Active Rain members, when this was sent to me by a business woman whom I know professionally (I inspect homes for her as she acquires them as part of her short-term rental and vacation home business) I asked if I could help out by sharing the power of Active Rain to publicize her offer. Lori is a business pro and her sole business involves property and rentals. She has this wonderful vacation lodge in British Columbia and she has extended a generous humanitarian offer to some family that has been seriously hit by the fires in California. I am -- with her permission -- passing this message on to others through Active Rain. Those of you, especially in California real estate, might be an excellent resource here. The message from Lori, owner of Ranch Park Lodge, is below. I am not involved in this, other than passing the word along.
"First of all, our sincere condolences to the people who have had to vacate or who have lost their homes in the San Diego fires and L.A. fires.
Though we realize that it is somewhat of a 'drop in the bucket' we are making this offer because we hope that we may be able to help a family in need of housing during this devastating time and are able to give them a home-base and a refuge while they work on restoring their lives.
Ranch Park Lodge is normally a revenue creating vacation home, however we are coming into our 'slow season' and currently have vacancy from October 28 to December 15 , 2007 and we would like to donate this time to a family who has either been forced to evacuate their home or lost their home in the current Southern California fires.
This home is close to Vancouver, BC Canada (approximately 2.5 hours drive N. of Seattle, WA). It is fully furnished and has a fully equipped kitchen. It also includes towels, linens and all utilities. The occupants will need nothing but their personal items. There is also high speed wi-fi and unlimited long distance phone calling to anywhere in North America to help them arrange to get back on their feet.
If you are a family in need or know someone who is, please feel free to contact us via Email at anytime. The address is ranchpark@gmail.com . We will be checking our email regularly and will delete this announcement when the home is filled.
This is a serious offer ONLY to those who are truly in need of help and a home due to the devastation of losing their home in the fires. There is no cost involved, however, it is likely that the family will need a car (to go to and from the Lodge) and will also need to make their own arrangements to arrive at Ranch Park Lodge."
To view other photographs of the Lodge , please visit:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ranchpark/RanchParkLodgeChilliwack
Well, the photo below is something I have yet to run into doing inspections. In fact, many inspectors in this state, probably most, have never seen the pest below -- in action at least. Now, most of us have seen some species of this 
Obviously, the stated purpose of a home inspector is to inspect a home. That is really the only calling for a home inspector. A watch dog's job is to scare intruders and a home inspector inspects homes. So, if that is what an inspector does, he or she should try to do the job well and with detail. That is my opinion of course. However, even when one is serious about the job and trying to find all of the significant issues, there are times when a person might be misled or miss clues to a problem. An inspector has to be very careful not to make wrong assumptions, based on partial evidence. For example, in the home where this photo was taken, all of the other plumbing drain pipes were plastic. It would have been easy to assume that all of these pipes had been upgraded. And, without good light, it would be easy to peak under this sink, find that there were no leaks and move on to the next of the three bathrooms present in the house. Had I done that, I would have missed a problem. As you can see, this drain, where it enters the wall is an old galvanized pipe with rust on it. Problem waiting to happen! Or maybe it is happening. Note that, to the right, there is an old galvanized supply line that is no longer in service. The point is that in trying to do an inspection, without letting things slip by, takes time and effort. It is for that reason, because my reputation is on the line, that I shy away from breezing around, over, through and under a house and completing all this in two hours. Sometimes that works but, with most homes of any age, that is not long enough to find the more subtle, but significant, deficiencies. 
I know, I have written about this before. But it seems that I see poorly installed temperature pressure relief valves and their drains so often that it is obviously a concern that needs to be front and center. In older homes the valve or drain is installed wrong at least thirty percent of the time in inspections that I do. There are lots of things that can be wrong: No TPR valve, just a plug (the worst); A TPR valve that shoots straight out with no drain at all; A TPR valve with the drain made of the wrong type of plastic, such as electrical conduit or PVC which are not made for hot water; A TPR that, should it go off, will drain into the crawl space; and the most commonm -- a TPR drain that is routed up through a lack of plumbing knowledge or the use of flex tubing. The photo below is an example of that. People think, well it is just steam so it will work routed up. Wrong. The valve may go off in other situations than releasing steam. In fact it should. The idea of it is to release water if pressure builds for any reason so steam does not build up. As this water drains out the TPR valve, it will settle at the low spot in the drain. Over time, this can lead to premature failure of the valve. If that happens, and this valve ends up frozen shut, that is when the real fireworks begin. The most common reason for this plumbing error, is that an old taller water heater was removed and a shorter one put in. So the installer, not a licensed plumber who would not do that, just makes sure the pipes fit, regardless of how they are routed. Even the average handyman or handywoman does not seem to realize that, in connecting the TPR drain so it goes up, he or she is in essence working on elementary 
Imagine the surprise my client would have had, at some point down the road, had he not had an inspection. The example here is not one single, solitary isolated incident of a builder who was in a rush. There were about thirty posts under the house and all of them were like this. Longterm stability was not running in their favor. For one thing, there were no proper concrete piers. They were all resting on pieces of wood, some of which were round halves of firewood. They had no positive connections at the top and this one was much like the 
While I do not see this arrangement much, the whole concept of chains for downspouts is certainly not a wise idea, at least not in the wet Pacific Northwest. It might work great somewhere where there is minimal rain, but then again, in such locations they often have no gutters to begin with. The photo below took the chain theory to a new art form. The small cable, or chain, had below it a wooden device that doubled as yard art or sculpture. It looked like something made to confound marauding squirrels. Anyway, at this particular home the inadequate downspouts had been in place too long and the out of control runoff water had taken a toll. Several areas on the siding, which were hit by water regularly, had decay. A word of advice: Even if you like the look of chains, to protect your home, use proper downspouts that contain the water until you route it away. That is far better for the well being and the longevity of your home.
Any inspectors or realtors in Washington state might pass this information on to anyone interested in the field of home inspection. The next four week professional level home inspector training course begins at Bellingham Technical College next Monday, 10/29. Minimum enrollment has been met, so the class will go. This time, which is pretty neat, we have a commitment from Dr. Dan Suomi of the WSDA to attend the session on wood destroying organisms. He is, among other things, the man who investigates complaints against inspectors and compliance to state law. Being an entomologist, he also knows the wood destroying organisms. We will also have a presentation by Dave Blake of the Northwest Clean Air Agency on mold and asbestos. Dave is very knowledgeable in many fields. Along with these presentations, students also learn about structure, exterior, electrical, plumbing, heating and the other inspection techniques that go with being a qualified inspector. For more information please visit.
Hi, I have not been able to post much this week, kind of embroiled in work and some other matters that are time consuming and tiring. I did want to share this. Verona, which is one of my favorite cities in Italy, has this ancient roman theatre. It is not as big but in better shape than the coliseum in Rome. They have any number of concerts there on a regular basis. The seats are stone and the whole place looks like a big trip hazard, but it sure has a great historical ambiance. We were too tired when we were there, to go to the musical, but they had a musical based on the Hunchback of Notre Dame. They also have lots of operas. Well, the wife and I could hardly believe our eyes when we say this one show coming up in 2008. The show is called "Nixon in China." No clue what is is about, so don't ask, but you have to admit it does entice the imagination.