Steven L. Smith's Blog

I have written about oriented strand board (OSB) a number of times before. The topic most often comes up when talking about L-P innerseal siding. However, OSB is available in sheets as well and is used for other applications such as sheathing that is covered by other material.

This photo below is one of the most unsuitable applications I have seen forOSB. The key to longevity, for this product, is keeping it dry. It is a shredded/chopped/glued back together wood product and, when moisture can get into the edges, ends, soak down into the top, it does not weather a whole lot better than a cardboard box. Now, in theory, the OSB sidings are made to be more durable -- if they are installed exactly right and kept painted, caulked and maintained.

The photos below show exposed trim that is cut from OSB. It was buckled, warped and de-laminating/decaying in a number of different locations. In some places they had tacked a metal flashing over it, to protect it but this was not working well at all. The second photo is closeup, so you can have a good gander at it. 

Thanks for dropping in

www.kingofthehouse.com

Bellingham WA home inspections

Steven L. Smith

Okay, you were not there so this is hard to figure out. But some of the home inspector types like Charlie Buell will probably come pretty close or nail this one. And, since it is my puzzle, I get to give you the clues as I see fit.

This was a home I was inspecting a couple weeks back. I had met with the seller, who was there that day and was walking around with me part of the time. I had begun working and one of the things I do, first off, is check the water pressure. A normal water pressure reading is between 40 and 80 PSI. Too low and it is like a trickle, too high and it can damage the dishwasher, washing machine, hot water heater.

I took the water pressure reading at the back hose bibb at 10:15AM. It was really high, over 100 PSI. I took the reading again, at the same hose bibb, five minutes later and it was fine, down to 55 PSI, and it remained that way. Anyone care to guess what kind of event occurred that "repaired" this problem? Even if you do not care to guess, at least you learned how an inspector reads the water pressure and what the reading should be.

10:15AM                                                       10:20AM

Thanks for guessing.

www.kingofthehouse.com

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham Home inspector

Last night I was writing about floor damage, primarily around tubs and showers. The specific topic had to do with failed caulking. For a simple topic, this garnered a surprising amount of interest as it is a problem everyone sees on occasion or maybe even more often than not. In that blog, I made reference to what I consider to be a poor judgement call -- expensive wood floors in areas where water might end up spoiling them. Personally, I know something about this as a door in my house, from outside, opens onto an oak floor. If I was to do it again, the area in front of the door at the inside would be tile. The photos below I took the other day. They are from an expensive home.

The first one is the result of repeated spillage of water onto the floor through a shower curtain.

The second photo is a closeup view of the same area and there is not only unsightly and warped flooring but actual rot in the floor, at the upper left side.

The last picture is from the same house and, obviously, the laundry tub has had some leaks. This spoiled the floor and not much can be done other than replacing it in that area and that will probably not match well either.

I have friends, in a very nice home on Camano Island, and they have an oak floor in the kitchen. One day the washing machine sprung a leak in an adjacent room, the water ran out to the kitchen, so now they too have a warped floor. They have had, lesser, but similar problems when the garbage disposal backed up and the hose came off. I like hardwood floors, but there is a place and a time for them and it is not in areas where it is probable that, at one point or another, water will spill onto them. They have almost no tolerance for this abuse.

Thanks for coming by.

www.kingofthehouse.com

Bellingham WA home inspector

Steven L. Smith

This is a simple blog, but I had this pretty good photo of a common problem and thought I would post it. When a home inspector checks a tub and/or shower, he or she should take a look where the floor and the tub meet. At the floor, especially if it is vinyl as is so often the case, there should be caulking or water-proof trim of some sort to keep water from getting inside the gap. With vinyl, if water gets underneath,  it will become dark in those spots. And, of course, water continually getting under the vinyl is not good for the underlayment or any other materials below. In extreme cases the water can end up in the crawl space. Another pet-peeve that I have is the tub/shower that has a hardwood floor around it. That seems short-sighted on the part of the person who put the two together because wood floors have no tolerance for any leaks or spillage from the tub or shower. They end up damaged most of the time. When I get a chance, I will post a photo from an inspection I did a few days back where the wood floor had rotted at the tub, bad shower curtain! In the photo below, someone had applied caulking on the vinyl and they either did a poor job or it was failing big time.

Thanks for stopping in

www.kingofthehouse.com

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham Home Inspector

Normally, when performing an inspection, I find that sellers really do not know the various problems at their home. That includes outlets that are not properly polarized or grounded (they do not know the difference if appliances work when they are plugged in); subtle flashing problems or issues at roofs, windows and decks; improper sink traps, even small plumbing leaks. However, sometimes I see something blatant and have to wonder " does the seller have no clue about this?"

The photos below would be an example. I was told, after asking, that no furnace problems were listed on the property disclosure form. This is a propane furnace that is situated in the laundry area, on the floor, plain view and no cabinets around it. The doors and housing looked very old, and filters were exposed at the top. My first clue something was really wrong was when I bumped the B-vent (flue) and it flopped around like a yo yo. The doors slid right off and, when I looked inside, I saw the conditions in the photos below.

Extreme rust was apparent and, also, the flue was not attached. It had slid out of place, leaving a wide gap. Assuming this unit would operate at all, the combustion gases would leak right out into the home. The pen is used as a marker to point at one such leak. I did not even try to run this furnace, for fear of problems that might be created by such a neglected unit. The buyer's realtor, and the buyer, were very pleased that I found this. In fact, it was so obvious that I was a bit embarrassed as it did not take Sherlock Holmes to ferret it out. Again, the bigger mystery to me is whether the seller knew the device was shot and was just not telling (pretty serious safety issue here to be hiding -- people could die) or if the seller just flat was unaware that this unit was worn out and worn through. In a related matter, Sean Allen an AR member, posted an interesting article about this very issue.

Right side, rusted days and rusted nights          Care for some carbon monoxide anyone?

CO to go around, enough for everyone

Thanks for dropping by.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA home inspector

www.kingofthehouse.com

Woke up this morning and there was snow in Whatcom County. However, as of later this morning, the temperature has moderated and now the snow is turning to rain and slop. The wet and rain, melting on the deck and running out the downspouts and off the roof,  It made me think of the old song about the roof having a hole in it.

 These are informative roof photos that tie in with today's theme of roofs with holes. It covers about everything here, wood shingles, composition shingles, flat roofs, metal roofs. The first two pictures were supplied by Charlie Buell, a Seattle inspector and AR member. I have lots of roof photos with aged or failing roofs but could not find any that so classically showed roofs with holes. The top two, as I said, are from Charlie. The others are from my own award winning collection of bad roofs and the damage below.

My roofs got a hole in it                            My roof has a hole in it too                                

Comp roof, torn shingle                           Metal roof, moss

Leak in attic                                              Leak in office

Flat roof above, used as deck                           Tarps below the flat roof, in the library

Thanks for dropping by.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham Home Inspector

www.kingofthehouse.com

I have run into people who think that we home inspectors are too negative -- glass half empty types. To counteract that belief, I thought I would do something to the contrary. I have posted here a photo of a roof. Now, there are inspectors who would think that this was a photo with only negatives. It seems to me that, if you look at it another way, there are some real positives here. Feel free to add anything you think I missed as we try to put a positive spin on this matter.

1. The moss is really healthy and a pretty green

2. The moss is so thick that, at this point, it might actually be keeping the rain out

3. Not everybody can grow moss that is this nice

4. Moss is organic and fits with green building

5. The house might be more affordable because of the moss

6. Someone might gain employment by removing the moss and re-roofing

Thanks for stopping by.

Steven L. Smith

www.kingofthehouse.com

Bellingham WA home inspector

A pest that we see often in the wooded Pacific Northwest is the carpenter ant. Carpenter ants are not all exactly the same size or color.  In fact there are many different species but they get their name, as a group, because of the way the ants categorized as carpenter ants chew the wood and build galleries. I have said it before but, to say it again, carpenter ants are not eating the wood, they are building in it. They spit it out again as "frass" which is like fine sawdust. They will work in sound wood but, much more often than not, they get started in moist, decayed wood. I went through my photos of a classic carpenter ant infestation and have posted some pictures that, step by step, depict the causes and symptoms of the infestation. If you realize that they like moist, decaying wood, it is obvious why they moved into this house. These photos at the exterior and in the crawl space are what, in Washington State, we refer to as conducive conditions.

To set the mood, before we go on the virtual inspection, I want to share with you a tune that will get you in the mood. This is a trick that super Seattle inspector Charles Buell uses to stay high energy as he descends into that abyss that is sometimes dark and foreboding and known as the crawl space. He puts this classic ant-themed rhythm and blues number on the walkman, turns it up full-blast and look out wood destroying organisms, your days are numbered. We start at the exterior and then go down below. The short captions under the photos explain the various conducive conditions and problems. I hope this virtual WDO (wood destroying organism) inspection is informative for you.

Blocked vents: no air circulates                  Water dumps against the foundation

Crawl Space: No vapor barrier, moist          Standing water in crawl space from downspouts

Wood to earth contact, rot                        30% moisture in joist, rot possible at 20%

Chewing damage, the fine sawdust is classic carpenter ant frass

Caught in the act. Live carpenter ants inside the joist.

Thanks for checking out my ant farm. For other blogs I have written on this insect, please click here.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham Home Inspector

www.kingofthehouse.com

It is always kind of sad, sometimes amusing, when a homeowner knows that some component is required at the home but does not know the correct way to install it. Here is a photo of a metal flashing, above the eave on a sloped roof. The fellow who installed it figured it would be a good flashing to protect the sheathing below. The problem is, the top of the metal flashing needs to go under all of the shingles not just some of them. I lifted a shingle, for a better view, but you can see how water would get down under the flashing between tabs. Good thought, lousy implementation. 

www.kingofthehouse.com

Thanks for looking.

Steven L. Smith

 Prevention is oh so simple but the condo association, or someone, has to realize that there is a problem waiting to happen, and a potential safety issue. First, let me set the stage for an emergency. After the scenario is over, it will be obvious that it is one of those situations where you really did have to make up your mind.

You are in your condo, a small one, only four units in the complex. You are running the electric baseboard heaters in zero degree weather and, suddenly, smoke starts pouring out of the distribution, or sub-panel, which is inside the bedroom. (Condos usually have all of the main shutoff's outside the individual units, often at an end of the building. Inside the house, there is a distribution or sub-panel).  We continue: You flip all the breakers in the indoor panel and the smoke, and that distinct smell of burning wiring, is still coming out of the panel with wild abandon. That might be all you need to do, but you are not sure. Simultaneously with calling the fire department, you want to go turn off the main breaker at the east end of the complex. When you get there, you find the arrangement shown below.

Duh, what is what ? What controls what?

You live in unit D, which one do you turn off? You want to kill the power to your unit, but unfortunately unit A has a resident with serious health issues and shutting his power off could shut-down some of his critical life-support equipment.  Do you flip them one at a time and then run in the house to see if it had an effect. It might be hard to tell since you already turned off the individual breakers in the sub panel so the lights and heaters are off already. Or do you just go for it and flip all four of them and let the infirm resident in unit A take his lumps and come out in the zero degree weather and try to figure out why his hospital equipment, and his own equipment, has pretty rapidly shutdown?

Despite this dilemma, and it would be a big one if it was taking place in your life, the solution is easy, could be resolved with the help of a grade schooler,or even a known underachiever, and is shown in the photo below.

Stick on outdoor labels, paint, take your choice but get the letters or numbers on there

So you see, the key is not honing your skills for crisis management. Instead, it involves telling the condo association to label the meters and breakers. Imagine how much simpler your decision would be, and how much lower your blood pressure would be, if your sojourn outside to the main breakers had ended with the meters and shutoffs below. Again, planning and prevention is 9/10 of the battle and this simple labeling might have saved the resident in unit A a short ride in a fast car or a visit with the grim reaper himself.

Note: Sometimes the outdoor shutoffs are labeled but padlocks are on them so they are hard to open and in some condos all main breakers are in a locked room. It is unlikely that a scenario such as this will occur, but just in case, it is best if residents have some understanding of the main shutoffs and access to them in a crisis. Also, some work that might be done in a sub, or distribution panel, could require shutting off the main breaker so it is best to know how to do that.

I hope you made up your mind! You can find more information on condo wiring here.

www.kingofthehouse.com

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham Home Inspector