Steven L. Smith, Bellingham, WA Home Inspector (King of the House)

Since it is the season of Halloween, it seems only appropriate to get into the spirit of the event. Unless one is in Mexico, participating in the big Day of the Dead celebrations, Halloween is mainly for kids. I try to take Fridays off, at least not scheduling work, so I can hangout with the wife, the daughter and the grandson.

Today we went to breakfast and I took a photo of grandson Mason's Halloween costume. He looks pretty dapper in his 1920's gangster outfit. He is really enjoying the season and getting quite the take of treats I might add.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

I have been busy but, just today, realized that tomorrow is Halloween. I think that all of us, over the years, have heard our share of ghost stories and tales that will curl our hair. Since I first told this true story in May a year ago, my friend and nemesis, Charles Buell, has attracted a wide following. Unfortunately, many of his subscribers and followers keep track of Charles primarily to see what type of nasty shenanigans he will pull on my certifried assistant Nutsy S. Wallenda.

The true tale of Mr Charles Buell's terrifying moment was first recited here in May 2008. If you are a fan of the Buell, and you like a really good scare, then check out this old link which is being recycled for Halloween. I am sure that many of Mr Charles blind legion of fans, as of today, have never read this story of the big guy cracking under pressure. It is not everyday that a home inspector runs into a giant flying cat.

Charles Buell Halloween Story

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

Down below George's head, in the body of this article, is a photo of the culmination of lots of work. For three weeks these students have been enveloped by the intense home inspection training program that is offered at Bellingham Technical College. This program is one of only a few courses that are approved by the state to meet the new state requirements for a "fundamentals of home inspection" class. 

 When I say this is the culmination of their work, I mean that these students are taking their final test which consists of more than 200 questions. The test helps them begin to prepare for the next phase in their careers -- passing the state exams and getting fully licensed.

The Bellingham Technical College course consists of three weeks of classroom education followed by a week of field training. The Bellingham Technical College program has legs, having been in existence for nearly 15 years. It is, at this time, the only college level home inspection training in the state and the college provides graduates with a certificate showing that they have completed a state college level course. Many students choose Bellingham Technical College, when they are looking for training, due to the longterm credibility and the reputation of the program.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

The photo is not one depicting me having a bright idea. If that was the case, the light bulb would be on and it would be turned the other direction. 

This photo was taken by one of the Bellingham Technical College home inspection students. I was making a point. We were in a dark little cellar. The light was burned out. But this is a pet peeve of mine and a dangerous situation. There were a couple light bulbs like that just hanging down. And needless to say, they are low. People often install bulbs like this in basements, with low ceilings, and even in actual crawl spaces.

Many times when we inspectors arrive, all we find left is shards of broken glass and part of the bulb hanging down. I consider this dangerous. A light bulb, that kind of explodes when it breaks, is really nasty and the shards are dangerous as everyone knows. Having one break on your forehead or in your eyes is an experience that could lead to a serious cut or a permanent eye injury.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

Active Bob has challenged all of us to detail how we use our blog to reach potential prospects or existing clients. When I saw that challenge, my ears perked up, and my typing fingers became nimble, because I have been doing that for some time -- in several different ways. I have discussed this topic with my grandson, Mason, and we have decided to share some of our King of the House marketing tips.

First step: I write AR posts about topics that, I hope, will be of interest to Bellingham and Whatcom county home buyers and realtors. When I write those posts, I insert key words that will be found by search engines.  A significant amount of my business comes from people who google and find my articles. When they see my information, they read it and often decide that I seem to know what I am talking about and that makes the phone ring at King of the House.

If you would like an example of my efforts at SEO, here is an on-the-spot search. If you click on the various hits on this first page of google, you will find that six of those hits take you to my firm in one way or another.

Google search -- Bellingham WA home inspector on Oct 26, 2009

This google soup is free. I have not paid a dime for this, other than I do have a website. This power came from Active Rain and localism. I am prolific at writing and many roads lead back to me. So, when google is trying to find a big fish in the pond, their search guru thinks I must be that guy with gills. That allows me prominence in the google universe in my market. I have had people ask if I know how strong I am in google. Duhhhhhhh, that is not by accident. Step one helps me attract customers who never heard of me before.

Second step: I write blog posts that I know will simplify report writing. I realized, years back, that clients are impressed when their inspector sends them to a link and, low and behold, the inspector wrote the article himself. Suddenly that inspector is not just an inspector but a published author, an authority in the field. So, in this case, step two, I am reaching, and enhancing credibility with,  present clients. Below is an example of this method from a recent report. The link at the bottom will take you to a blog I wrote for just this inspection problem.

32) The water heater is installed over finished living space and it has a pan but no drain installed. While the probability of this becoming an issue increases proportionally with the age of a water heater, should the tank develop a leak, a pan and drain route water outdoors so it is less likely that interior areas will be damaged. In your situation, the tank being in a condo, it is improbable that a drain to the outside could be installed. For additional information on other viable options, for your situation, please visit:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1225399/when-second-best-is-as-good-as-it-gets

Third step: One of my roles, as adjunct faculty at Bellingham Technical College, is to alert people to the existence of the BTC state approved home inspection training program. I use Active Rain to do this. I write stories about the curriculum, the courses, etc. In fact, as part of Bob's last challenge, I did a series on BTC. It covered details about our course, facts about other courses offered at the college, the history of the college and even included a map of the campus. The link to the map I send out a lot. When we have speakers coming in to visit, or students driving in from out of town, I will send the link.  Nobody gets lost when they receive the map first. You can click on the BTC logo below to see the series post that includes the map of the campus.

If you wonder how effective that dissemination of information is, state-wide, let's do another google search. Active Rain power, which adds juice to my other posts, allows BTC to have six of the hits, page one of google -- Google search, October 26, 2009.

Active Rain gives you the power. You have to figure out how to use it but once you understand blogging and know how to label your posts, you can have real clout in your market. If I write a blog post, google will find it, and it will be first page google, usually within 20 minutes of the time that I write it. I never dreamed that I could achieve the internet presence that I have today, and I never would have gotten there, had I not found, and then dedicated time to, Active Rain.

I hope that this meets Bob's challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

There are people who refer to those of us in the wet northwest as "moss-backs." It is not really such an inaccurate description -- even if it is not so flattering. We get lots of rain and we have many shade trees. You put that together and we end up with moss on roofs and lichen too.

The photo below is a roof that is only seven years old. It is good quality material but it needs to have the moss removed. Even if a homeowner cannot safely get on a roof to get the moss off, it is very important to have the job done by someone. Around the Bellingham and Whatcom County area, there are many companies that will go up on a roof and, at a reasonable fee, take care of this job. If anyone local needs the name of a reliable party, give me a call. There is a fellow that I recommend, and whom I hire for some of my rental properties. The job needs to be done every year at most houses, and can often be tied in to gutter cleaning.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

In an earlier post I wrote about the way many TV dish installers leave vulnerable spots on the roof. That is a real problem in this wet climate. The post was called So Likely To Leak. These do-it-yourselfers and so-called pros sink fasteners through the surface of the roof and, in so doing, there is an increased potential of leaks. Someone asked, at my previous post, if real installers are guilty of this or just homeowners. Based on what I see, many of the installers are inept -- a bunch of sub-contracted out part-time kids and they cause many of the problems.

Another favorite method, that is highly related to the above topic, is the practice of running the wires from the dish through the gutter. Gee, here is a nice trough to stick our wires in. They do not realize that, in so doing, they have blocked the gutter and all sorts of icky debris will collect at the wire. Drainage zero! I know that this creative routing of the wires was the work of a highly trained "professional" dish installer.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

Whenever someone tells me that the municipal code inspectors have signed-off on a house, that does not mean that I let my defenses down when it comes to looking for problems. I think the code inspectors must have some good days and some bad days. One thing I know for sure is that they are likely to miss many things both large and small.

For example, I was at a newer home recently. The steps at the home, at four different locations, one being inside the others outside, do not conform to the basic safety guidelines. Steps varied from one another, in rise, by more than 3/8" and some steps were 9" high or higher. A step should be no higher than 7 3/4".

Now, don't get me wrong. We need code inspectors. Things would literally be falling apart all over without them. And we home inspectors miss things too. I think the fact is that the more eyes you have looking at a building -- municipal or state inspectors, home inspectors -- the better chance you have of getting more things right or as they should be.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

We home inspectors often talk about plumbers who take a bite out of beams, floor joists, you name it, down in basements and crawl spaces. They can solder, cut, glue and make drains run downhill, but they can be menaces to the structure they work on.

There is a similar menace on many roofs. I see this one a whole lot in this community. That menace is either an overzealous home owner or someone who works for one of these dish TV companies. These folks get up on the roof, about any place they please, and then they screw their dish fasteners onto the roof surface. In so doing, they put holes or penetrations right down into the roof and sheathing. Sometimes these are long bolts -- worse than a simple roofing nail.

On at least two inspections, when entering the attic, I found leaks around the fasteners at these dishes. Somebody needs to give dish installers a basic course in not wrecking roofs. It seems like, one of these days, some homeowner is going to get a good dose of attic mold, sue one of the installation companies, and the companies might start better training the installers. As for the homeowners who do their own work of that caliber, the more you do this job of inspecting, the more you realize that there is no hope of redemption for most of them. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

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This title might be deceptive, in that we have a potential big shocker here.

 It is common to find outside GFCI receptacles with missing weatherproof covers. In the wet Washington climate, you can bet that they will not stand up to the rain and exposure. GFCI's are delicate electronic devices. They have a number of solid state parts inside that do not cope well with water. 

So, now we come back to the title -- No Big Shocker. While the defective receptacle might give someone a shock -- hence it is a big shocker --  the fact that the device had failed is not a shock at all. It was to be expected. These devices, no matter where you live, should have hooded covers when they are located outside.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith