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

When a home has a crawl space with vents, often we will find that those vents are blocked by earth, leaves or organic matter. They are at grade and, in many instances, the homeowner needs to put in wells at the vents. These can be pre-purchased in plastic or metal. Sometimes people make them of pressure-treated lumber.

The wells are of little use when, over the years, the homeonwer than allows the wells to become full of debris which turns to soil and, once again, the vent is blocked and below grade.

This information applies equally to wells at basement windows.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

I have the day off today -- yippy -- and I am going to relax a bit. The weather is not so appealing in anyone's book. It is damp, windy and chilly. However, I think that I am going to head over to Fairhaven (south Bellingham) and do some tramping around today.

In a vision of things to come, nice weather this summer, the organizers have released the film schedule for the movies that they will be showing at the Village Green which is an outdoor venue to the west of the well-known Village Books.

The Bellingham Herald wrote a story on that today and, as you can see, films range from adult fare to those for kids. You can read the story here.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

I have, below, a sample of a test question that relates to home inspector laws in Washington state. See if you can get the answer correct, then I will have some explanatory comments below.

In Washington state, an inspector may NOT disclose information, without permission, to any party other than the _________ except for certain issues involving health and safety.

A. Referring real estate agent

B. Client

C. Seller's agent

D. Resident or owner of house being inspected

The answer is B. And, if agents are not aware of it, the inspector may not give a copy of the inspection report, or discuss it, with a real estate agent unless the client gives permission to do so. Many agents, as no surprise, expect that they will get a copy of the report. In the past, on a few occassions, the client has SPECIFICALLY told me that I may not share the report with his realtor. When that is the case, the inspector must do as the client says, even if the agent is preturbed.

As to the line about sharing information about health and safety issues, that is subjective but might involve hot water that is way too hot, a deck that might fall off the house, a major plumbing leak under the house. Decay on siding, an old furnace, a torn shingle on the roof are not likely to make that list.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

We home inspectors are processing a huge amount of information as we pass through a house. Distractions can lead to the inspector forgetting something or making a mistake. While most inspectors use a checklist of some type, part of the job is intuitive and there is lots of data to record and any number of curve balls might be thrown at us along the way. Sellers who bring the wild kids along and, while the inspector concentrates, various underage family members tinker with things --- like the burners on the range -- can be a real risk as well.

There are situations that are out of the "norm." Situations where a homeowner has something setup differently than the average homeowner can be a sign of rough waters. You know, the fire-door to the garage is propped open for the pet raccoon, duct tape keeps the broken furnace cover in place. These oddities, and trying to get things back as they were, can drive an inspector to drinking. I had one the other day where it took me, and the realtor, ten minutes to get the hot water shutoff to a tub. I know it was like that before I began, but nobody provided a warning.

Sometimes the inspector has to connect the dots to cover the rear appendage. Case in point: Cat. Some people teach the cat to use the toilet. Clue: green insert and kitty litter.

I have no clue where said cat was. I know he was in the house because I saw a flash of orange when I was on the outside. Once inside, he was hiding from me.

Most homeowners want the lid left down on the toilet. Inspectors get used to doing that as a courtesy. I was done inspecting this first toilet of three and I put the lid down. Then I saw, psychic abilities on my part, a potential "stupid home inspector" complaint in my future. 

Fact: Despite the cat's low indoor profile, there was a cat lurking nearby. And this was a smart cat, obviously a reader and a doer -- a cat of action.

I had to assume that he was used to indoor plumbing because, despite my seeing a scratching post and food and toys, I saw no kitty litter box. If I was to, in my absent-minded delirium, close the lid on this critically situated toilet, I would be putting the cat's urinary tract and digestive system under duress. And, if the cat decided to go elsewhere, I could visualize the call in my future.

The phone rings, and I answer: "Hey you inspected my house and you owe me a new rug and a new hardwood floor. And, frankly, the poor kitty needs mental health counseling. What kind of dummy are you? My cat uses the toilet in the master bath, has for months now, and you put the lid down. You are such a moron, couldn't you figure that one out? I hope you are insured and have deep pockets because this is going to cost you a pretty penny."

This sounds far fetched, and probably is, but anyone who has been doing this for a few years knows that homeowners think that inspectors are psychic and can foresee all future eventualities, even when the homeowner has some odd ball situation at his or her house. I could have dodged a nearly invisible bullet that time. This is not a profession for those who are easily rattled or stressed-out by accusations or controversy.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

Home inspection standards of practice do not usually call for such inspections, but most inspectors take a look at some of the appliances. One of the first things that I look at, at the refrigerator/freezer, is the gasket on the refrigerator door.

The photo below is a condition that I see, often way worse than this, at many of the refrigerators. It is, more often than not, at the refrigerator compartment and NOT at the freezer. 

I had an appliance repairman tell me that this is usually the result of people and their juice. They store juice in the refrigerator and it spills and splashes. Once it starts sticking to the gasket, then it ends up that the gasket tears. The refrigerator gasket above might be that same old story -- note the contents in the refrigerator in the photo below.

The appliance repairman, the Maytag guy, told me that if people will simply wash that gasket weekly and after obvious spills, the torn gaskets can be avoided.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

The fallacy is that pressure treated wood will last almost forever. The truth is that it can rot quite quickly. The post shown here is pressure-treated. It has been in the ground roughly ten years. It is not an anomaly, many of the other posts on this same fence were rotted away. Sometimes this is contributed to by the installer cutting the end off and not treating that. Other times, despite the best of efforts, the wood simply rots.

Pressure-treated lumber, such as this, is okay in some applications -- even when buried in soil. Heck, this is a fence post for goodness sakes. But, as an inspector, you sure hate to see pressure-treated posts down in the crawl space buried in two inches of soil.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

The buzz in the local news lately is that those of us in Bellingham should see  a modest increase in the prices of homes in the coming months. 

That applies to several Washington cities and the prognostication is from CNNMoney.com. CNN predicts that Bellingham, listed in their top 25 communities around the nation, will see a rise in prices this year. They suggest that the rise will be nearly 3%. It is interesting to note that eight cities, where they are predicting a rise, are in Washington state. Washington tops the list when looking at the numbers. Here is a link to the story, you can see how communities near you fare.

Prognostications are just that -- predictions. It will be interesting to see just how right or wrong they end up being.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

I cannot tell you how often, in the course of home inspections at King of the House, I find all of the various types of air-handling ducts that are loose. These might be the newer flex ducts from furnaces or exhaust fans, or it might even be metal ducting. When it is a dryer duct, that loose duct can lead to a big mess of lint in the crawl space or the attic. All of the humidity, being sent into the crawl space or the attic, is a bad thing too. And if it is a heat duct that is loose, you are not getting much heat from the disconnected duct.

Sometimes the duct that is loose is metal, often a furnace duct or a dryer duct.

Then there are the flex ducts that are so common today.

Often, when a duct has come loose, it is because someone made the original connection, or made a repair, with duct tape.

While called duct tape, it is one of the worst things to use to fasten ducts to one another. Home Energy magazine said:

"Relying on duct tape as a structural joint fastener can allow ducts to come completely undone. Duct tape can "melt" from heat. Even when a joint doesn't come apart, duct tape can dry-out over time and lose it's seal."

So what do you do? The answer is that it depends. Typically, on flex ducts, a cinch connector made of metal or nylon is used. A simple run from an exhaust fan, or a rigid metal heat duct, might utilize a single "short" sheet metal screw at each joint.

Now, dryer ducts are tricky. You are not supposed to use screws, they catch lint. So many appliance professionals suggest, instead, using longer sections of metal ducting so the run has fewer joints. Then they suggest securing the joints with metal foil tape. In a related matter, those short sections of flex duct, often in place behind dryers, are NOT designed to pass through a floor or a wall. They are simply meant to be a short, inside the house, transition piece.

Air-handling ducts, other than the already insulated flex ducts (center photo above), should be wrapped with insulation where they pass through attic or crawl space areas. This is another often neglected installation detail with air-handling ducts and you can read more about the issue here.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

In older homes it is common to find sockets with bare light bulbs in the clothes closets. Many years back nobody though much about this.

However, over the years, there have been some serious fires the result of incandescent bulbs coming in contact with storage, such as fabrics. These combustibles might smolder for some time but, when the fire breaks out, the consequences can be devastating.

In closets, old or new, light fixtures should be covered and approved for the application.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith

When I do home inspections in Bellingham and Whatcom County, assuming the water heater is functioning, I take a reading of the hot water temperature as the water comes out the tap. The hottest I have found so far was 165 degrees F in a rental unit in Ferndale that was occupied by a young couple and their seven-week old infant.

Water that is too hot is dangerous and it can be lethal given unfortunate circumstances. I casually knew a business man in Great Britain. I learned that he passed away. He had been on vacation in another European country and, while showering, he was seriously burned. The man was older, he could not move very fast, and two things took place (1) the water in the hotel was set very hot (150 degree range); (2) the hot and cold valves were reversed so what he thought was the cold position was the hot. This man survived that incident, with a stay in the hospital for burns, but he passed away only a few months later. His family issued a release that said that this man never recovered from the burns and that they precipitated his death.

I tell people about the risks of water temperatures set over 120 degrees F. But I saw a manufacturer's tag on a water heater the other day that I thought was excellent. It was pasted so that anyone setting the thermostat would see it. The chart showed how exponentially more dangerous water becomes as it exceeds a setting of 120 degrees F.

It is a surprise to many that the time difference for a scalding burn, between 120 degrees and 130 degrees F, is a full 4 1/2 minutes. That 10 degrees is a nice safety net for those who set the water temperature at 120 degrees F. Below is a water temperature reading in a residence. 

In the circumstances above, I recommend that the water temperature be turned down to 120 degrees F and that, after adjusting, the clients should confirm a safe setting by running hot water in a glass and checking it with a simple meat thermometer.

Adjusting the temperature on a gas hot water heater is easy -- use the dial on the front of the tank. An electric water heater typically involves removing the cover or covers over the thermostats. Live wiring is exposed under those covers so there is some doubt as to whether or not these settings should be attempted by the average homeowner. Whomever ends up adjusting the thermostat(s) at an electric tank, if there are two elements and two thermostats, the thermostats need to both be set the same. You do not want one set hot and the other set cool.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven L. Smith