Julie and I went to a wedding of a friend of ours in Bend, Oregon this past Saturday. It is a beautiful 6 hour drive from Seattle through the mountains and across the desert to get to Bend. I have made the trip many times to get to Smith Rocks, a sandstone climbing area just north of Bend. We had discussed going to Mt St Helens if it had been nicer weather but the mountain was totally clouded over. We went to the wedding on Saturday and spent the night in a no-tell-motel in Bend. When we woke up in the morning this is what we saw. One of the cool things about living in the 21st Century is “traffic cameras.” One can go on line and actually see in real time what road conditions are at mountain passes etc. The roads looked only wet, so away we went----with confidence high that conditions would be improving. By the time we got about 20 miles North of Bend the roads cleared and the snow turned into off-and-on rain. The mountains got beautiful. As we came out of the mountains, drove by Portland and crossed the Columbia River into Washington, we were welcomed into Washington State with clear blue skies. And what did we see off in the distance----some 60 miles away? (Zoom lens) Mt St. Helens. We just had to go. It is a 60 mile, one way trip into the mountain observation point----and well worth the trip with this kind of visibility. At the end of the long road in to the mountain is the Johnston Ridge Observatory. This is the view point where one can see into the crater of the volcano through where the side was blasted away in 1980. It is impossible for me to comprehend the amount of power released during this eruption and the amount of devastation that resulted from the blast. Take this tree preserved inside the observatory for example. Have you ever tried to cut down a small tree with an ax? How about a chain saw? Depending on your abilities, this work might be easy or difficult, but it might give you an appreciation of what it took to knock this 4 foot diameter tree flat in a split second---by a searing hot wind moving more than 350 miles per hour. Scientists tell us that in terms of the geological record this eruption was by no means an exceptionally large eruption---even if the ash plume rose more than twice the height at which commercial airplanes fly----12 plus miles. Now, almost 30 years, later the signs of the devastation are still visible in many areas. Other areas are completely reforested---both by man and nature. Our human powerlessness is only amplified by the extreme powerfulness of nature. Charles Buell
Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Licensed Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA
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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.
Here is a little photo tour to give you just a taste of the trails and visual feasts at this little patch of serenity. Every time I visit the Garden I wonder why I don’t go back more often. Isn’t that the way it is though? We will scrimp and save to visit some far off exotic place and neglect the things that are right in our own back yard. The very places that someone in a far off place is scrimping and saving to come and see. Charles Buell
Along with the Conservatory (and not too far from each other), there is another very cool place in Seattle to visit---whether you are playing tourist or live here all the time---called the Japanese Garden, at the Washington Park Arboretum. 
Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Licensed Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA
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.
Ever since I started building in the early 70’s there has been a lumber yard I could go to that opened up before the birds got up. In a little town NW of Syracuse, NY, called Hannibal, there was a family owned lumber yard called Scott’s Building Supply----and I would be there when they opened the gates at 6am. They were committed to service----and stocking all the best materials for building. It was a place where quality of materials was more important than price----or what the latest fad was. When I moved to Seattle, I was pleased to find a similar, and even better, Again Limbacks was a place I could be at before the birds got up. I used to like to get to the lumber yard to get my materials for the day, go to the job site, and still have time to lay out the work for the day before any of the help showed up at 8. It was also a great way to avoid the early morning traffic----to already be in the city before all the entrances were backed up like a bad sink drain (more euphemistic than what I was originally thinking). They are a great business, staffed pretty much with the same guys that were there 100 years ago----and yet they all seem to stay looking under 30. I used to think that they must sleep out in the lumber piles somewhere, so that they could pretty much be there all the time, but it turns out that most of them drive into work from at lea Bucking the trend of the Big Orange Tool Boxes and the Eagles of the world, Limbacks is a full service lumber yard, founded in 1930, where you will not find any potting soil, lawn mowers, barbeque equipment, or “end-lots”----just the highest quality stuff you need to actually build your home or remodel your home. They have a guy on staff that hides out in a secluded attic space where he will meticulously make you an odd door if you need one. He can also grind some new knives for the molding machine to match that old style molding you have----those that are no longer in stock anywhere. There are a tremendous number of moldings in stock, as well as hundreds of possible choices that can be milled for you. There is a really good chance that they already have the knives for that “special” molding that you would never have dreamed could be duplicated. Plus they can mill these moldings out of a wide variety of in-stock wood species. We will now enter the inner sanctum. This is the entrance to the “Cathedral of Moldings.” There is such a maze of moldings in this cavernous building it is easy to get lost----but don’t worry they have a staff of paid guides all too eager to help----or you can wander hopelessly on your own----resorting to prayer to get you out. Maybe it is down this box canyon? Or this one? Maybe I better go back and get a guide. Even more over here too? THIS----is the stairway to John’s millwork shop (remember the guy I mentioned hiding out in the attic?)----not to be missed if you can manage to get yourself invited (all you tool heads). Here are some of the machines in the millwork shop. The knife grinder. Did you know that every kind of molding has its own set of knives----usually three or four that have to be pretty darn near identical? Well this is the machine that helps make those knives. Here is the wall of “typically-in-stock” moldings. In addition to the stock moldings in the previous picture, there are these racks that hold samples of some of the many moldings that Limbacks already has knives for. So this is a cursory view of Limbacks in Ballard----I didn’t even touch on the mountains of dimensional lumber and plywood----just ask Paul or Bill----or any of the paid guides, for the full tour. Charles Buell
lumber yard here, in the Ballard area, called Limback Lumber. I can still remember the first time I walked in there and asked for some 4-9/16” door jamb material. I can’t remember who waited on me that day (Tony was that you?), but they gave me one of those looks that said, “What planet are you from----why don’t you just use 1x5’s?” At that point, I was wondering what planet I was from myself, because there was no such thing as a 1x5 in Hannibal, NY. I thought this was just some sort of West Coast hazing ritual. Carpenters, and those in cahoots with carpenters, are famous for sending the newbie helper to the lumber yard to get materials and ask them to also get 10 lbs of #14 nails. (For my non-carpenter readers----there is no such thing----kind of like sending your spouse to the auto parts store for a “muffler-belt.”) I soon learned that they actually stocked 1x3’s and 1x5’s----those “odd-number” sizes that up until that point in my career, I would cut out of “even-number” lumber sizes. 
st as far away as I did.
Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Licensed Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA
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.
The “Space Needle” and “Seattle” have been joined at the hip since the World’s Fair took over the city in 1962. (In case your next question is, “When is the next World’s Fair?” It is in Shanghai, China, in May, 2010.) Given that Seattle is somewhat prone to earthquakes, I have often marveled at this magnificent structure in terms of engineering. Not only what it took to build it----but what it takes to keep it there. It still leaves me wondering about the effect on the SkyCity Restaurant, perched on top of the structure, in the event of a catastrophic earthquake. I can envision the needle whipping the restaurant off into the Puget Sound like a giant Frisbee (or skipping stone), only to end up across the Sound in Bremerton. This allusion to the Space Needle is only here to get us around to a discussion of pedestal sinks----that are indeed VERY top-heavy---even if they do look a little like the Space Needle. When you fill them up with water, the sink becomes even MORE top-heavy. These sinks come with holes in the base to bolt them to the floor. The basin at the top has holes to bolt it to the wall. After all this bolting has been done the basin is caulked to the wall to further aid in holding it in place----as well as to keep splashes from running down behind the basin. In this next picture we can see the bolting holes in the back of the sink and even the holes in the walls for inserting the molly bolts. The bolts just aren’t there. In this picture we can see the bolting holes at the base of the pedestal. We can see a somewhat half-hearted attempt at fastening it----but still no cigar. To get back to the Space Needle----contrary to recent rumors----the Space Needle is NOT for sale for $79,000,000----or any price for that matter. To get back to Willie (I Can't Quit You Baby) Dixon, he is still tipping the charts even though he is sadly no longer around to see it. Charles Buell
With a little “digging,” you can learn that the reason it stays put is because the underground foundation it is anchored to, weighs roughly twice as much as the whole structure above the ground. This leaves the structure with the “illusion” of being top-heavy, when in reality it would be like trying to tip over the great Willie Dixon when he is sitting down playing his harp.
Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Licensed Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA
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.
One of my all-time favorite places to visit in Seattle is the Rose Garden at Woodland Park---next door to the zoo. Right NOW!---the whole month of August and right into the winter----it is a sight to behold! Like all of the best things in life----it is FREE. One of the things I remember about roses from when I was a kid growing up in Connecticut, is JAPANESE BEETLES. We spent many hours picking off Japanese Beetles and dropping them into a can of gasoline to kill them----such a nasty business juxtaposed to all that beauty. One would think that the thorns satisfied the Yin/Yang requirement. These beetles themselves were incredibly beautiful with their iridescent metallic wing covers. I find it kind of odd how we pick and choose the beauty around us----playing god about what is important and what is not. In researching this post I discovered that they are an East Coast phenomenon----or at least that is where they started. It is speculated that they were introduced from plants brought in from Japan in the early 20th century. The Seattle Rose Garden is all pesticide free---hopefully the Rose Garden will never have to deal with these beetles. Besides the roses there are also many other flowers, plants and features that make the garden worth the visit year round. Along with The Conservatory ----make sure the Rose Garden is on your list of things to see when you visit Seattle. Charles Buell
Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA
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.
Licensed Home Inspector (5yrs)--33 years design/build general contractor. Adjunct professor: Bellingham Technical College's Home Inspection Course. WA State, Licensed Home Inspector. ASHI member.
I had been designing and building homes for 33 years when I decided to become a Home Inspector. With all of my years of building experience and taking the 160 hour Residential Home Inspection Course at Bellingham Technical College, it is difficult to imagine what kinds of inspections the buying public was getting before the State of Washington started requiring Home Inspectors to be Licensed. (Thanks to the efforts of Senator Spanel, and many others there is now licensing of Home Inspectors in Washington State.) I have a dream of seeing home inspections taken to a higher level. While setting "minimum" standards is important, providing something of lasting value to the home buyer is what I am interested in, and over the coming years I expect to see increased education of home inspectors---perhaps even including 2 to 4 year college degree programs. Providing the kind of information necessary to aid in the decision making process is not difficult, and adding the kind of information that turns the home inspection report into the beginnings of an "owner's manual" creates something of lasting value. Because I use a lot of pictures in my reports, people have often commented on how easy it is to communicate the issues to the seller, and as a result I very rarely ever get calls from sellers looking for clarification----or to refute my findings. The whole process is about communication and information----"too much" is never enough.
I am a Certified Member of ASHI and I see membership in at least one of the major associations as a "minimum" requirement when choosing an inspector in Washington State----in addition to the State's requirement to be a Licensed Home Inspector. I would also expect to see Home Inspectors also be Licensed Structural Pest Inspectors in order to provide the highest level of service to the home buyer.
While members of the major Associations (and other associations for that matter) will argue the merits of their Association over the others, I find that they all have their good points. Buyers need to understand that membership requirements in all of these associations set "minimum" standards for the profession and that most inspectors exceed those standards. The important thing is what kind of report does the inspector provide and how clearly is it written, how well does it describe the issues, and how clearly does the report define the course of action regarding those issues.
I provide my client with a very detailed and thorough report on the condition of the home---some have commented on the report being like an "Owners Manual." I consider it the beginning of one. Along with all the major concerns, the buyer will also find useful information as to the age of appliances and Model and Serial Numbers.
Click here to see a Sample Report.
One area of concern for many home buyers today is MOLD. It has almost become a "four letter word" (wait a minute----it is a four letter word). No buyer's education and information about Mold is going to be complete without the information provided by Caoimhin Connell. For some great information please see his link below: Health Effects of Moulds (Molds): State of Knowledge Caoimhín P. Connell http://www.forensic-applications.com/
Forensic Industrial Hygienist
Much of my home construction has been involved with Super Insulated, Energy Efficient Homes. I have been a dealer of composting toilets, installer of wood foundation systems, and installer of air and water solar heating systems.
I won a New York State Energy Reserch & Developement Award ($10,000) in 1979 for a super-insulated duplex house built in Oswego, NY. My interest in energy efficient housing continues today and, because of my years of experience, I am able to assist my buyers with their questions about how efficient the home they are buying is or help them with their questions of how to improve the energy efficiency of the home. I was into "Green" before it had been given a name. Now I can help people sort through the various approaches to building homes (and even assist with some of the confusion surrounding what it means to be "Green").
Because my entire carrier as a builder was "Design-Build," I am able to also assist buyers with questions they might have regarding remodeling. For example questions about whether walls are bearing walls or not, or the feasibility of adding a second story, are all questions I routinely hear from buyers, and am able to assist them with. It is all I did for 33 years. I designed and built dozens of homes, and additions to homes, over those years----including designing and building most of the cabinet work in those projects----so I am very familiar with the processes and requirements of all of these areas. In the early years of my career I was building in areas where I was allowed to do electrical and plumbing as well (they still had to be inspected of course). So I able to give much more in-depth information regarding these areas as well.
As a builder of energy efficient homes in the 70's, the Syracuse University, School of Architecture would routinely tour my homes and even monitored some of them for documentation purposes for periods of time. One of my more curious areas of interest was the use of wood foundations in the overall design of super-insulated homes. These systems designed by Weyerhaeuser for use in the perma-frost of Alaska were well suited to creating very energy efficient homes.
I curretly teach part of the (160hr) Residential Home Inspection Course at Bellingham Technical College in Bellingham, WA. Link to the course: Residential Home Inspection Course
I LOVE teaching. It is such a great opportunity to give back all the stuff I have learned over the years. It fits with my general life philosophy of "giving everything away---to make room for more." Blogging for me is an extension of this philosophy, another way to give back to the community.
Founder of Sparky's Plumbing, the ActiveRain Group where everything is shocking and all wet!
Below are some of my favorite blogs----please enjoy. I promise, that if you tour through the archives, that I will entertain and hopefully educate you about the homes we all live in. Sometimes, no doubt, you will see things similiar to your own homes---sometimes things you will be fortunate to never see.
Anybody got 10 bucks I can borrow?
Beware of Having Sex on Granite Countertops!
Has anyone ever asked you to, "Pull the Plug?"
Should Agents sleep with their Home Inspectors?
Finding the "Better-than-the-average-bear" inspector.
Why is there a BARGE on my roof?
Scared the BEE-GEEEZEZ out of me!
What do you mean there are "SECRET" tunnels under my lawn?
Doggone it!-----Bet I'll be in the "Dog House" over this dog!
The Inspector goes to a Pajama Party!
How many chickens will fit inside a cow?
Instead of providing dozens of references from past buyers, I have selected just a few testimonials that typify the kinds of things that I hear back from buyers.
Charlie,
I would like to once again thank you very much for your outstanding work on the inspection of the xxxxx Street house on our behalf.
Our expectations of the inspection you performed were exceeded. The detail and quality of your report will be used by us as a goal for other inspectors we have the chance to do business with in the future. I can not imagine that there was a single thing you didn't cover! We will use your report as guidelines on what we need to do immediately to the house, over the course of the next 6 monts as well as ongoing maintenance. Your added background information and photos not only illustrated the issue but educated us as to the correction. Your willingness to share your impressions and knowledge via phone was greatly appreciated. We both feel this was the best money we could have spent!
Please feel free to use my name and have any potential customeers contact me for a reference. I am more than happy to tell them what a professional, knowledgeable, thorough inspector your are!
Thank you for your outstanding work!
Zan Murzello
Hi Charles,
Thank you so much for this great and very professional inspection. I have reviewd the information aen will be using this to negotiate our terms with the seller. Your discovery of the issues on this place has shined a new light to this property:)
Thanks again for your help,
Andres
Thank you so much Charlie--- I am so glad I had you to do this inspection-- you did an excellent job and discovered things I would never have thought of and I so appreciate your expertise. I feel so much more confident going into this purchase knowing exactly what's going on.
Thanks so much,
Mary Lee
After finding a house that we loved, we had to finalize the details for the sale. For the inspection process we chose Charles Buell Inspections since our friends spoke highly of him. Dealing with the stress of making the biggest purchase of our lives, Charles' calm demeanor and thorough examination of the house and lot put our minds at ease. We felt confident that all of the negative and positive aspects of the home were brought to our attention on sight. Twenty-four hours later we received a detailed 84 page summary of his findings which included pictures to clarify the issues being discussed. We were impressed! In fact this inspection report has been almost like a homeowner's manual, which we've used while updating our home. We have now used Charles for both our home and business inspections, and would definitely use him again in the future!
Glenn Soja
Leah Mitchell
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