Building Consultant
If it’s red – there’s lead! We tested this window last week. Are you buying an older home (prior to 1978)? Your real estate agent will ask you to sign a lead paint disclosure statement (An EPA-approved information pamphlet on identifying and controlling lead-based paint hazards) encouraging you to consider having your home tested for lead based paint.
Normally, you’d find a string hanging from the cover of the stairway. For outside locations that might present a bit of a security issue. A quick pad lock will help secure the hatch. Done…unless there was NO string to pull!
Statistics show that more than 15,000 residential house fires a year are caused by poorly maintained dryer vents. Here are some tell-tale signs of trouble ahead. The home I inspected had a vertical, schedule 40 PVC pipe installed in the wall that terminated through the roof. Peeking into the vent just behind the dryer, I noticed lent build-up.
I’ve lost count of the number of homes I’ve inspected that have folding stairway built into the hallway or laundry room ceiling. More often than not the folding legs are not trimmed to the correct length or properly secured to the framing.
What if you went to the grocery store each day or each week and at the end of the month the store sent you a bill for all the food you’d bought. No specifics details on how many gallons of milk or boxes of cereal, just a big bill and a thank you. Well, that’s how we buy electrical power. One bill, you have no idea which room or appliance used the product or if your meter has made a math error. How can you effectively manage something you don’t measure? It’s simple…you can’t.