Harold Miller's (kelly1) Blog

A well ventilated attic stays dry and free from condensation, mold, mildew, and fungal wood rot decay. Having the proper air circulation is a key to prolonging the roofs' longevity, and preventing damage. An attic ventilation system is generally comprised of upper vents, such as the common box ve...

In my business I see alot of dryer ducts. Some good, and some not so good. Due to the way homes are constructed these ducts sometimes are neglected because they are hard to get to. In out of the way places like your attic or in the crawl space under the home. My favorite place for a dryer exhaus...

What is causing all these holes? Is it termites? Carpenter Bees? Some species of wood boring beetle? Well there is no need to call the Pest Control Operators, or a repair contractor.  These holes from Teredo Shipworm did not occur in the structure. However their evidence can be found in some olde...

I bet the plumber is wondering what keeps happening to all his test plugs. Well I found one of them. For those that don't know..... test plugs are installed on each plumbing vent so that the drain, waste, vent (DWV) system can be pressurized with air. Any leaks will prevent the system from holdin...

  Defective safety equipment on your hot water tank can result in serious consequences. I was reminded of this tonight as I watched an episode of Mythbusters with Jamie and Adam. They were testing out the "myth" that hot water tanks can rocket out of a home when safety devices fail. Well I alread...

  This structural support wall appears OK from a distance. But fortunately the rodents had torn away the vapor retarder in places to reveal that it is sandwiched between a double bottom plate. The plate is not treated lumber... I can only wonder what this builder was thinking when they placed the...

Blocking crawl space vents....Being a northwest native, I am not sure what part of the country this practice is acceptable, but one thing I can tell you is that it is not OK here in Western Washington. Yet I see it done, and have no idea why people think it is OK. I have heard all sorts of excuse...

 A couple years ago wife and I were facing a dillema. Our garage was getting too small with all my power tools, equipment, etc. etc. and it was so bad that I couldn't park in the garage any more. Compounding our issue was a 28' boat that we could either keep at an indoor heated storage facility f...

With steely eyes, an attack posture, and fangs that look like they could inflict some serious pain....My heart was racing as I looked around for my possible routes of escape. I was at a disadvantage standing on a steep townhome roof three stories above the ground........Well with this picture I a...

Failed exterior Louisiana Pacific (LP),  Inner Seal, siding is a defect that I run into frequently. The product is an oriented strand board product (OSB), which has been the subject of a class action lawsuit. The Inner Seal product was manufactured from about 1985 to 1996, and was produced in bot...