Believe It Or Not, It's Just "Hanging In There". Yes believe it or not this is rot. Ordinary wood rot is the process of decay due to the breakdown of the wood fiber components as they are exposed to mold, micro-organisms, insects and water. This is a complete ecology with the mold eating the wood and other things feeding on the mold and weakened wood and others feeding on them, etcetera, etcetera. It can occur right before your eyes, as in this case, as well as in hidden locations. Primarily all that is required is the relatively frequent recurrence or constant presence of water. Other than that it's the right temperature range and the ubiquitous presence of mold spores and the rest of the micro-biology team. (They're always waiting in the wings.) Here this is outdoors on a secluded co... 10/21/2012

Yes! It Was Biblical ! And on the Fourth! Think of this senario next time you're wondering if that roofing really has to be replaced now. It really WAS Biblical. We were having a beer, watching the ducks and the wind surfers on the lake. The lake was calm. The ducks were swimming,bobing and feeding. Then the rain started. Then suddenly became really hard and heavy. The wind came up, blowing waves OUT into the lake. The ducks were now standing, looking at us as if to say "What did you do?" They were swiming moments before.Talk about 'ducks out of water'!Then they stated ducking and running for cover. It was hailing, hard. Big hail stones between marbles and golf balls in size! Check the video! The second shorter video shows a second round. We'ed thought it was over. Just look at the size... 07/08/2012

Announcement for this weekend, Saturday May 5th.     For anyone in the Montreal area this weekend, especially the West Island, this is one of those you'll regret missing. For those who don't know, the Pointe-Claire Village is the original area of the pioneering French farming village that developed this end of the island. Around this the modern city of Pointe-Claire has grown, but the character, many of the structures, lots of the 'families' have remained. New this year is the amazing and totally revamped Village Grocery. It’s been closed and undergoing renovations for about a year. They did a fabulous job! If you haven’t seen the outside mural you should come just to see that. The other ‘new’ in the village is the Locksmith’s sign. The trunk/stump of a mature tree that had to be taken ... 05/02/2012

Pointe-Claire 100th Anniversary Celebration - Pointe-Claire Days It's 100 years since the incorporation of Pointe-Claire as a city. And the city is having a bash this weekend. Most of the activities will be in the Village. This is the original area settled, locally called the Pointe-Claire village and is actually 300 years old as a settlement. This is the announcement flyer put out by one of the merchants in the village. The merchants association is actively participating in and promoting the event as well as a volunteer citizens committee (That's actually been organizing this since 2009.) Saturday the street will be closed and filled with antique cars. The nearby park will be filled with children's activities and amusements. A band stand will be erected and there will be a variety of p... 08/17/2011

  For anyone in the Montreal area this weekend, especially the West island, this is one of those you'll regret missing. For those who don't know, the Pointe-Claire village is the original area of the pioneering French farming village that developed this end of the island. Around this the modern city of Pointe-Claire has grown, but the character, many of the structures, lots of the 'families' have remained. This is a real village. It has charm, identity and lots of interesting shops, stores and businesses. (No chain stores here). Boutique Lois Butler, where the sale is, is just one of them, but it's one that should not be missed. This Canada Day weekend has lots of events, great food variety, children's events and fireworks in the evening. Enjoy your shopping and your 'finds' and don't ... 06/29/2011

PLEASE DO NOT MOVE DRYER CLOSER TO REAR WALL. (Part 1) I believe that says it all.  But you must ask, why. Well. a quick glimpse behind the dryer reveals all (photo below). There you can see the plastic flexible duct that will crush if the dryer is pushed any further. It looks like the home owner has used pipe strapping to hold the flex duct up off the floors so it wont be folded over itself or squished side ways like a 'slinky' toy could be. This ducting is little more than a 'slinky' type coil that has been skinned over with plastic, so it is notorious for folding over on itself, sometimes more than once. Obstructed: When this happens it is no longer a functioning duct and your dryer is going to take a long time to dry the clothes, basically baking them dry. The other thing these duct... 06/27/2011

A Milestone and a New Benchmark For Me..............Thanks To Active Rain. Today I reached a new milestone in my Active Rain participation. I've crossed the 75,000 points mark ! That's a big deal for me. Even though I'd been a member since 2008, I had not been active until this past 6 months. I had 3 blogs prior to this past December. Now I have over 100 that I've written myself. (Others are AR re-blogs). I've learned to blog with the help of many friends and great examples here on AR. Thank you Active Rain. When I started I could not conceive of the seemingly astronomical point levels some members have earned. But my web presence needed a boost. I'd been on line for years but never got any direct business from it. Now it's happening and when I want callers to see how knowledgeable and ... 06/12/2011

A Man's Home Is His Castle, Right?  Well that's the old school way of saying it. Saying "One's home is ones' castle" may be grammatically and politically correct (gender neutral, for all that.) But it doesn't 'ring' true. Doesn't sound right. So, I say 'a man's home is his castle'. While for a few days there have been these runes painted on the street and sidewalk outside my 'castle'. Yesterday I came home to a 'moat'. There were barricades and the whole sidewalk was gone, with a six foot wide trench where the sidewalk and curb used to be. That's definitely a moat in terms of urbanites who don't want to get their shoes wet. Today we came home to see the new sidewalk formed, poured concrete and draped in wet burlap. There was a guard on duty too. He complained about the dogs walking on t... 05/19/2011

Don't Do As I Do, Do As I Say!............... Don't open the electrical panels. That's my job (or your electricians). We have the training, but there is always a degree of risk. So don't open your panels! Period. Around here the electrical utilities normally lock-out the larger voltage switching and bus bar panels. They do this for a reason. Higher voltages are dangerous. There is no serge protection and arcing potential is high. (That means sparks baby!, You'se don't want no sparks.!) The lock-out devises are simple one-use wire and plastic things with the utilities logo in them. If they've been opened you can't fake it and put them back on. They (The utility company, the electrician, and the inspector) are going to know. So those panels are meant to be left alone. But if the tags are ... 05/16/2011

Is 'CAULK' a 4 letter word to you ?   Does that mean "FLASHING" reminds you of a 'perv' in the park. I would think so judging by the number of places I'm seeing that should have flashing in use but has none or is relying on caulked seams instead. A blog Relying on Caulking  by a fellow inspector, Steven L. Smith here in AR got me thinking about the defects that I commonly see regarding these products. His main points were about the life expectancy of caulking and their being used instead of the proper flashing. I concur with the points he makes and I routinely advise clients that when caulking maintenance is required that this actually means that the old has to be stripped (not usually an easy job) and then new caulking reapplied. Far too often I see newer caulking smeared over old, som... 03/21/2011