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SPOKANE HOME INSPECTION - SPOKANE HOME INSPECTORS - HOME INSPECTION


Spokane Home Inspection is just one of the Real Estate Services we recommend here at Team Quintana. Below is one of the Spokane Home Inspectors we recommend. There are many home inspectors in Spokane Washington but they are not all the same. Home Inspection is important and you want someone with a good track record and useful reports and a home inspection checklist. Our Real Estate resources are full of useful information for Spokane Home Buyers. The relationships we have created with the business service providers is of great value to Spokane home buyers. Don Kiehl with Amerispec Home Inspection has done an excellent job for our customers. We have used many home inspectors and have found Amerispec Home Inspections to be some of the top in the industry. Our buyer resources include more than just information. You can tap into our tools, Home search website, home inspectors, and many other real estate service. Home inspection is highl recommended before you buy any home and a good inspector gives you useful information on the Spokane home you're going to buy.



Spokane Home Inspection Blogs - Home Inspection Tips



Bellingham Wa. Home Inspection Blog, Steven L. Smith
Blaine, Where N/A Does Not Mean "Not Applicable"7/24/2008 6:28 PM
I found out yesterday that N/A does not necessarily mean not applicable. I went up to Canada, which is only about 17 miles from Bellingham. Now that the Canadian dollar is worth more, many Canadians come to the US to shop. Then, with school being out, that is quadrupled.

Supposedly, to help travelers at each side of the border -- prior to the exits for alternate routes -- a freeway sign that updates is installed and it predicts border waits at the different crossings. Yesterday, it  said that the truck crossing was a 25 minute wait. It said that the Peace Arch, the main crossing, was N/A.  Not applicable? That says to me that the border wait would be not applicable, as in minimal wait.

I found out that I was wrong in how I interpreted that. I am just not smart enough to figure out government speak. When I arrived at the Peach Arch, photo below, the N/A wait was one hour and twenty minutes. I was more than half way to the crossing when I snapped this photo.

 

So what is the correct way to interpret N/A? I spoke with a lawyer friend today, guess you have to have a legal mind to get it. I told him how wrong the sign was, complained that they don't update it. He said, "oh yes they do -- you just don't get it". He went on to explain that N/A means that the wait is so long that they cannot estimate it. Hence, not applicable,  as in we will not predict it, we have no clue, slow down and wait.

At least I did get an education today -- some insight into government logic. It was my lesson for the day: The totally obvious is not always totally obvious and N/A does not mean not applicable.

 

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Please Bee Careful7/24/2008 12:25 PM
Aggressive hornets and yellow jackets outside the home can really spoil the barbecue. While they are normally a mere annoyance, we have all heard of people killed by bees. Usually that only happens when that person had a bee allergy or was unlucky enough to be enveloped by a swarm while trapped in a confined space, hence being unable to escape. Probably the most common place for this to occur at the home is in the attic. Bees like attics.

 Actually, I hate to use the word "bees" when speaking of hornets,wasps, yellow jackets. To me, bees are the obvious good guys -- the worker bees, the fat little honey bees, the orchard mason bees that are diminishing in numbers and creating real challenges for modern agriculture. This blog is about the "bad guy" bees.

In Whatcom County and Bellingham we have a great number of yellow jackets or hornets.

bellingham home inspector, king of the house

We also have mud-dauber wasps, that frequent attics, but they are not overly aggressive and help reduce the populations of other blood-sucking insects.

How do bees get in the attic. The obvious applies: Roof vents that have holes in the screens. But, in my experience, more often than not, the birds and the bees enter through rusted out screens at the "bird block" soffit vents (photo below). Birds, and bats can get in too, create a mess in the attic, but that is a mild problem compared to an attic full of hornets. 

 

The problem above is caused by age and time. The screens deteriorated. There are other times when the problem is the result of sloppy workmanship by a builder. This photo below is a good example of a builder doing a poor job or taking shortcuts.

  BellinghamWA home inspector, king of the house

Look at that gap below the two holes. In bee colloquial language, a bee could drive a mack truck through that wide gap. The screens were fine, but you might just as well take them out. This condition existed all around the perimeter of the home.

Did you know that once yellow jackets get into the attic, they might not be content to stay there? I have talked to several people who had them chew through a sheet rock wall and suddenly swarm into the house. We all hate uninvited party guests! Yesterday I was inspecting a property where that kind of invasion had occurred. The photo below is actual size and was in the ceiling. Got bees? Not anymore, they are all in the living room!

Bottom line: Bee careful. If you are a home owner, a realtor, an appraiser or an inspector, take precautions before entering an attic, or even a crawl space. Walk around the house and look for obvious bird or bee entry points, prior to opening the hatch. Remember, if birds can get in, bees can get in 100 times easier. When you enter the attic or crawl space, stop, look and listen. If all seems to be okay, then proceed but make sure you know how to get out quickly, in an emergency! Don't get turned around.

If you have never seen or heard hornets or yellow jackets, nor experienced the feeling of being in close confines with them, this video does a nice job of conveying that creepy crawly feeling.   

Please bee careful, the life you save might be your own!

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Knock Me Off My Feet7/24/2008 8:38 AM

This problem is a pretty obvious design flaw, and not hard to fix. More often than not, I see this mistake made outside a door at a bedroom to the backyard. The problem -- there is a small stairway, no landing at the top, and the door opens out OVER the steps. It does provide a certain element of security as it is just plain hard to get inside without sweeping yourself off your feet.

In this case, efforts to keep the crazy canine on the deck led to putting in this gate. Problem is, it is hinged the wrong way. I am fairly agile, doing what I do, and I had to do a dance not unlike a combination of the tango and the lambada to get in and up on that deck. The good news is that the repair is simple. How about reversing the hinges so the gate opens over the deck, not over the steps? Sometimes, when something is so obviously wrong, you have to wonder why it ended being done that way to begin with. While this is amusing, it is a fairly common problem that does present safety issues, even on steps that are not too high off the ground.

bellingham home inspection, king of the house

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Not So Clueless in Bellingham7/22/2008 4:46 PM
It is always nice to have a clue as to what might be happening next. I think we often get such clues but, sometimes, recognizing them is the trick. We are exposed to so much stimuli that it can be easy to have something pass right over our heads. Poof --- and the clue is gone!

I had a major clue yesterday and, after walking by it about five times, it all registered. The good news is, that clue -- when it sunk in -- kept me from having wet pants. Let me explain. It has been dry as a bone in Bellingham since about the end of June. I am inspecting a home next to the site of new construction. As I passed by the foundation to the new house, I saw all this water at the end of the foundation. I thought, "gee, were those guys running water or what?" Next time I thought, "huh, is that ground water?" I decided to snap a photo.  

bellingham home inspector, king of the house

Because I saw all of that water, I decided that I needed to absolutely, for sure, no doubt about it, put on my full crawl space outfit -- the green machine -- prior to going under the house. I am glad that I did because, once I got under there, I saw that this same groundwater had given no amnesty to the house next door -- a 20 year old home. In Bellingham and Western Washington, we have more than our share of ground water but I did not really expect it as dry as it has been lately. I have not seen any significant standing water, other than plumbing leaks, in a few weeks. This is another example of a good reason to have an inspection. All that water evaporating up into the home is unhealthy and can rot the wood too. You really need to know about it if you are buying a house.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

Today's Very Seedy Blog7/22/2008 10:09 AM
I try to keep from getting downright dirty and seedy here at Active Rain. But sometimes, an honest man has no choice but to get down in the dirt in the trenches. This is a seedy blog! We are going to talk rodents, mice and rats. When an inspector goes into a crawl space, one of the first clues that there are "vermin in our midst" is insulation that has been torn or pulled down from under the floor or that has been torn off heat ducts

Of course, nothing is ever as simple as one would like and sometimes the problem is that the insulation was not well-supported and it tumbled down by itself. If the bodies of vermin or droppings are present, those establish occupancy by undesirables. However, sometimes the clues are less disgusting but equally obvious. The photo below is an example of a way to make a 100 percent positive ID of rodents. 

bellingham wa home inspector king of the house

All that chaff is bird seed, mainly sunflower seeds. Around here we do not have birds that thrive in crawl spaces so how does bird seed get up in the insulation --- yes rodents. The situation in the photo below is a bit less common -- bird seed along the sill plate but, again, it was not left by any stinkin' bird. Had I been guessing, I would have thought this might have been activity from mice. In this case, I passed by a dirty rat, very deceased, on the way to the other side of the crawl space. So I guess the big guys were in play too. In the Pacific Northwest and Bellingham, every homeowner needs to keep an eye out for these critters. They are opportunists and can live just about anywhere.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections



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