Category Archives: Buying/Maintaining a Home

Time to Clean the Gutters (Again)

Posted by in Buying/Maintaining a Home | March 23, 2020

Not only is it good to clean your gutters BEFORE winter, but also AFTER winter. The trees debris that fell or blew onto the roof and then washed into the gutters has been collecting for four or five months.  A… Read More →

I Have a Structural Problem – Where Do I Start?

Posted by in Buying/Maintaining a Home | August 12, 2019

Home owners sometimes email or call us about how to find help for a particular framing issue that we have discussed in one of our articles.  These questions have come in from Washington to Florida and California to Maine, and… Read More →

Getting Ready for Winter … Again

Posted by in Buying/Maintaining a Home, Winter Concerns | October 08, 2018

The days are getting shorter.  The leaves are turning colors.  The temperatures are dropping.  The Halloween decorations are starting to go up.  It’s that time of year again.  Winter is approaching. How is your attic ventilation?  Are the screens on… Read More →

What Happens When… A Roof Leak is Unseen or Ignored?

Posted by in Buying/Maintaining a Home, The Unusual, What happens when ...? | July 30, 2018

The above condition is not unusual for an industrial facility that has been expanded multiple times.  A low roof area is surrounded by higher roofs and the roof runoff is directed to a trough area along one of the walls. … Read More →

What Does a Landslide Look Like? (Revisited)

Posted by in Buying/Maintaining a Home, Foundations, Soil Issues | July 16, 2018

A wood deck set at the crest of the hill overlooking a wooded valley with a river.  Mornings drinking a flavored latte, afternoons sipping a lemonade, or evenings toasting friends with the latest creation of Great Lakes Brewery while gazing… Read More →

A Pattern of Condensation in an Attic

Posted by in Attic Ventilation, Buying/Maintaining a Home, Winter Concerns | June 18, 2018

The feature photograph shows a view of the ridge in an attic.  Note the discoloration and biological growth on both slopes.  Notice that the discoloration is worse on the slope left of the ridge than on the slope right of… Read More →

Does Ventilation Really Provide a Benefit in an Attic?

Posted by in Apparent Mold/Biological Growth, Attic Ventilation, Buying/Maintaining a Home, Winter Concerns | June 04, 2018

The clear surface on the underside of the roof deck around the three bathroom vent pipes shows that even a little bit of inadvertent air flow is capable of reducing condensation and the risk of apparent mold/biological growth. It doesn’t… Read More →

What is Efflorescence?

Posted by in Buying/Maintaining a Home, Water Sources | April 23, 2018

Efflorescence derives from a French word that means “to flower out” (or so I’ve read).   “Flowering out” is a good description because efflorescence is a crystal structure that appears and grows on the surface of concrete, brick, stucco, or natural stone… Read More →