I did an inspection of a 5 year old home the other day that was a treat. My life would be a lot easier if all homes had so few issues. I don’t want to imply that the house did not have any issues at all—that would be silly. All homes can benefit from some improvement, upgrade or change. Ther
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11/29/2013
The following is the result of a conversation that is ongoing on another forum. It does make one wonder if our educational system has lost its way and whether our goals and dreams have lost their way. So are we getting stupider as we get smarter? While the question is a bit rhetorical, it likel
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11/26/2013
A while ago I inspected a home built in 1957—not nearly as old as me but still almost 60 years old. This is not unusual as there are lots of homes from that time period in the area. What was unusual about this home is that it still had all the original single pane windows. Even homes with singl
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11/24/2013
We have all endured presumptuous “know-it-alls” in our lives—the people that have not only forgotten more than we will ever know, but that are dead-set on convincing the world of that fact. They think we are idiots and they will do their best to get us, and the rest of the world, to agree with th
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11/22/2013
There is an urban legend, or perhaps even a rural legend, that if something has “stood the test of time,” that fact is supposed to have some meaning pertinent to its future. How can “anything” get better with time, or even stay the same over time? Would you rather have a nice 3 year old Badger Mo
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11/18/2013
Now that another heating season is here, it seems the airwaves of both Radio and TV are filled with companies selling their duct cleaning services. As counter-intuitive as it might seem, most duct cleaning is not only unnecessary but can make indoor air quality worse. There are a few reasons when
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11/16/2013
If you are lucky enough to be in the Seattle area on Monday the 2nd of December, please stop by the 14 Carrot Café for our 6thActiveRain Meetup. René Fabre and I will be hosting and we would both love to see as many smiling faces as possible—there will be plenty of coffee and cinnamon buns to
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11/16/2013
Fire Safety and electric wall heaters. When it comes to fire safety, what constitutes “following the instructions?” Take a look at the following picture. As you can see, the curtains have been restrained away from the heater. Barely visible in the picture is the warning label on the top edge of
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11/14/2013
I have blogged about this defect several other times, but I always find it interesting nonetheless. (Please don’t think I am talking about defective teenagers.) Surprisingly, I find this defect as many as 2 to 3 times a year. Most of my readers that have garages, with overhead doors and automat
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11/12/2013
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