Just walking around a home---looking at it from a distance---I can often tell what might be in store for me on the interior. Home inspectors will usually take this “macro-view” of the home prior to getting up close and personal with the “micro-view.” It is a very important part of the inspectio
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04/29/2013
Lately it seems I have had a run of BIG inspections. The inspections and the writing of the reports for these big inspections is akin to eating an elephant. The only way to accomplish it, without being overwhelmed, is to go at it systematically---one bite at a time---the same way one eats an el
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04/27/2013
A very common source of leaks under the kitchen sink is at the sprayer head. Every time you use the sink faucet---whether you use the sprayer or not---the hose to the sprayer is “pressurized.” In other words it is made ready for use. Of course the sprayer head sits looking pretty in its little
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04/24/2013
As long as people insist on not installing gutter guard systems on their homes, the gutters will insist on regular maintenance. So what does “regular maintenance” look like? Certainly not like the following picture. The amount of maintenance necessary will depend on lots of factors. The types o
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04/21/2013
I (like most of my readers that have websites) have website analytics to help me keep track of who is visiting my site and what search terms they are using to find my site. I have noticed a growing trend of people “hiding” the search terms they use to find stuff on the internet and this makes it
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04/19/2013
While some jurisdictions are actually wrestling with the notion of banning garbage disposers altogether, and some jurisdictions already ban them for use if a septic system is involved, this post is not really about that kind of future. This post is perhaps closer to “Back to the Future” in terms
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04/18/2013
A common component of the plumbing of homes into the mid 1950’s was lead “closet bends.” A closet bend is the elbow that is the transition piece from the drain to the toilet. Today’s closet bends actually attach to the toilet itself to make a very positive connection. These older lead bends mer
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04/17/2013
I often find instances where it would appear that designers have lost their thinking caps or never had one to begin with. Take this 6 story building for example. There are probably a hundred condo units in this building and every unit has a dryer. All these dryers have to terminate at the exte
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04/14/2013
Before I can answer that I have to know who was down in the crawl space at the time? Nobody you say? Oh---that’s right you said “sounds” like someone was! When I entered the crawl space I could hear the all too common ticking sound of water dripping on the plastic ground cover. I could see it dr
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04/12/2013
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