The result was a lot of unhappy homeowners, many of whom had to replace or repair some or all of their siding. This lousy siding has been more than replaced (in market share) by cement board siding, which so far has proved durable.
• Just a few short years ago, many builders, particularly on condominiums, were putting together chronically leaky outer building shells with missing flashing, leaking windows, missing caulking and little attention paid to detail at critical leakage points such as railings and decks.
The result was a plethora of lawsuits and unhappy homeowners. New laws governing condominiums helped. Those lousy practices have been replaced by new standards of care and attention to detail.
Everyone involved, from building designers to window manufacturers, has pitched in to help. It is rare to find a chronically leaky building anymore.
• Just a few short years ago, builders were treating cold-air returns particularly and heating systems generally as a no-respect dumping ground, leaving them leaking air, imbalanced and full of trash.
Then, adding insult to injury, they would crank up the furnace to dry out the drywall mud and leave the filth for the homeowner in his or her "new" home.
The result was air leakage from the attic, the crawlspace, polluted air sucked in from the garage, stains at the edges of carpet and a filthy furnace and duct system.
This chronic apathy was eliminated by a fairly recent code change requiring sealed cold-air returns — one of the best changes ever for the health of the occupants of a building.
And with this new respect for forced-air heating systems, you are hard-pressed to find garbage, Budweiser cans or caked-on drywall dust in a new furnace system anymore.
• Just a few short years ago, the mantra in most developments used to be bigger, taller, grander — McMansions that lacked character and scale.
The result: huge houses that tended to own the owner, rather than vice versa. People were disconnected from their homes, disconnected from neighbors and lost in 4,500-square-foot monstrosities that were expensive to heat and maintain.
Not so now in new developments that are clustered, or on so many in-fill city lots equipped with zero-lot-line town homes, with amenities within walking distance. And they sure use interior space smarter, too.
• Just a few short years ago, if a 50-gallon water heater was not enough to fill that huge soaking tub once every three months, the builder would add a second tank.
The result was wasted space, wasted expense and wasted fuel.
On-demand water heaters are catching on like wildfire in the building community. Everyone wants one, and the new products are nothing short of fantastic. Incredible products with computerized remote controls and infinitely variable output are making their way into our homes and, proud to say, builders are leading the way, not following.
You will now find radiant heating and on-demand water heating systems integrated into one — saving space, saving energy and providing great levels of comfort.
Thanks to new zoning and building regulations, tax incentives, consumer demand, knowledge, environmental awareness and better products at decent prices, things are definitely improving.
Kudos, guys! Now back to being cranky and skeptical ...
Q: Thanks for the article a few weeks back about inaccessible drum traps under older bathtubs (go to www.seattletimes.com/homegarden and do an archive search for "Hay and drum traps").
Mine is set up the same way many are, as you pointed out — covered by an older remodel. So here's what we did: We sealed the roof vent with plastic and used a wet/dry shop vac to suck the drain backward. A lot of junk came up, and the drain runs great now.
A: Great tip. Thank you!
Q: Years ago, you ran something about firewood and what types have the highest heat value. Can you dredge that up again for me?
A: At the top of the heap is almond, with 24 million British Thermal Units (BTU) of heat per cord. By comparison, a typical midsized gas furnace puts out 40,000 to 60,000 BTU an hour.
While we all have seen super-hardened fruitcake logs with high BTU values, who among us has ever seen an almond log? Given the dearth of regifted fruitcake and wild-growing almond logs, here are figures for burnable species more commonly seen in our area:
Given that your firewood is dry, alder and Douglas fir each contain 19 million BTU, followed by hemlock and cedar at 14 million, and pine with 12 million.
Darrell Hay is a local home inspector and manages several rental properties. |
