Paul Cummins
- Mar 3, 2018
- 1 min
Shingles that look new for a long time
Like most of you I had damage to my house after the two days of 50 mph gusts. The 5 by 11.5 inch tabs on a couple dozen shingles ripped off and flew everywhere. Called my friend Josh from JGL roofing and he asked me how old my roof is. I said it's probably about 10 years old but looks like new. He said I have Certainteed shingles. "They look new for the whole life of the roof." Wow, and the only tool I have to gauge roof age is the appearance of the shingles and the cond
21 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Dec 18, 2017
- 1 min
Reboot your plumbing vents!
Perma-boots come in different sizes depending on the size of the vent pipes. These can also easily extend the height of existing pipes if the pipe cover extension connects to some part of the existing pipe (and you glue it on). If the pipes aren't high enough over the roof surface a heavy snowfall may block them and then the toilets won't flush! Click here for one size. Fixed my mother-in-law's leaking vents with these! #roof #drainage
16 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Oct 16, 2017
- 1 min
Cheap way to save your chimney
Water is the main enemy of your house. When water gets into a chimney it degrades the masonry all the way down, including the firebox. Covering the opening with a cap and spark arrester protects the roof from sparks and the chimney from water, debris and animals. Click on the image for a link to Woodland Direct who will provide any size you need, plus beautiful ones too. #roof #HVAC
20 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Oct 16, 2017
- 1 min
Drip Edge Flashing Saves Roofs
Here is drip edge flashing over the eave. If you have a gutter, the bottom edge would go over the gutter so that water couldn't duck behind the gutter and rot out the eave. I commonly see sheds built with the plywood sheathing exposed (with no flashing) so that the ends simply absorb water and decay the bottom foot or so of the sheathing. These are the rake edges of a roof. Without drip edge flashing here, the shingles will curl easier and water will find its way under the e
84 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Mar 24, 2017
- 1 min
New ways to provide soffit venting even if you don't have a soffit!
Click on image for link. Click on image for link. #roof #ventilation
15 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Mar 20, 2017
- 1 min
Water is usually the enemy...chimneys included!
Chimneys: lofty, solid...out there in the wind and snow and rain. But like all of us, vulnerable. Brick work isn't designed to act like a roof (like in the sloped parts of chimneys) or dams, when the sides of chimneys meet the roof. Hence the poetically named cricket diverter, which is made of metal or roofing material and sends the water, snow and ice to either side into the gutter. Otherwise, ice can form a dam uphill of the chimney and water pools against flashing which
37 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Mar 17, 2017
- 1 min
A couple tweaks to make your gutters more effective.
Roofs are supposed to be on top of everything else. When a roof meets a wall you've got water running down where it was not meant to and then when it gets to the base of the wall it can wrap around and cause trouble. I just inspected a house that needed a whole new joist and its support replaced due to the lack of a few dollars of kick-out flashing. This gutter valley splash guard will help prevent overflow from high pitched roof valleys. Click on image for link. #drainage
60 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Mar 6, 2017
- 1 min
Time Lapse House Construction
This shows how to do the shell and some of the interiors: no plumbing, electrical, HVAC. Even though it covers only some of the scope of a home inspector's work, it helps one appreciate how many parts there are to a house and what goes under the finishes. #misc #roof
14 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Feb 12, 2017
- 1 min
Best gutter guards
Here's a house where the gutters have become planters! Cleaning gutters (and anything else done on ladders) is a major cause of death among men of a certain age. It also results in cut hands and a messy yard below. I have found that Gutter Helmets work best. Designed like an air foil (wing or sail) debris, except for some pine needles, falls over the gutter and water, because of its high cohesion (hydrogen bonds) sticks onto the guard and just wraps around into the gutter:
170 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Feb 12, 2017
- 1 min
Good air needed in attic!
Ideally there should be continuous soffit vents and a continuous ridge vent in your attic to allow for a passive air flow over the inside of your roof deck which prevents mold from forming in the winter. The old roofs just had a gable vent or two. Some have soffit vents but nothing at the ridge. Any of the the four types below the ridge on the image above would be fine. This static vent below is most common. Each roof is different but ideally these should be placed every
82 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Feb 2, 2017
- 1 min
Un-vented roofs
This beautiful room doesn't have a conventional attic space. It may still be vented from the eaves to ridge as required in R806.3 of the International Residential Code but likely it is not. It is then called an un-vented roof assembly covered in R806.4 (click on image for link). Moisture from the home can still migrate through the recessed lights and even through the drywall itself. If it hits a cold roof deck it will grow mold. Therefore the idea is to keep the plywood
10 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Jul 15, 2016
- 1 min
Problem with slate roofs is that the flashing wears out first!
The metal flashing wears out after about 70 years on slate roofs. To redo flashing on the valleys they have to be cut back and completely redone. Ridges can be fixed from the surface by this technique. Most of the roofing cement I see on slate roofs is on the ridges. #roof #drainage
16 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Dec 3, 2015
- 1 min
Can save you from a failing basement wall!
Buried downspout extensions are more attractive but are guaranteed to clog at some point and send water directly to your foundation. These WYES at the end of your downspout, connected to the buried pipe, will filter out debris from above and let you easily see overflow when the buried pipe gets clogged by roots or silt. Click on image for link. #drainage #roof
206 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Nov 21, 2015
- 1 min
Dry wells prevent your yard from being classified as wetlands!
First thought, dry wells aren't good, means we will die of thirst after crossing the desert. Ah, but dry wells can save your foundation, basement and yard. The idea is they fill up during a storm, contain the water and let it seep into the soil slowly. A rain barrel could be considered a dry well. Here is an in-ground one. Search "dry well images" for a great variety of others. This homely model receives drainage pipes from your downspouts or drains to protect your reta
45 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Nov 4, 2015
- 1 min
From mold to crumbling walls...$10 can save you thousands!
It's amazing how much damage a leaky gutter or a misdriected downspout can do. I've seen gutter overflows neglected for years causing mold in the basement and downspouts dumping half a roof's water onto one corner of the foundation and literally eating it away. As a general rule get that water at least 5 feet away from the foundation or further if needed to slope away from the house! Click on image to link to this versatile model. Look at the trouble they've taken at Linco
160 views0 comments
Paul Cummins
- Jul 24, 2015
- 1 min
Timing is Everything!
A home usually has a long history of good use, happy times and, yes, insults and injuries, before I come to check it over for a potential new master seeking refuge and happiness. Often the simplest things can cause the most dramatic differences to a building's habitability. In the case documented below I arrived just in time for one of the summer's tropical deluges and the "Case of the Flooded Basement" was solved! #misc #drainage #roof
4 views0 comments
{"items":["5d5de1d999e0b00016294408","5d5de1d950d7b90016b8bca8","5d5de1da5a245200160166f1","5d5de1da919181001616076b","5d5de1daa066960016df40b6","5d5de1da5740a20016d74bc0","5d5de1dafe8c140016114db3","5d5de1da50d7b90016b8bcab","5d5de1da86d6fb00169d9ba1","5d5de1da3dfb3c0016182937","5d5de1dae833860016df1ab1","5d5de1da919181001616076d","5d5de1dae833860016df1ab0","5d5de1da9b68d60015d6ec8a","5d5de1dac47d9600162021e0","5d5de1db61fbcd0016d5750a","5d5de1db5740a20016d74bc7","5d5de1db86d6fb00169d9ba5","5d5de1db5740a20016d74bc8"],"styles":{"galleryType":"Columns","groupSize":1,"showArrows":true,"cubeImages":true,"cubeType":"fill","cubeRatio":1.3333333333333333,"isVertical":true,"gallerySize":30,"collageAmount":0,"collageDensity":0,"groupTypes":"1","oneRow":false,"imageMargin":32,"galleryMargin":0,"scatter":0,"rotatingScatter":"","chooseBestGroup":true,"smartCrop":false,"hasThumbnails":false,"enableScroll":true,"isGrid":true,"isSlider":false,"isColumns":false,"isSlideshow":false,"cropOnlyFill":false,"fixedColumns":1,"enableInfiniteScroll":true,"isRTL":false,"minItemSize":50,"rotatingGroupTypes":"","rotatingCropRatios":"","columnWidths":"","gallerySliderImageRatio":1.7777777777777777,"numberOfImagesPerRow":1,"numberOfImagesPerCol":1,"groupsPerStrip":0,"borderRadius":0,"boxShadow":0,"gridStyle":1,"mobilePanorama":false,"placeGroupsLtr":true,"viewMode":"preview","thumbnailSpacings":4,"galleryThumbnailsAlignment":"bottom","isMasonry":false,"isAutoSlideshow":false,"slideshowLoop":false,"autoSlideshowInterval":4,"bottomInfoHeight":0,"titlePlacement":"SHOW_ON_THE_RIGHT","galleryTextAlign":"center","scrollSnap":false,"itemClick":"nothing","fullscreen":true,"videoPlay":"hover","scrollAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","slideAnimation":"SCROLL","scrollDirection":0,"scrollDuration":400,"overlayAnimation":"FADE_IN","arrowsPosition":0,"arrowsSize":23,"watermarkOpacity":40,"watermarkSize":40,"useWatermark":true,"watermarkDock":{"top":"auto","left":"auto","right":0,"bottom":0,"transform":"translate3d(0,0,0)"},"loadMoreAmount":"all","defaultShowInfoExpand":1,"allowLinkExpand":true,"expandInfoPosition":0,"allowFullscreenExpand":true,"fullscreenLoop":false,"galleryAlignExpand":"left","addToCartBorderWidth":1,"addToCartButtonText":"","slideshowInfoSize":200,"playButtonForAutoSlideShow":false,"allowSlideshowCounter":false,"hoveringBehaviour":"NEVER_SHOW","thumbnailSize":120,"magicLayoutSeed":1,"imageHoverAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imagePlacementAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","calculateTextBoxWidthMode":"PERCENT","textBoxHeight":0,"textBoxWidth":200,"textBoxWidthPercent":50,"textImageSpace":10,"textBoxBorderRadius":0,"textBoxBorderWidth":0,"loadMoreButtonText":"","loadMoreButtonBorderWidth":1,"loadMoreButtonBorderRadius":0,"imageInfoType":"ATTACHED_BACKGROUND","itemBorderWidth":1,"itemBorderRadius":0,"itemEnableShadow":false,"itemShadowBlur":20,"itemShadowDirection":135,"itemShadowSize":10,"imageLoadingMode":"BLUR","expandAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imageQuality":90,"usmToggle":false,"usm_a":0,"usm_r":0,"usm_t":0,"videoSound":false,"videoSpeed":"1","videoLoop":true,"jsonStyleParams":"","gallerySizeType":"px","gallerySizePx":940,"allowTitle":true,"allowContextMenu":true,"textsHorizontalPadding":-30,"itemBorderColor":{"themeName":"color_12","value":"rgba(191,191,191,1)"},"showVideoPlayButton":true,"galleryLayout":2,"targetItemSize":940,"selectedLayout":"2|bottom|1|fill|true|0|true","layoutsVersion":2,"selectedLayoutV2":2,"isSlideshowFont":false,"externalInfoHeight":0,"externalInfoWidth":0.5},"container":{"width":940,"galleryWidth":972,"galleryHeight":0,"scrollBase":0,"height":null}}