Today I thought I would write about some of my experiences as a former restoration carpenter. Those that know me well know that I've spent 5 years working for Canada's largest emergency restoration contractor. Its where I learned the most about the carpentry trade and earned my Red Seal Endorsement, getting real life experience seeing older building practices, and modern fixes for the problems builders of the past failed to see. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming anybody here, there's no way they could tell that they were pushing issues to future homeowners, and in fact its due to their trials and errors that we know so much about building science and better building practices. So without further a due lets get into... Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

I love the City of Lakes, I spent a lot of my formative years skateboarding the old Value Village on canal street with my high school friends. Dartmouth isn't perfect by any means, but the people that live here are REAL people who wouldn't hesitate to pull over to help you change a tire. Most of the houses are in good condition, and a lot of newer subdivisions have popped up in Colby Village and Montague Gold Mines area, further underscoring the city's growth potential.

The area I want to talk about specifically is the Woodlawn area. Not to be confused with Woodland Ave. (Crichton Park area near Brightwood Golf and Country Club). Woodlawn is sort of notorious in the restoration world, its because of a bad combination of high water table, old infrastructure, and lackluster building practices particularly in basements. These houses were some of the first built in Dartmouth, some of which even survived the Halifax explosion of 1917, meaning the landscapes and trees around the homes are starting to become problematic. You cant really blame the builders too much on this one, they were inexperienced with the new landscape they were building up, they didn't understand the complexities with soil composition and it was a different time when basements weren't used as a part of the living space.

Basements at the time were the utility of the home, its where the furnace was and where you stored food. Today we use basements as an extension of the living space, storage rooms became rec rooms and bedrooms, as well as where we put our Christmas and Halloween decorations. I've been in many basements as a restoration carpenter, patching drywall and reinstalling subfloors. I've seen water issues develop from old sump pumps failing to sewer backups, and generally this is the fate of a lot of older houses in Dartmouth. I've also done work in homes in Colby village, Cole Harbour, and the North end of Dartmouth too, but most of the time its from a bad water heater, dishwasher malfunction, and fire and not related to the actual building or where it happens to be located.

​Now that I've filled your head with doom and sadness, I'd like to stress that these problems are often easily fixed by basement contractors that install water mitigation systems (like sump pumps and sewer backflow preventers). This fix is a permanent and reliable way to practically guarantee a dry basement.

​I would like to end this blog by stressing the importance of a good home inspector who knows the area well, and if you're buying a home in Dartmouth in the older part of town with old infrastructure and very mature trees, you really should schedule a sewer line inspection as well. Sewer line inspections will tell if you have old crumbling cast iron drain pipes or tree roots in the drain. In the grand scheme of things, improving your investment with a foolproof water mitigation system is a small price to pay to live in one of the most beautiful and down-to-Earth cities I've had the pleasure of calling home.

House fires are devastating, as someone who worked for a restoration firm I know first hand how much damage fire can cause, as well as the lasting damage from smoke and further damage from water. House fires peak in December and January so I thought it was a good time to talk about fire prevention for this blog entry.

Have a plan ready

​So often a fire can be stopped before the fire department is called, replace your smoke alarm batteries at least once a year and have a fire extinguisher in an accessible spot  and make sure everyone in the home is familiar with how to use it. It doesn't need to be a big bulky extinguisher but it should be type "K" (for grease fires) and type "A" (combustibles like wood). I keep a multi-use fire extinguisher spray under the kitchen sink.
You should also have a fire escape plan in place if the fire has gotten too out of control. Make a decision where everyone should meet if there is a fire and make sure everyone knows what to do.

Keep heating equipment safe

Go around your home and check there's no debris or buildup of pet hair in your baseboard heaters. If you have a fireplace or wood stove have your chimney cleaned before the heating season. You'll also want to make sure any space heaters are plugged into their own plug and not plugged into an already overloaded receptacle. Heating equipment is the biggest cause of house fires.

Practice good fire prevention

Fires can happen to anyone at any time, so its important to discard cigarette butts and use caution around open flames (such as candles or fireplaces). Keep an eye on the turkey and don't leave the house if you're cooking. 

Fires are for the most part, preventable and with these tips you should have a fire-free holiday season.

"Flipped" homes have a bad reputation in the real estate industry and for good reason, a lot of flipped homes have shoddy ventilation work, atrocious finishes and electrical work that's down right...scary. I know this because I myself bought and currently live in a flipped house, they moved walls, changed electrical components and the tilework throughout looked good from afar but far from good. 

Its not all doom, gloom and sorrow though! Flipped homes usually come with a smaller price tag (as they've spent more time on the market) and if you're handy and care about quality you can turn it into a masterpiece. One of my last inspections was a home with many DIY projects done throughout, the work wasn't outrageously terrible but you could tell it wasn't done by a professional either. Nonetheless the clients were excited to take apart what was done and start from a (nearly) fresh slate.

There are however DIY nightmares to avoid, while I was upgrading the basement bathroom in my own home, I found wires that were spliced and taped back together hidden behind some poorly finished drywall and made me question all the other renovations done in my home. A year later I had a small leak that affected my kitchen ceiling, and when I peeled that drywall back I found more of the same electrical DIY performed on a thermostat that happen to control an electric baseboard radiator (that's playing with 240-volts). One home I witnessed they used roof tar to try and patch a crack in a foundation, needless to say that's not what to do.

I consider myself a pretty handy person, after all I am a Red Seal Endorsed Carpenter and Certified Professional Inspector, but If you aren't handy and the location is too good to pass up, I strongly recommend you get a contractor in to help make your house into your dream home. My reports are written so that any reputable contractor can look at it and make a proper game plan. Here's a short list of DIY's to avoid in the purchase of your next home:

-Foundation work
-Electrical work
-anything "slapped together" in the bathroom
-Roof repair
-Compromised structural components (like large notches taken out of floor joists for plumbing)

I intentionally left out ductwork, finishes, and decks from this list, as most issues I find here aren't going to cause the house to fall down or catch fire overnight.

  Today I get to write about tools and boy I'm excited about it! More specifically I get to write on infrared cameras and the value they offer to not only me as a home inspector, but more importantly the client who needs to know what lurks behind the walls.

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I use my infrared camera a lot, I use it to quickly test ranges, dryers, and heating equipment, but also for less obvious things like plumbing leaks, insulation gaps, and water intrusion. (check out this Tiktok video on plumbing leaks https://www.tiktok.com/@ospreyhomeinspections/video/7101292940881906949 )


Without getting too technical, infrared is the light given off something that radiates heat, the hotter it is, the more red/white it appears and cold is represented by blues and blacks. An important tool of the trade indeed for home inspectors.

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Plumbing leaks can also be located using infrared, as the cold (or hot) water leaks onto the drywall, it leaves behind a splotchy pattern that can easily be found with an infrared camera, and then confirmed with a moisture meter (a tool for another time).

Hello and welcome back to another rivetting blog entry and this time I aim to knock your freshly tumble dried socks off! Thats because today I'm writing about dryer vents and pipe.

Okay to maybe not THAT exciting, but for sure an important topic to discuss. Have you ever done a load of laundry only to find the dryer didnt dry quite as well as you'd hoped? It may be because you've overloaded your appliance but perhaps theres another, more frightening reason your sheets are still damp.

On a recent inspection I conducted, I had found a dryer vent that had a nylon screen covering the end of the vent, and much worse it was sealed shut by a glob of silicone. This condition not only affects the performance of the dryer but also presents a very real risk of fire! 

As we all know, dryers have lint traps that need to be cleared before operation, but these traps aren't perfect and sometimes lint can make it passed, that's why its important NOT to have any screens on your vent that could collect and clog up the pipe. It's also a smart move to limit the amount of flexible pipe to just 4 feet (no flexible pipe AT ALL would be optimal, but not always practical for dryers in cramped spaces). The reason being, flexible pipes have a nasty habit of collecting stray lint that runs through it. 

​Its also a wise decision to inspect and clean your dryer vent pipe with a vacuum or lint kit (for a drill) on an annual basis. This will help your dryers performance and even more importantly, prevent a fire.

​Its also a wise decision to inspect and clean your dryer vent pipe with a vacuum or lint kit (for a drill) on an annual basis. This will help your dryers performance and even more importantly, prevent a fire.

The way the ground slopes around your home can have an impact on the humidity in your basement. Too much slope and you can even experience water intrusion, this was the case with a home I used to live in. The basement was often musty and the dehumidifier just couldn't keep up, the fix: adding a french drain to the section of the yard that sloped toward the house.

This was the easiest and cheapest option, and if you have confidence in yourself it can be an easy weekend DIY, dig a trench, install drain pipe (often called drain tile), cover with crushed stone and landscape fabric and that's really all it takes.
We also sealed the foundation on the inside with a thick layer of masonry paint. This was helpful with reducing the humidity but wouldn't have done anything at all, had we not installed the French drain first. 
​

 Swales are often dug around homes to help manage the water flow, they're the most effective solution but might be challenging to implement after the house is already built, swales are often dug long before the house or even whole subdivision is finished.

It's important to note the way the land slopes around your home before considering buying; don't let it stop you from putting in an offer as it can be managed with a simple French drain after the fact.

The way we build is changing every day, installation practices of yesteryear become obsolete and replaced with more innovative strategies. This week I thought I'd talk about uncoupling membranes and how they've changed how we look at tile floors.

​uncoupling membranes have one simple job, to allow expansion and contraction to take place between two materials that expand and contract at different rates. It accomplishes this by allowing small movements to happen within the membrane. The membrane itself is comprised of a polyethylene layer, with a felt backing underneath. The polyethylene surface is waterproof as well, protecting your subfloor from suffering water damage leading to loosening or cracking of the tiles. The felt offers a great bonding surface to be "glued" in place with your setting compound, but enough give to allow micromovements to happen.

To add more value to your floor, you can also install an uncoupling membrane that accepts heating wires. Its a bit more tricky to measure how long of a heating wire to buy, you'll want to follow manufacturer specs on how to space the wire when installing in between the grooves. Make sure the heat sensor isn't under a shower pan or too close to a heat register. I cant stress enough to follow manufacturers instructions. 

Everything expands and contracts, even when installing tile over concrete, you should strongly consider using an uncoupling membrane. You might not see the value in the extra money spent right away, but in the long run floors with uncoupling membranes are much more durable and resistant to cracking and popping, saving you from having to repair or replace your floors in the future.

Most people don’t know how easy it is to make their homes run on less energy, and here at InterNACHI, we want to change that. 
Drastic reductions in heating, cooling and electricity costs can be accomplished through very simple changes, most of which homeowners can do themselves. Of course, for homeowners who want to take advantage of the most up-to-date knowledge and systems in home energy efficiency, InterNACHI energy auditors can perform in-depth testing to find the best energy solutions for your particular home. 
Why make your home more energy efficient? Here are a few good reasons:

• Federal, state, utility and local jurisdictions' financial incentives, such as tax breaks, are very advantageous for homeowners in most parts of the U.S.
• It saves money. It costs less to power a home that has been converted to be more energy-efficient.
• It increases the comfort level indoors.
• It reduces our impact on climate change. Many scientists now believe that excessive energy consumption contributes significantly to global warming.
• It reduces pollution. Conventional power production introduces pollutants that find their way into the air, soil and water supplies.

1. Find better ways to heat and cool your house. 
As much as half of the energy used in homes goes toward heating and cooling. The following are a few ways that energy bills can be reduced through adjustments to the heating and cooling systems:

• Install a ceiling fan. Ceiling fans can be used in place of air conditioners, which require a large amount of energy.
• Periodically replace air filters in air conditioners and heaters.
• Set thermostats to an appropriate temperature. Specifically, they should be turned down at night and when no one is home. In most homes, about 2% of the heating bill will be saved for each degree that the thermostat is lowered for at least eight hours each day. Turning down the thermostat from 75° F to 70° F, for example, saves about 10% on heating costs.
• Install a programmable thermostat. A programmable thermostat saves money by allowing heating and cooling appliances to be automatically turned down during times that no one is home and at night. Programmable thermostats contain no mercury and, in some climate zones, can save up to $150 per year in energy costs.
• Install a wood stove or a pellet stove. These are more efficient sources of heat than furnaces.
• At night, curtains drawn over windows will better insulate the room.

Image of a high-efficiency thermostat at the InterNACHI® House of Horrors® in Colorado.
 2. Install a tankless water heater.
Demand-type water heaters (tankless or instantaneous) provide hot water only as it is needed. They don't produce the standby energy losses associated with traditional storage water heaters, which will save on energy costs. Tankless water heaters heat water directly without the use of a storage tank. When a hot water tap is turned on, cold water travels through a pipe into the unit. A gas burner or an electric element heats the water. As a result, demand water heaters deliver a constant supply of hot water. You don't need to wait for a storage tank to fill up with enough hot water.
3. Replace incandescent lights.
The average household dedicates 11% of its energy budget to lighting. Traditional incandescent lights convert approximately only 10% of the energy they consume into light, while the rest becomes heat. The use of new lighting technologies, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), can reduce the energy use required by lighting by 50% to 75%. Advances in lighting controls offer further energy savings by reducing the amount of time that lights are on but not being used. Here are some facts about CFLs and LEDs:

• CFLs use 75% less energy and last about 10 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.
• LEDs last even longer than CFLs and consume less energy.
• LEDs have no moving parts and, unlike CFLs, they contain no mercury.

4. Seal and insulate your home.
Sealing and insulating your home is one of the most cost-effective ways to make a home more comfortable and energy-efficient, and you can do it yourself. A tightly sealed home can improve comfort and indoor air quality while reducing utility bills. An InterNACHI energy auditor can assess  leakage in the building envelope and recommend fixes that will dramatically increase comfort and energy savings.
The following are some common places where leakage may occur:

• electrical receptacles/outlets;
• mail slots;
• around pipes and wires;
• wall- or window-mounted air conditioners;
• attic hatches;
• fireplace dampers;
• inadequate weatherstripping around doors;
• baseboards;
• window frames; and
• switch plates.

Because hot air rises, air leaks are most likely to occur in the attic. Homeowners can perform a variety of repairs and maintenance to their attics that save them money on cooling and heating, such as: 

• Plug the large holes. Locations in the attic where leakage is most likely to be the greatest are where walls meet the attic floor, behind and under attic knee walls, and in dropped-ceiling areas.
• Seal the small holes. You can easily do this by looking for areas where the insulation is darkened. Darkened insulation is a result of dusty interior air being filtered by insulation before leaking through small holes in the building envelope. In cold weather, you may see frosty areas in the insulation caused by warm, moist air condensing and then freezing as it hits the cold attic air. In warmer weather, you’ll find water staining in these same areas. Use expanding foam or caulk to seal the openings around plumbing vent pipes and electrical wires. Cover the areas with insulation after the caulk is dry.
• Seal up the attic access panel with weatherstripping. You can cut a piece of fiberglass or rigid foamboard insulation in the same size as the attic hatch and glue it to the back of the attic access panel. If you have pull-down attic stairs or an attic door, these should be sealed in a similar manner.

5. Install efficient showerheads and toilets.
The following systems can be installed to conserve water usage in homes:

• low-flow showerheads. They are available in different flow rates, and some have a pause button which shuts off the water while the bather lathers up;
• low-flow toilets. Toilets consume 30% to 40% of the total water used in homes, making them the biggest water users. Replacing an older 3.5-gallon toilet with a modern, low-flow 1.6-gallon toilet can reduce usage an average of 2 gallons-per-flush (GPF), saving 12,000 gallons of water per year. Low-flow toilets usually have "1.6 GPF" marked on the bowl behind the seat or inside the tank;
• vacuum-assist toilets. This type of toilet has a vacuum chamber that uses a siphon action to suck air from the trap beneath the bowl, allowing it to quickly fill with water to clear waste. Vacuum-assist toilets are relatively quiet; and
• dual-flush toilets. Dual-flush toilets have been used in Europe and Australia for years and are now gaining in popularity in the U.S. Dual-flush toilets let you choose between a 1-gallon (or less) flush for liquid waste, and a 1.6-gallon flush for solid waste. Dual-flush 1.6-GPF toilets reduce water consumption by an additional 30%.

6. Use appliances and electronics responsibly.
Appliances and electronics account for about 20% of household energy bills in a typical U.S. home. The following are tips that will reduce the required energy of electronics and appliances:

• Refrigerators and freezers should not be located near the stove, dishwasher or heat vents, or exposed to direct sunlight. Exposure to warm areas will force them to use more energy to remain cool.  
• Computers should be shut off when not in use. If unattended computers must be left on, their monitors should be shut off. According to some studies, computers account for approximately 3% of all energy consumption in the United States.
• Use efficient ENERGY STAR-rated appliances and electronics. These devices, approved by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Program, include TVs, home theater systems, DVD players, CD players, receivers, speakers, and more. According to the EPA, if just 10% of homes used energy-efficient appliances, it would reduce carbon emissions by the equivalent of 1.7 million acres of trees.
• Chargers, such as those used for laptops and cell phones, consume energy when they are plugged in. When they are not connected to electronics, chargers should be unplugged.
• Laptop computers consume considerably less electricity than desktop computers.

7. Install daylighting as an alternative to electrical lighting.
Daylighting is the practice of using natural light to illuminate the home's interior. It can be achieved using the following approaches:

• skylights. It’s important that they be double-pane or they may not be cost-effective. Flashing skylights correctly is key to avoiding leaks;
• light shelves. Light shelves are passive devices designed to bounce light deep into a building. They may be interior or exterior. Light shelves can introduce light into a space up to 2½ times the distance from the floor to the top of the window, and advanced light shelves may introduce four times that amount;
• clerestory windows.  Clerestory windows are short, wide windows set high on the wall. Protected from the summer sun by the roof overhang, they allow winter sun to shine through for natural lighting and warmth; and 
• light tubes.  Light tubes use a special lens designed to amplify low-level light and reduce light intensity from the midday sun. Sunlight is channeled through a tube coated with a highly reflective material, and then enters the living space through a diffuser designed to distribute light evenly.

8. Insulate windows and doors.
About one-third of the home's total heat loss usually occurs through windows and doors. The following are ways to reduce energy lost through windows and doors:

• Seal all window edges and cracks with rope caulk. This is the cheapest and simplest option.
• Windows can be weatherstripped with a special lining that is inserted between the window and the frame. For doors, apply weatherstripping around the whole perimeter to ensure a tight seal when they're closed. Install quality door sweeps on the bottom of the doors, if they aren't already in place.
• Install storm windows at windows with only single panes. A removable glass frame can be installed over an existing window.
• If existing windows have rotted or damaged wood, cracked glass, missing putty, poorly fitting sashes, or locks that don't work, they should be repaired or replaced.

9. Cook smart.
An enormous amount of energy is wasted while cooking. The following recommendations and statistics illustrate less wasteful ways of cooking:

• Convection ovens are more efficient that conventional ovens. They use fans to force hot air to circulate more evenly, thereby allowing food to be cooked at a lower temperature. Convection ovens use approximately 20% less electricity than conventional ovens.
• Microwave ovens consume approximately 80% less energy than conventional ovens.
• Pans should be placed on the matching size heating element or flame. 
• Using lids on pots and pans will heat food more quickly than cooking in uncovered pots and pans.
• Pressure cookers reduce cooking time dramatically.
• When using conventional ovens, food should be placed on the top rack. The top rack is hotter and will cook food faster. 

10. Change the way you do laundry.

• Do not use the medium setting on your washer. Wait until you have a full load of clothes, as the medium setting saves less than half of the water and energy used for a full load.
• Avoid using high-temperature settings when clothes are not very soiled. Water that is 140° F uses far more energy than 103° F for the warm-water setting, but 140° F isn’t that much more effective for getting clothes clean.
• Clean the lint trap every time before you use the dryer. Not only is excess lint a fire hazard, but it will prolong the amount of time required for your clothes to dry.
• If possible, air-dry your clothes on lines and racks.
• Spin-dry or wring clothes out before putting them into a dryer. 

Homeowners who take the initiative to make these changes usually discover that the energy savings are more than worth the effort. InterNACHI home inspectors can make this process much easier because they can perform a more comprehensive assessment of energy-savings potential than the average homeowner can.

This article was written by InterNACHI, read this article and others like it at: 
​https://www.nachi.org/increasing-home-energy-efficiency-client.htm

    Aren't they amazing? Load it up and away you go... until you're cleaning a nasty spill up and calling a repairman to bail you out. I love my portable dishwasher, it does the job and rolls away when we don't need it, and it also serves as a worktop in our small kitchen. 
  Anything with moving parts needs the occasional maintenance, and dishwashers are no exception. My own dishwasher recently started making a crazy loud buzzing noise due to differed maintenance, but a little know-how goes a long way! Turns out it was the impeller (spinning thing at the mouth of the drain) was jammed with a broken chopstick, a pretty common issue with dishwashers. It was just a matter of taking apart the filter inside the unit and clearing the debris, and poof good as new. 
     Honestly, I'd rather spend my time doing other things rather than maintenance (I know, shocker!), but if I were more diligent maybe I would've caught the problem before it became an issue. Properly working appliances start with regular cleaning. Be sure to wipe away dirt and grime from the filter(s) and clean the door seals to ensure the unit doesnt leak, and more importantly keeping the dishes hygenic. Dirty dishes can indicate you NEED to clean your dishwasher. Dont wait for scum to build up, you should be clearing the filter of bits of food after each use, and deep clean at least once a month. if you use your dishwasher on a daily basis, consider a deep clean twice a month.

​     Make sure the drain hose has a "high loop" in it that's higher than the drain in your sink. This not only prevents cross contamination (something you really want to avoid) but also keeps the pump and motor from having to work extra, a missing "high loop" is a defect that will kill your dishwasher after time. ​
    Dishwashers don't need a whole lot of maintenance, in fact they practically clean themselves, just be aware of your unit and how it works and pay a little bit of attention to it from time to time and you'll have a reliable appliance that'll serve you and your family for years.