Tag Archives: Grounds

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  Decks need a leg to stand on

  Posted on May 10, 2018 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  Barbecues are firing up and cushions are getting placed on outdoor furniture as life on our decks returns – at least for four months of sunny Seattle weather! As we do so I’ve been noticing several problems with decks that are often missed or neglected: #1 – The deck should be secured with bolts to […]

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  They’ll go out on a limb for your house

  Posted on August 22, 2016 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  I’ve talked a lot about rodents recently. While they are not structurally destructive they give home owners the willies more than anything else! We love to plant vegetation around our houses to beautify our yards. New construction rarely has this problem because everything planted is immature. After about ten years trees have grown tall, vines have […]

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  The ugly truth about beauty bark

  Posted on May 9, 2016 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  Come the spring we order yards of bark, mulch and other landscape materials to bring vitality to our flower beds. What a satisfying sight and smell of freshened beds. Two of the most common uses of landscape materials are to fill gaps under our fences and hide the ugly concrete foundations below the siding. I agree that it looks clean and […]

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  Driveway Crack Up

  Posted on January 18, 2016 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  Do you have cracks in your driveway? You’ve probably never noticed before. Cracks seem to be such a common thing that no one thinks about it. Cracks in driveways can be caused by improperly cured concrete, settling of the ground below, crushing loads from a truck, tree roots, drainage issues and soil erosion. They can […]

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  Water nightmare – Episode I

  Posted on December 21, 2015 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  What’s the number one enemy of Pacific Northwest homes? Water. At the end of October our next door neighbors let me know they were having water entering their basement bedroom. They desperately fought the water building up against the foundation wall from a backed up driveway drain. We’ve lived in this duplex for three years […]

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  What to change this time change

  Posted on October 19, 2015 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  Sticky notes, white boards, iPhone reminders, and my wife all help me to remember the important things I need to do. Well this is a quick reminder of what we need to do around our homes as we prepare to “fall” back one hour. These are all simple tasks that could all be accomplished in less than 30 minutes and […]

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  Ground level gutter check

  Posted on October 15, 2015 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  My neighbor texted me the other day in the midst of one of those great Seattle rainfalls. They had water in their basement, the bedroom carpet was wet and they were desperate. I could empathize with their stress. Water is by far the biggest problem I see with basements. Crawlspace-owners do not feel the effects […]

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