Tag archive: house
House Safety Maintenance Checklist – Do It Now
All of the house safety maintenance checklist items listed below are extremely important for household members, especially for children. While performing home inspections I’ve noticed that many home owners, parents of small children, are simply not aware about the critical safety issues in their homes. They don’t realize that sometimes things need to be updated / replaced to perform as required, and to provide protection.
House Exterior GFCI Receptacles
Exterior GFCI Receptacles
The 2008 NEC did not change house exterior GFCI receptacles requirement protection since the previous edition.
All outdoor house receptacles must be GFCI protected.
GFCI – (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter)
There is one exception from this exterior GFCI receptacles requirement:
If you have electrical outlets that are not readily accessible (you can’t reach them standing on the ground without using ladders, or any other equipment) and they are supplied by a branch circuit dedicated for snow / ice melting equipment (there’s nothing else on this circuit), exterior GFCI protection is not required.
However, that snow / ice melting equipment must be permanently attached; [...]
Whole House Humidifiers Types, Performance and Tips
A whole house humidifier or furnace mounted whole house humidifier is just another example of an extremely neglected component of our house – on top of a brick chimney, an attic, and a crawlspace, which fall into the same basket.
If you’re not going to maintain it, it’s probably a bad idea to get a whole house humidifier. Since it is attached to a forced air heating system that constantly circulates air throughout the house, poor maintenance can create environment attracting mold growth and help reproduce of dust mites.
Properly operating and maintaining a whole house humidifier [...]
Whole House Fan and How to Benefit From It
Many of my clients ask me about the whole house fan, a big square box in the center section of the house’s upper floor ceiling behind a set of self-closing louvers. As a home owner, you can either benefit from the whole house fan, or it can make your living conditions worse. Where and when it…
House Sump Pump – Have You Checked Yours Lately?
House Sump Pump
Pump in the hole / house sump pump, is just another component of our precious home that we tend to forget about. I know that for a fact because it’s a very popular item in the “servicing required” section of my inspection reports. Wake-up call from a broken house sump pump in your basement or crawlspace may be sometimes very painful (wet and expensive), so bare with me for a few minutes.
How an entire drainage system around and inside your property is designed will go into another post, for now I’m assuming that you don’t care what’s [...]
House Water Heater Vent Pipe, How To Do It Right
Improper house gas water heater venting could be hazardous for you. Have a look at the pictures, and get it right, get it now – it’s easy and it can save your life.
Cathedral Ceiling Ventilation | House Attic Vents
Depending on your house interior and roof framing design, cathedral ceiling ventilation can be treated as an independent, or attic ventilation related condition. As much as regular attic ventilation is an important part of your house maintenance routine and usually easy to perform, cathedral ceiling ventilation maintenance might be difficult or even impossible to do.
Majority of problems with cathedral ceiling ventilation develop in structures where the ceiling framing, and roof framing are the same. What it means, that there’s no accessible attic between the ceiling and roof surface, only narrow, rafter / truss space which should be partially filled with insulation. [...]