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I Have Water in My Basement, Now What?
Water enters basements in a variety of ways. I wrote an informative article on ways it enters our homes. This article focuses on how to take preventative actions. In Boise, Idaho, we live on the edge of a desert; and we have fairly sandy soil, which is a good thing....
Mislabeled Electrical Panel
I realized this issue after a friend called. He had just purchased a remodeled home, and was concerned that his electrical panel was mislabeled. This turns out to be a fairly common problem. What happens is that over the years, our electrical needs change and or...
Natural Gas
A neighbor is just getting natural gas piped to their home and I am being kind enough to assist Intermountain Gas in allowing them to tap into our line and essentially branch off. This is the second time this has come up so far. It turns out that the system's pressure...
Where is My Heat Going?
For years now I have noticed an interesting phenomenon that I am not sure anyone else notices. It has to do with recognizing roof patterns in the winter. This is clear evidence that heat is escaping through your roof. Head down the block and check out your roof and...
Sway Back Structure
I was looking at a home inspection book that it had a picture of a structure that had several distinct problems. The roof had peaks at each gable end and a sway back in the middle. It also had bulging walls. This turned out to be a symptom of missing ceiling joists,...
Little Tricks I Have Learned
There are many of life's little lessons that have been learned along the way. Here are a few in the Understanding Your Home category to make living in your home easier. ELECTRICAL Put some anti oxidizing grease on the bottom of light bulbs and on the threads will make...