Kurt Nickelsen's (kurt) Blog

IS75         Finding:     Metal louvered vents have been installed on some or all foundation vents that reduce air flow and create excessive moisture in the crawl space.Recommendation:     Remove louvered vents and rescreen vent openings (see diagram) with ¼ inch mesh galvanized hardware cloth.  ...

IS68         Finding:     Stored items are up against exterior wall (see diagram).Recommendation:     Move stored items so they are at least four feet away from structure exterior.Much like the firewood issue, as mentioned in a previous post, debris that is stacked too close to a home causes a nu...

IS67         Finding:     Stacked firewood is up against exterior wall. (see diagram)Recommendation:     Move firewood and/or lumber piles so they are at least four feet away from structure exterior.----This has a tendency to be very controversial for many reasons.  First, almost everybody who ha...

Lender Essentially Asks Us to Lie so Her Client Can Get the Loan He Needed to Fix up a House  My son (Justin) was contacted a few weeks ago by a lender in Portland to do an inspection on a home where the owner was trying to get a loan to fix the place up. Apparently (as usual) the appraiser menti...

IS5          Finding:      Evidence of dampwood termites was present _______________. Recommendation:     Since dampwood termites will not reinfest dry wood, removal or replacement of infested wood and elimination of excessive moisture will be sufficient for control.  Much like Moisture Ants, Dam...

Conducive Conditions to Wood Destroying Organisms in Washington State The "Pest and Dryrot" portion of a home inspection in Washington State is goverened by the Washington State Department of Agriculture.   As outlined by the State, this portion of the home inspection comments on three things: Wo...

Manufactured homes in Washington State are governed by the Department of Labor and Industries.  Anything that is considered an "alteration" to manufactured structures by the Department of Labor and Industries requires a permit and inspection by the Department. Some common alterations: Adding awni...

AFCI Breakers, What They are, Some Information on Recalled Breakers What is an AFCI Breaker? "An AFCI is an electrical circuit protection device (circuit breaker) that detects electrical arcs from cracked, broken or damaged electrical insulation and shuts off power to the circuit before the arcin...

Types of Products •-          Plywood•-          OSB - Oriented Strand Board•-          Composite Material, like LP-Louisiana Pacific As mentioned before, decay can set in when the temperature is between 40-115 degrees (generally) and with a moisture content of 20% (even on the surface) in the wo...

•-          Wood Decay, "Rot", etc. is actually a fungus, much like a mold.  •-          The fungus spores are always in the environment, ready and willing to attack if the conditions are right.•-          The "right conditions" are (generally) moisture content in a wood that is above 20% and tem...