House Talk with Dylan Chalk

The Building Consultant, Mark Parle, reviews some of my field slides of Fiber Cement Siding Installations and we discuss a few common fiber cement siding issues.

Check out our interesting conversation with Reeves Clippard of A and R Solor as we learn some good tips for looking at solar installations.

Interview with Brent Loya of ID Energy In this episode of House Talk with Dylan Chalk, we discuss the value of the home energy score program for homeowners, home inspectors, and real estate agents. If you are unfamiliar with the home energy score, you should be. The program has been expanding and has been finding great success in cities such as Portland, Oregon, and Denver, Colorado. The program trains home inspectors to quickly rate a residential house with an energy score. This is akin to a fuel mileage sticker for your car, but this is for your house. Homes with energy scores allow home buyers to make accurate comparisons between houses regarding the true cost of ownership and in some cases, homes with excellent energy scores can even qualify for larger loans as the cost of running the home will be lower. Did you know that energy use in a home is often more than your property taxes and your homeowner’s insurance? Homes that use less energy help protect valuable natural resources and save homeowners big bucks.

In this episode, we speak with Charles Buell and Don Hester about emergency escape and rescue openings and we discuss why we should not be referring to bedroom windows as egress windows. We review the codes that surround the requirements for emergency escape and rescue openings and we discuss some important exceptions in the code. We also discuss what egress really means and we discuss the conundrum of older houses that do not meet modern standards for emergency escape and rescue openings. There are some valuable nuggets here about important home safety could save the life of you or one of your clients.

In this podcast, we talk with Don Hester of North Central Washington Home Inspection. Don is a Washington State licensed home inspector #647 and a structural pest inspector #80050 and he is an instructor at the Bellingham Technical College home inspection program.

In this podcast, we discuss strategies and techniques that real estate agents and brokers can use to get out in front of the home inspection with Seattle’s own Windermere real estate broker, Bruce Phares.

Conversations with Scott Reynolds, the founder of UpCodes In this podcast, we discuss the amazing service now offered by UpCodes where you can look building codes up online and even from a mobile app.

Conversations with Windermere Broker and Sales Expert with the Grow Condominiums on Bainbridge Island: Joie Olson

Conversations with Charles Buell Regarding Seasonal Condensation Issues In this podcast, we discuss finding and reporting on signs of seasonal condensation in an attic. This is a common home inspector trap and a subject which, in many climate zones, we are still struggling to get our heads around as a building industry. The building code has really not addressed this problem adequately in some climate zones, which is leaving consumers with new houses that are built to code and have seasonal moisture problems. We look at why seasonal condensation happens and see a diagram that explains air movement through a building and the stack effect. We discuss radiant night sky cooling and how this contributes to condensation problems. We address the myth that the solution to attic condensation problems is always more ventilation and we see photos of why this can make this problem worse. We look at a case study of a home inspection I performed in the winter of 2019 and see how tricky it is to provide sound advice when there are so many possible inputs regarding possible causes. We look at why seasonal condensation a home inspector trap. We are definitely looking at something that has to be reported on. Any issues that are causing the house to get wet, even if just seasonally, would have to be reported on based on our standards of practice. Yet, the reality is, we are often unable to give accurate advice regarding the scope and urgency for repair when we are just out to the house for a one-time inspection. On the other hand, I think many home inspectors know too much to punt and just say, oh, let a mold remediation person look at it. That may be the safe play, but you might end up with a client spending money on something that is not even much of a problem. We provide some sample language used in a home inspection report to detail our findings and recommendations.

In this podcast, we discussed Failed seals or “blown IGU’s” Melted vinyl window frames The myth of windows and energy efficiency Window coatings