Steven L. Smith's Blog

I work as a Bellingham home inspector, serving all of Whatcom county and frequently Skagit county and Island county. On the job, I see a number of old homes. When a home is older, and the foundation is post and block (pier), it is very common that some settling will have taken place over the years. In fact, that is so common in my experience that one of my disclaimers on an older home with that type of foundation notes that this could be ongoing.

When possible, if there are smooth floors without carpets, I will put a large glass marble on the floor and see which way it rolls. Sometimes when I give it a nudge, it goes nowhere but often it will roll down a slope in one or more directions. That was the case the other day.

Here the marble headed -- consistently -- to the east. Sometimes, when an inspector goes into the crawl space, it is hard to tell what the exact structural problem causing a slope might be. It can be as subtle as unprofessional repairs that left the floors uneven. In this case, it was quite apparent that the primary issue was settling. Below is a shot of a pier and a post at the higher west end.

The piers under the house are simply set on dirt with no poured footings of any type. These piers, and based on the look of the landscape attempts were made to solve this problem before, are resting on disturbed soil.  Bottom line: They are sinking and this sinking has led to structural issues below. This problem, along with many others in the crawl space, will require the services of an experienced and qualified contractor.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

I own a few rental properties so I understand the trials and tribulations of being a landlord. I mention that I own rentals in my web advertising. As a result of that, fairly often, I am hired by those who are looking to buy a potential rental property. They think that, by being a landlord myself, I will be able to better relate to their concerns at the time of the inspection. You know the kinds of things -- unsafe stairs, guardrail problems, electrical issues. Their big worry is any deficiency that might lead to a lawsuit by a tenant.

In doing such an inspection the other day, where the client made it readily apparent that her primary concern was safety issues, I had an interesting thought.

I was doing my preliminary pass around the house and, as is the case 99.9999% of the time, vegetation was growing against the wood siding and trim. I was snapping a photo of that, when I took another look and it all registered. I noticed the unpleasant smell and the purple flowers.  This was not just another of those plants trying to do-in the siding, this plant is poisonous and very common around here. See "Deadly Nightshade." 

Basically, nightshade grows as a weed in Bellingham and vicinity. In my own backyard, I have to try to eradicate it on an annual basis. Back when I was a kid, fifty years ago, my mom used to warn me about not eating nightshade. As I said, it smells yucky, so what would be the appeal to a kid? Well, it has these red berries that hang down during part of the season.

From what I have read, the berries are less likely to contain serious doses of poison than other parts of the plant, but they still can lead to death or serious poisoning.

The bottom line is that any person, especially those looking at buying a rental house, ought to get rid of this weed. The plant is more than just a siding-wrecker. It could be a serious accident waiting to happen and it needs a date with the dumpster or an herbicide.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Home inspectors know that, often, vermiculite attic insulation contains at least some asbestos fibers. Vermiculite and asbestos are different but, due to the proximity of the mines in Libby, Montana, some asbestos got into vermiculite back in those days when vermiculite was so popular.

The general safety guideline is that vermiculite may be left in place in an attic -- some people prefer to have it removed -- but it should not be disturbed. A few times I have run into situations where that is easier said than done. Below we have an older home and they have a storage area, small closet, under the eaves. The open "floor" of that closet, which you just know people will be putting Christmas ornaments and boxes in, has vermiculite attic insulation.

In that kind of situation, the buyers have to figure out what they want to do. Sure, they can test the vermiculite for asbestos but, last I heard, the guideline is that whether it tests positive or not, you should still consider some asbestos might be present in trace amounts that were not detected in the samples provided. These one time miracle products that end up being a pain years later are just that  -- a pain to deal with down the road.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections