a few of the noxious plants that appear in Washington.  Many of them are noxious and invasive in other parts of the country too.  It is a good idea, when planting a garden, to learn about the bad boys of the plant world in your area.  These plants are legal to buy, but they cause serious problems.

Thanks for looking.

David Helm, Bellingham home inspector

www.helmhomeinspections.com

What Does Green Really Mean?

I’ve been thinking about this for a while.  There is a lot of hoopla regarding green building and green lifestyle these days.  There are certainly many levels of greenness and I applaud you for whatever level you have reached.  Unfortunately, being truly green is a lot more complex than it might seem on the surface. 

Let’s start with transportation.  When we think of green, we need to take into consideration the carbon footprint for sure, but we also need to take into consideration the use of resources (after all, we do live in a finite world) and how long will it take that new green product to become a net gain for the environment.   You buy a new Prius.  This is very green because it gets very high mileage.  Not green immediately.  How much steel, oil (including all the plastics) and polution was used/caused in its manufacture?  How much oil was used in shipping it to the USA and then to your town?  Compare this with a ten year old high mileage vehicle  (since emission standards have not improved in this time I will not talk about that).  The manufacturing costs (polution, resource use) have nearly been amortized.  In the beginning, at least, the ten year old vehicle will be greener than the new Prius.  How long will it take the Prius to catch up? In this blog I’ll not talk about public transportation because the nature of most of our work requires private transportation (there is probably very little green about private transportation).

Food use and production; where does your food come from?  Is it shipped halfway around the world?  Is it a result of industrial monoculture farming (relying heavily on oil for fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides and harvesting)?  Truly green food is both local and seasonal. We eat what is produced in our local area, when it is produced.  If you want it to be green, you also have to take into consideration the treatment of the land and animals that you eat.  If the land is being despoiled with petroleum based chemicals, if the animals are treated as production units (feed lots, cages, etc.) it is not green.  Even if it is organic, if it’s shipped from far off, it’s not green.

Local economies; A green economy is one that is sustaining of the locality.  If your buying your goods and services from the big box stores/national or international chains, you are not sustaining your local economy.  This is not green.  Buying local circulates the money locally.  Buying from chains sends the money somewhere else. 

What is a truly green house?  The analogy written above about the Prius fits here too.  Can we find truly sustainable wood products?  Not with todays knowledge.  There are certainly some small, local mills and timber operations that strive to do sustainability, but on a national level it is pretty grim.  Building to LEEDS standards is certainly a large step in the right direction, but is only a step. Where do the materials and products for future housing come from?  What is the carbon/resource footprint of future housing?

This post is not meant as a pooh poohing of green building and practices.  It is only meant as a thought provoker.  I am thrilled that our industry is beginning to take these things into consideration, and I know that all of us fit somewhere in the continuum of green; either not green, partially green, predominately green (I doubt that there is anyone in this country that is 100% green; we do, after all, live in an industrial society).

Thanks for reading this screed.  I hope it provokes thought and action. 

REDUCE; REUSE; RECYCLE

David Helm, Bellingham home inspector

http://www.helmhomeinspections.com

Replace Garage Door Springs

Author: Michael Foster

Replacing Garage Door Springs is a pretty simple process with the proper information. We have replaced garage door springs and garage door parts successfully for homeowners since 1980 and now since the net have been educating homeowners and service repairmen as well. We offer a great line of garage door springs and garage door parts to the end-user so you can properly replace your broken garage door springs and parts without a hitch.

First identify the problem: Do you have Torsion Springs or Extension Springs? Torsion Springs are mounted above the garage door opening, while Extension Springs are mounted above the garage door track. Torsion Springs twist while Extension Springs stretch under pressure.

Like Extension Springs, Torsion Springs are usually installed in matched pairs. Single Torsion Spring applications are usually fine with single or one-car garage door applications. After identifying the broken spring(s), now we can move on to measuring.

Measuring your broken or unwound Garage Door Torsion Springs or Extension Springs is simple as 1-2-3! First, you need to measure the length of 20 coils starting at the break of the spring. Measuring at the break of the spring will assure you that your coils are at their tightest point. Make sure to measure to the nearest 1/16th of an inch for accuracy.

Secondly, measure the Inside Diameter of the Garage Door Spring. Torsion Springs come in many different sizes but typically found in 1 3/4″ - 2″ and 2 1/4″ Inside Diameters. Extension Springs are much smaller. Measuring the inside diameter of Extension Springs can be difficult due to small size so measuring the outside diameter is fine. If measuring Extension Springs, you may need to call or email us for further assistance.

Last, measure the length of your Garage Door Spring(s). Torsion Springs and Extension Springs are measured from end to end less end connecting pieces. Basically just measure the spring coils, not the cones on Torsion Springs, or Loops, clips on Extension Springs. Measure to the nearest 1/2″ and you’ll be fine.

Installing your Garage Door Springs

About the Author:

My name is Michael Foster, I live in Southern California and operate a few Garage Door Parts, Garage Door Spring websites since the beginning of the net. We have more than 30 years experience in the trades and enjoy helping people repair their Garage Doors with our Garage Door Parts.

DIYGarageRepair - Buy Garage Door Springs and Garage Door Parts

Replace Garage Door Springs - Free Shipping on all Garage Door Parts

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/diy-articles/replace-garage-door-springs-744573.html

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