I grew up in an older home and my father Ed Levitch MHRIP was an Architect and remodeling contractor in and around Berkeley California and the surrounding cities since 1958. Growing up I learned so many things from him, he taught me the value of family, respect and everything I know today about remodeling homes safely.
I remember a time at Levco Builders when I received a call from a man who shared a personal story about lead poisoning. He thanked me for advocating for the rule. I assured him of my commitment to safety. I was an early supporter of the EPA’s RRP rule, and I’m still a strong advocate today for ensuring people are safe in their homes.
What is a Healthy Home?
We all believe our homes are healthy places but all too often the opposite is true. As a remodeling contractor too, I deal with it every day. From the materials we use to how they are installed and the environment we create within the envelope of your home is unbelievably important. The CDC describes a healthy home as “One that is designed, built, and maintained to support our health” I couldn’t agree more. The other pivotal moment in my quest to promote healthy homes was a document written by the then Surgeon General, Steven Galson in 2009 who articulated the need for a healthy housing stock. This blog is dedicated to all things related to healthy homes with an emphasis on lead, lead detection as well as protection of humans and pets.
Laminate Countertops
There are several big names in the laminates used for countertops, Formica, Wilsonart, and Nevermar are the ones I come in contact most frequently, Others in the market are Arborite, & Pionite. Unfortunately, the word laminate has become synonymous with flooring,...
What Does R-Value Mean?
I have been confused for years about just what the term R-value means. You would think that if you have 16" of insulation it should correlate to an R-Value. That is all well and good, as long as you are talking about the exact same insulation. What an R-Value is, as...
Residential Foundation Repairs
Although we are not engineers, we do get involved in repairing structural things quite often. I realized just how often when a potential client, who is an engineer herself, found it difficult to locate a contractor in town that deals with this sort of problem. Her...
Galvanic Corrosion
Today's topic is a not so uncommon plumbing problem. While remodeling in Boise, we at Levco see all sorts of things. This problem was discovered in the utility room. The effects were carried throughout the daylight basement ceiling. Usually, what people are really...
Living in a Leaded Home
There are nearly 15,900 homes here in Boise Idaho that were given the "Completely leaded until proven otherwise" stigma by the EPA RRP rule in April, 2010. Other than becoming older, these homes are not any different than they ever were. It dawned on me that I live...
Bats in the Belfry or Flies in the Chimney
Yes, This is a saying that can mean many things, but eludes to being off your rocker. A belfry is an old word for a bell tower and having bats up there a colorful way of saying that there isn't much going on inside. Well, my neighbor just came by to tell me of flies...
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Gas Water Heater Failure
No hot water is the symptom but what could be the cause. I responded to the home of a client that we did a major remodeling project work for in 2012 which 5 years after installation. What could be wrong? Its a gas water heater, for cryin' out loud, such simple...
Sulfur Smell From Hot Water
I recently diagnosed a new electric water heater emitting a nasty sulfur smell from it. The darn smell would not go away so I asked my Father-In-law Bob the retired plumber what he thought. "Anode rod must be bad" he said. Whatever the cause, it was a very nasty smell...
Flashing Red GFCI
I recently returned to a kitchen remodeling project to figure out why the a counter outlet stopped working. I traced the power back under the crawl space to a junction box with a GFCI outlet that would not reset and had a flashing red LED in it. I turned it into a...
Roof replacement problems
As a part of our work requests we take care of homes that have been inspected for the purposes of resale. In the majority of these homes, we have found that when a roof replacement has been done that the ducts have been left disconnected. The ducts we are talking...