Properties, Houses and Condos for Sale in St Petersburg Treasure Island Florida

No matter what your chosen career---there is a learning curve.

In the trades when the boss tells the helper to go do something, the boss may assume that the helper knows more about the details of what he has been asked to do than he actually does.  In some respects this accounts for how so many defects happen in new construction and in newly remodeled homes.  It is not that the contractor doesn’t know the right way to do it---the right way just hasn’t been adequately communicated.

Take this brand new home’s master bathroom shower. 

Any electrical contractor is going to know that the light fixture inside the shower has to have a water tight cover.  But when the contractor leaves instructions for the helper to install all the decorative trims on the can-lights---while he is off skiing for the day---you might end up with the wrong trim installed on the can-light in the shower.

It is a pretty simple fix---and one the helper will not likely forget the next time.  This is of course unless this is not the first time and he ends up getting fired.

 

 

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

 

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Click on the Rose to check out: AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

My WORDLESS WEDNESDAY pictures and some selected POEMS & STORIES.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

 

As houses sit for months, and in the case of this house over a year, conditions can develop that buyers might not consider.  This one photo is reason enough to get a home inspection!  This buyer told me he had been to (and since there was a combo box on the door INSIDE) the house many times.  He had not noticed a lot of what I had on my extensive report, but certainly had not noticed this.

Unfortunately it was a very cloudy and dark day, so this picture may not do this circumstance justice.

This is the gas water heater vent. 

IT HAS BECOME A BIRD CONDO!

At the lower center hole a little one is actually looking out, but not too visible!

This is what I was reminded of when I saw it.

It's a virtual apartment building for birds!

There was grass or a little head peaking out of all eight holes the water heater vent had to offer.

These birds are very clever little fellows.  They know that nobody is living in the home.

Finding this convenient place to locate their nests, probably last spring, they moved in and have raised their families there ever since!

BUT WHILE THIS LOOKS CUTE, IT IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS THING FOR A NEW HOMEOWNER!!

I mentioned that the buyer had not noticed this.  What if he had decided NOT to have a home inspection?  He would have moved in.  That water heater is located in an attic space, right beside the upstairs bedroom in this cape cod home!  They would have lit the pilot light and began heating the tank. 

This flue goes down vertically about 2' below the roof, where it turns at a 45 degree angle for about 3' and then to a slight incline for another 4' or so.

Birds would have been killed by the CO produced by the heater.  As they died, they may have fallen into this vent, partially or totally clogging it!

As that poisonous exhaust was discharged it would have been blocked, forcing CO into the home, and that bedroom.

NEED I ASK YOU THE RESULT?

The simple removal of bird nests will prevent all of this, and it was discovered during a home inspection.

My recommendation:  Get a home inspection before you buy!  It may save a life, or two, or more.  Maybe even yours!

 

 

Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC

Based in Bristow, serving all of Northern Virginia

www.jaymarinspect.com

Crutch - noun - /krutch/ - a long stick with a crosspiece at the top, used as a support by a lame person.

My first introduction to a crutch was in reading Uncle Wiggily books as a small child.  He had a barber pole crutch to help with his rheumatism, and was never without it.

I was pretty sure I knew what a crutch is used for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And if you did too, we were both wrong!

Yesterday, on a home inspection with AR's Renee Montgomery, we ran into this.

Oh, it's a long stick, with a crosspiece at the top, but in this case it does not support a lame person.

And it's working pretty well!

The door on the left had the hardware still in place to lock the door.

But the right door had no hardware, and since the garage door opener was disconnected and not operating, there was no way to lock the door.  An enterprising person, with a vision for multi-use, found this crutch somewhere in the house and put it to use.  And it works great!

When a house is for sale it is not a good idea to have an unlocked door.  Too inviting!

When is a door not a door?  When it's ajar!  And ajar, it's an invitation...

 

 

Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC

Based in Bristow, serving all of Northern Virginia

www.jaymarinspect.com

Homeowners can improve their homes in any of a million ways.  When doing so, they should always consider a few things.  Following this list of common sense steps can help make any project a proud project.

REMEMBER, WHEN DONE WITH ANY HOME-IMPROVEMENT PROJECT, THE HOUSE SHOULD LOOK LIKE IT WAS ALWAYS THAT WAY!  IT SHOULD BE THAT HARD TO TELL.

1.  Decide what project you want to do or what part of the house you want to improve.

2.  Do research!  Learn proper techniques, which materials will get the final result you want.  When caulking, you only want to put the caulking where it should be put!

3.  Be sure to use the proper material for the job at hand.  Some caulks are not made for some places!  Matching colors is important to the final product when you are done!

4.  Practice first!  Be sure you have the knowledge and skill to accomplish the task(s) at hand.

5.  If not, or if it is a project that requires skills you do not have, hire the right professional to do the job for you!

6.  When hiring anybody, AGAIN, do your research!  Get references!  See what this contractor has done before!

7.  If doing the job yourself, be certain you have all the materials you need to FINISH the task!  Nothing drags on longer or deflates egos more than unfinished home-improvement projects!

8.  Then go, and do, that voodoo that you do so well!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REMEMBER, WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH ANY HOME-IMPROVEMENT PROJECT, THE HOUSE SHOULD LOOK LIKE IT WAS ALWAYS THAT WAY!

Fortunately, on this house, the homeowner/contractor's ladder extended only to about 20', because only the bottom third of the upper-level windows got caulked!

The flip side of that good fortune is that all of the lower windows are very visible!

My recommendation:  Well, you already know my recommendation!  I have way too much fun with this, um, job... *

 

This most instructional blog has been brought to you by Lotsa Nuts! 

Because when you feel like a snack, eat Lotsa Nuts!

After all, we are what we eat!

 

 

* Don't tell Billy Jays about this project!  That infomercial would be out in a minute!

 

 

Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC

Based in Bristow, serving all of Northern Virginia

www.jaymarinspect.com

     Perhaps one of the single most “expendable” components of a home today is the solid masonry chimney.  In new construction they are almost entirely absent----even on very high-end homes.  They have given way, to any number of cheaper versions of chimneys----often without any masonry at all.

     When inspecting older homes, that do have brick chimneys, they are often in need of repairs----like the one pictured at the left in one of the old Seattle neighborhoods near Volunteer Park.  The costs of these repairs often run into the many thousands of dollars. 

     Because bricks are heavy, these chimneys can be a serious safety hazard as well.  No one wants to have a brick bounce off their head when they visit you.

     Sometimes converting these old brick chimneys to direct-vent gas burning fireplaces can be an economical thing to do, instead of taking on these costly repairs.  While gas fireplaces are not cheap-----if you have to rebuild the top six feet of your chimney----that is not cheap either.  It is not possible to construct a wood burning fireplace that will be as efficient as an air-tight, direct-vent, gas fireplace.  These gas fireplaces will provide heat and romance.  When you are lying on your bear skin rug (a sleeping bag will do) in front of the fireplace with your sweetie, neither one of your back-sides will be cold like they used to get with that old fashioned wood burning fireplace.  Old fireplace chimneys sucked tremendous amounts of heat out of the home.  You felt warm as long as you faced the fire----but surfaces away from the fire(like your naked butt), or other rooms, became colder----even drafty.

     Wood burning chimneys required that the top of the chimney be specific distances away from roof surfaces to protect the roof from fire, therefore, these chimneys could end up being VERY tall.  Typically, inspectors will look for the top of the chimney to be 24” higher than any part of the roof  10’ away---horizontally. 

     Gas burning appliances do not have to follow the same rules.  Therefore the top part of the brick chimney----which is usually in the worst condition and the most poorly maintained----can be removed down to the roof line----or even below the roof line if the chimney runs up through the center of the house.  The old chimney flue is lined with a metal vent pipe and a metal cap is then installed to cover the top.  The new metal vent for the gas fireplace (or other gas appliance) then runs through this cap. 

     Many newer homes avoid the entire masonry structure and vent directly out though the side wall of the house----saving way more money than what it would have cost to build a masonry chimney.  Sometimes it is cheaper to take down the whole chimney than it is to rebuild one that is in poor condition (and doesn't everyone need patio bricks?).

    

     As I stated already, gas vents do not have to stick though the roof very far.  Most roofs (6/12 pitch and lower) only require that the vent stick through the roof 12”----barely enough to become “unsightly.”  This is true whether the vent is for a gas water heater, or a gas furnace or a gas fireplace.

     So go ahead and roll out that bear skin rug----or sleeping bag!

 

 

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

 

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Click on the Rose to check out: AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

Inspecting real estate in Nashville, TN...
     Electrical problems, both large and small, are sone of the issues that I find while inspecting properties in the Nashville real estate market. Other than the rust on the plug face, all looks well. The trained eye of the inspector not only focuses on the rust, but the burn mark on the upper left corner of the outlet.   
     While not a "deal killer" when GFI (ground fault interrupter) outlets get burned, it is best to replace them to prevent future failures. Replacing this $20 item can be the difference between serious injury or death.

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© 2010 michael thornton | complete home inspections, inc./complete video promotions | brentwood, tn | 615.661.0297 | www.completehomeinspectionsonline.com
Helping YOU Help Others Live THEIR American Dream

      While the following picture of a defect may constitute “trying” to do something---it is actually accomplishing very little.  Most attempts at “trying” to do something rarely accomplishes as much as simply “doing” something.  Also, 50% of nothing is still nothing, this pipe will need a proper flashing to keep all water out of the house structure.

 

Charles Buell

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Click on the Rose to check out: AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

      Well, not actually at the time of inspection----but it WAS MOVED.

     Several times a year I inspect houses that were not originally built on the site where they now sit.  I am not talking about modular or mobile homes.  I am talking about houses that for one reason or another were built somewhere else and then moved to their current location.

     Some of the reasons homes get moved are: to put them on other parts of the lot, to get them out of the path of highways that are being built, or to move them away from where schools or other large scale projects are being built.  Some times it is simply because someone wanted to save a nice old house from the wrecking ball.

     A couple of years ago I inspected a house for a client that was going to have the house moved about a mile and he just wanted an opinion as to whether the house was structurally worth it.  In this case he could get the house for $1.00----all he had to do was pay to have it moved.

     The construction of the 47,000 miles of the Interstate Highway System displaced hundreds of thousands of homes, and I routinely run into these relocated homes up and down the I-5 corridor.

     I thought my readers might find it interesting to see a list of some of the visual “clues” that can indicate a home has been relocated.  I have never seen any disclosure about this aspect of a house’s history and invariably all parties in the transaction are surprised to find this out----even the sellers.

     Here are some signs one can look for:

1. Crawl spaces under parts of a house that were a former garage (we all see garages converted to living space----if there is a crawl space under the floor there is a good chance the house was moved).
2. Foundations newer than the age of the house.
3. Poured foundations with filled-in areas (these pockets would be left open so that the steel carrying beams could be removed after the house was set on the foundation and then were filled with either concrete or blocks).   Here is such a picture of a beam opening that has been filled with concrete blocks.



4. Depressions in the ground where jacks/cribbing were located under the main carrying beams.
5. Chimneys removed and no evidence of foundation for the chimney in the crawl space under the closed in openings in the floor system.
6. Beams cut off just short of the foundation with posts & piers to support the ends----as opposed to sitting in beam pockets in the foundation.
7. Beams and posts supporting the floor system that are not the same vintage as the rest of the floor system.
8. “Field-treated” sill plates (previous to the introduction of pressure treated lumber there were “greenish” colored preservatives that could be painted on lumber----areas where we would use pressure treated wood today).
9. Changes to heating systems (ductwork, forced air to electric etc).
10. Concrete block foundations under a house that originally would have been post and pier (these will still likely have the cut outs for the mover’s beams).
11. Crawl space access is located at a typical location for the mover’s beams.
12. Drainage plumbing in the crawl space that is not the same vintage as house plumbing.
13. Relocation of electrical system from one side of the house to another.

     While no one of these things necessarily means the house was relocated (with the possible exception of the crawl space under the former garage), when we start to find several of these indicators going on, we might be able to conclude that the house was moved.

     So what good is this information?  Well for the buyer it will mean that the house, for its age, likely has a better foundation than when built (or has a foundation period), is better secured to that foundation than went built, likely has a newer water service, newer sewer line, and maybe even an upgraded electrical panel.  Generally speaking, the fact that the house was moved is a good thing.

Charles Buell

 

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Click on the Rose to check out: AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

Inspecting Deck Steps... 

For the safety of personnel, deck steps should conform to more recent local municipal standards. Some do. However, most do not. There are several reasons for this. Many steps and handrails were built to older standards that may have been acceptable when the property was built. A classic example of this is the handrail on this set of steps.

Some years ago, the wide top plate and spindle spacing on this set of steps was acceptable in most building jurisdictions. Today, the handrail has to be approximately 34-36" in height and has to be constructed in a manner so that it can be easily grasped. Additionally, the spindle spacing cannot exceed 4" for child safety purposes.

The height an depth (rise/run) is also important. Although this may vary by municipality, the general rule of thumb for risers is approximately 7-3/4" in height. This dimension is not to vary more than 1/4". The average tread depth should be approximately 11-12" depending upon municipality.

Depending upon where you live, some municipalities require the sellers to bring steps up to more modern standards. My area of Tennessee does not. However; this does need to be brought to the attention of the buyer and must be in the report. The steps pictured most likely were added after the fact by the home owner as they do not conform to any building standard. The seller will need to address this item if the buyer requests it in their repair contingency. 

© 2009 michael thornton | complete home inspections, inc. | brentwood, tn | 615.661.0297 | www.completehomeinspectionsonline.com
Helping YOU help others live THEIR American Dream...

     Are home inspectors ever completely “off-duty?”

     For myself I find it very difficult to walk around with blinders on.  Being trained to identify defects to the point that we “allow” them to jump out at us----how can we really just turn this training off?

     The other day I was called to help a client figure out why their windows were falling out of their house.  It turned out it was not nearly as dire as all that and the fix would not be all that difficult.  What did come up though was the fact that the porch---some 7 ft off the ground----had no barrier railing of any kind, the TPRV on the water heater had no drain pipe, one of the exterior doors could be easily “unlocked” from the outside, and that some of the windows could be removed from the outside.  These were just a few of the things that “jumped out” at me.  I was not looking for them----they found me. 

     While these were not the issues I was called to look at, I did in fact point them out in the course of figuring out the issues I was called to look at.  I also recommended that if they would like I would be happy to come back and do a full home inspection for them----so that they would have a better understanding of the house as a whole.

     I wrestle with how best to deal with this issue without sounding like I am just trying to create work for myself.  In the end I feel some responsibility to share what I know----because it is really not possible for me to ever be completely “off-duty.”  And, I don’t eat doughnuts anyway.

 

 

Charles Buell

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Click on the Rose to check out: AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     When we bought our house----long before I was a Seattle Home Inspector----and started making it livable, I was heavily influenced by a couple of fun movies playing at the time:  Jumanji and Jurassic Park. 

     The house had wall-to-wall shag, puce-green carpeting----if one could really call it carpeting.  There probably was a microscopic Jurassic Park of critters living in the thing.  The carpet was more reminiscent of one of those cat clawing poles that people have in their homes. 

     In the dining room, there was a 2’ x 6’ runner on top of the carpeting.  This runner covered over a humongous hole the sun had burned through the carpet.  This runner had been nailed all around its perimeter with roofing nails----an inch apart----kind of like the nailing pattern you might see on the underside of an upholstered chair or like the rivets in a jet wing.  The nail heads were all shiny from wear----quite attractive and “sparkly.”

      Most of the rooms had wood strip flooring under this carpeting that did re-finish quite nicely.  The hallway however was another matter.  It had been patched numerous times and covered over with linoleum.  The adhesive was not about to be removed either.  So I decided to do a “painted rug” to deal with the matter.  Here is a picture of what it looks like. 

     I think you can see the Jurassic Park influence.  I took actual ferns from the garden and rolled them in paint and then pressed them onto the floor----bunches of different colors----bunches of different layers.

     I had another Jurassic moment on an inspection the other day---or perhaps it would be more correct to say the chimney was having a Jurassic moment.  Hopefully a bunch of manic monkeys, two hundred pound mosquitoes and raging rhinos are not going to come flooding out of it----like in Jumanji.

Charles Buell

 

 

 

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

 

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

 

 

     There are not all that many roofs that I do not walk on---but one of the kinds I don’t usually walk on is steep metal roofs.  If one thinks back to their childhood---they make slippery-slides out of metal for a reason.  I know there are plastic ones, but they are not nearly as good as metal ones----unless there is water running down them.

     So, I was looking at this one from the eaves and from the ground, to make as good an assessment of the roof as I could.

     I think everyone can see in this picture that there is no flashing around this vent pipe.

     From the attic side, it is as clear as blue sky and green grass that there just “ain’t no flashing.”

     WHOOPS!

Charles Buell

 

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

 

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.