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.

 

 

 

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Fire Waiting to Happen

This post is about solid fuel burning appliances and potential chimney fires.  Solid fuel appliances are usually wood burning fireplaces or stoves, including inserts.  The chimney serving these appliances should be cleaned every year.  The picture below shows a chimney with major creosote buildup.  The very next fire in the stove could be the one to set off a chimney fire; and chimney fires often burn houses down!

 

 

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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

home inspector

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

home inspector

Tales of Inspecting

I know that many home inspectors have stories (some of them horror) of inspections that did not go exactly as planned.  I have heard one story about a very dangerous person, with gun, that happened to be in the house.  My own little story is nowhere near as nasty as that one, but it had me worried for a bit.  I always save the crawl space for last.  It is a dirty place and I don’t wish to take any of the dirt back into the home.  This particular day, my client was in California, the realtor came to open the house and left, so I was alone at the site.  The crawl space was a particularly tight one, but one I could traverse with some effort. As I was coming down the home stretch, so to speak, I came to  an area that had flexible duct work that was pretty close to the ground.  Since I needed to see some plumbing nearby, I decided that I could probably push my way under this duct (after all, it was flexible).  I got about halfway through when I found that I could not make it any further.  Okay I think, I’ll just back out from under it.  WRONG!  Here I am, stuck in a crawl space, my cell phone is in my tool bag outside the entry.  I can’t move forward, backward or sideways.  What a predicament!  After struggling for a good 5 minutes (seemed like hours), I figured I needed to stop, relax and think this through.  I wear heavy duty rain gear in crawl spaces.  First thing I did was remove the rain coat; it felt like I could move a little, but not enough.  It was winter, so I had a fairly heavy shirt on; removed it.  Now I am naked from the waste up and feeling really ridiculous.  My next move was to very slowly inch my way backward.  After about 5 minutes of this I was free.  Put my shirt and raincoat back on and went the long way to get out.  While laying there thinking what to do, I was seeing the headlines: “Home Inspector found dead lodged in crawl space!”  What a time!

Thanks for reading.

David Helm, Bellingham home inspector

www.helmhomeinspections.com