Wood is a major component of most homes, yet wood should be removed from the crawlspace and from close proximity to the ground. Why is this important? What’s the worst that could happen? To explore these questions, consider the structure of wood. Some plants, trees and shrubs, produce resistant tissue over seasons and years [...]
Water should drain away from a home. While simply said, not so easily done. Many lots are sloped up away from the home, what is called a negative grade, on at least one side. Negative grades will cause surface water from rainfall to run towards the foundation. Groundwater also moves downhill by gravity, and [...]
Decks are attractive and useful features of homes, but even great-looking structures can have safety problems, and all of them need maintenance. As they extend the home footprint into the outdoors, they are vulnerable to increased weathering, and deterioration. They are commonly attached to exterior entrances, and may experience heavy traffic. Safe steps and [...]
Polybutylene Pipes The History of Polybutylene: Polybutylene (PB) was manufactured from 1978 to 1995 to be used for water pipes in plumbing systems. Polybutylene is a plastic that resembles the PEX, PVC, and Polyethylene pipes that are still in use today. PB pipes were less expensive than the copper pipes in use at that [...]
High Water Pressure in the Home: The majority of homes in the Greater Portland and Vancouver area that are connected to the municipal water supply receive water at a pressure of 40 to 80 pounds per square inch which is considered safe and acceptable for the plumbing system of the home. However, there are [...]
The house is winterized: Many homes we inspect have the crawlspace winterized by plugging up crawlspace vents with the ubiquitous Styrofoam plugs that can be found at any hardware store. Sometimes the vents are simply closed with the plastic flaps that are part of the typical crawlspace vent. Most commonly this is done in [...]
