Since early July, fire danger signs have been out at Belgatos Park in Los Gatos (and I suspect at other parks throughout Santa Clara County too). To the right is the sign at the park’s main entrance.  It admonishes the visitors:

“High Fire Danger  No Smoking No BBQs”

To anyone who’s lived in Silicon Valley long, this is understood – the fire danger is quite high here in summer.  Unlike most of the east coast, it does not rain here in summer (at least not often and not much), and our green grasses and plants of spring turn to kindling very quickly.  One stray match, hot cigarette butt or one illegal firework can smolder into a flame which grows fast with the smallest amount of wind to destroy property, animal life and potentially human life, make breathing bad for days and leave a scar on the land.

This sign at the entrance may not feel very compelling to some as the lush green grass in the background would seem to contraindicate restraint.  But venture to the park’s side entrance on Bacigalupi Drive (or hike up the trails) and you’ll understand immediately why this is nothing to take lightly.

Except for one little tuft of partially green grass, “cardboard hill” is entirely dry. So is the rest of this beautiful open space.

If you live close to or have open space in San Jose’s Alum Rock, Almaden, or other east foothill areas or the west valley places like Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Sartoga, Cupertino or anywhere the foothills, your property is likely considered to be in a high risk fire hazard zone. If so, each year you are mailed information from Cal Fire reminding you of your obligation to provide clearance around your home and to cut down the dead brush.

Just outside of the main entrance to the park there’s a large and open lot which has a few trees, some prickly pear, and a lot of grasses and weeds in winter and spring.  (It also had a rattlesnake it in by the prickly pear when my daughter walked past with our dog one day a month or two ago.) Below is a pan of two pics I took with my Blackberry and later stitched together – the park entrance is out of sight but is a little to the left of this photo.

These owners have done as needed and disked the field to help prevent fires or the spread of fires.

There are things you can do to “harden” your own home is you live near open space – that is, to make it more resistant to fire. Check out the whole list on the Cal Fire site, “Ready For Wildfire“.

The Garden Conservancy hosts annual garden tours throughout the US, including here in Silicon Valley.  Tomorrow there will be a (self-guided) tour in Saratoga, Los Gatos and Monte Sereno featuring the beautiful landscaping of four homes plus an Italianate Garden at Villa Montalvo, also in Saratoga.

Tickets cost  $5 per garden per person (kids under 12 are free).  Or, become a member of the Garden Conservancy and enjoy discounted ticket prices. They also offer a directory, which can be purchased, of all the tours nationwide.  Great idea fodder!

If you want to sell your Silicon Valley home, you need a good amount of qualified traffic coming through your doors. That is, you want people who really do want to buy a home and who are capable of doing so to have a look at your condo, townhome or house inside as well as out.  Should the photos in the MLS and online be non-existent, scarce, or poor, those buyers may reject your home without ever seeing it.  It is imperative that your home’s photos nicely showcase your property so that buyers want to come and see more in person. 

In this post I’ll share a few tips on how to make the front of  your home show well for the photos (and for in-person visits of real estate agents and home buyers), a few things to do or not to do.  This will help you even if someone else is in charge of taking the photos – you can propertly set the stage before the photographer ever gets there.

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Yesterday I attended a property inspection in San Jose and we found an unwanted resident in the garage: a black widow spider. In case you haven’t seen one, I thought I’d share the pic here (photo courtesy of home inspector Duane Serrano of Tri Star Inspections).

Needless to say, she’s not there anymore!

In Santa Clara County, as in much of California, we have adobe clay soil and it’s expansive.  That is, when the dirt gets wet, it expands, and when it dries out, it contracts. Hence it’s sometimes referred to as “shrink-swell” soils.  (Every state in the union has areas with this problem – a color-coded map on geology.com shows areas with more and less expansive soils.)

Why is this an issue for homeowners and would-be homeowners in Silicon Valley? 

The trouble is that the expanding and contracting soil is far stronger than concrete and the foundations upon which a home sits. A well written and illustrated six page paper can be found online explaining the mechanics involved for those interested in more detail on the hows and whys of expansive soils. (It states that the ground can life as much as 5,500 pounds per square inch!)

What I’d like to focus on here is mitigating the risks and preventing the problems associated with expansive soils. 

The trouble is not so much that the soil is wet or dry.  The problem is in the back and forth, the movement. When the soil is kept at an even amount of moisture, it does not expand and contract.

Obviously, rain is seasonal and we cannot control all moisture on or near the house. We can, though, work to move water away from the house and away from the foundation.

Winter storms can bring an enormous amount of water onto a home’s roof, and when it channels down gutters and downspouts, there can be a large amount of water exiting in just a few places.  Where does that water go?

In 95% of the homes I see in San Jose, Los Gatos and Saratoga, the water simply dumps out at the base of the downspout – right up against the home.  This is typical, but is unwise, as it causes the soils to become excessively damp in one spot.

Ideally, you want to move the water away from the house and foundation, at least by 6 feet or so.   Solutions can be expensive (underground and run all the way to the street) or can be very inexpensive (a plastic extender added to the end of the extra long downspout) as in the photo below.

Leaks that are untended can wreck havoc on your foundation. This photo below displays a foundation crack that includes efflorescence (the white powdery stuff) and rusty discoloration, which is most likely a bad sign for the rebar inside the foundation. The source of the trouble? Probably a combination of a leaky hose bib and water that got under the house from a kitchen faucet leak or from grading issues and heavy rains.

Another main culprit is grading. Too often, a walk around the house in question reveals that the land is sloped toward the house rather than away from it.  When it rains, or when sprinklers run, the water in the yard will come careening toward the house – exactly what you do not want to happen.

Sometimes, it’s inevitable, as in the case with hillside construction. What to do? Specialists find a way to grade the soil closest to the home away from it and to intercept the hill-driven water before it gets close to the home.  Imagine making a tiny valley between the home and the hill, and the small culvert catching the water so it can be diverted. That’s essentially how it works.

High water table areas will require the help of specialists too, as these can cause water to bubble up under or near the home and again create havoc on the home’s stability.

If you’re a current homeowner or home seller in the Bay Area, have a walk around your property and see what’s happening with your downspouts.  In some (few) cases, the downspout may empty onto concrete that is sloped away from the structure, and it may be OK as is.  In many cases, though, that downspout just termitates at the base of the home and empties into soil or landscaping that’s waiting to absorb the moisture and expand.  A home inspector will “call” this.  Are your floors inside out of level? Are the hardwood floors cupped? These may be the result of water not being diverted away from the home – you’ll want to address this immediately, before it worsens.  Having this work done will also give homebuyers confidence that your property has been well maintained when and if you do go to sell it.

If you’re a current homebuyer in the area, watch for this detail. Does the home have downspouts and gutters? If not, you’ll want to add them and then the extenders. If the downspouts are like most I’ve seen and stop at the base of the home, pay particular attention to the concrete nearby, any exposed foundation (watching for cracks), floors inside (looking for “out of level” and if hardwood, any cupping).  Hopefully the floors are level and undamaged.  If undulating, though, you may need to speak with a structural engineer about solutions.

Living History in the West Valley Area of Santa Clara County: Japanese Gardens.  One Is Public, One Is Private, One Is Remodeled Almost Beyond Recognition.

I used to joke with my kids, “history isn’t boring, it’s just taught that way“. Local Silicon Valley history is plenty colorful, and some of it continues on today as “living history”.

Japanese Gardens are part of that “living history” of California. They are lovely, calm places to visit with immense but subdued beauty. Did you know that we have three of them locally on the west side of Silicon Valley? You may have heard of Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, but there are two others on the west side (Los Gatos, Saratoga or Monte Sereno) that you might not know of – even if you have enjoyed a meal at one of them! (Also, of course, there is the well known San Jose Japanese Friendship Garden at Kelly Park.)

The Saratoga Historical Foundation has a fabulous page about these three places, so I’ll refer you there for more reading:
http://www.saratogahistory.com/History/japanese_gardens.htm. It may not be easy or even possible to see all of them, but if you have never been to a Japanese Garden, go and check them out. You’ll be glad you did.

Pet rats – the kind you buy at the pet store – can make the most adorable friends. Pookie was our daughter’s pet and a close family member for years.

But rats in the roof, attic, crawl space, walls and landscaping are not so adorable. They wreck havoc and can cause damage to home and health. Wild rats gnaw on wood and wires, and they carry fleas that can spread disease. Bubonic plague is not an issue in Santa Clara County now, but it is in Tahoe and other areas, so it’s a risk to take seriously.

What kind of rats exist here, in The Valley of Hearts Delight?

In Silicon Valley, the predominent type of wild rat is the Roof Rat (also known as the Black Rat or Tree Rat). The Roof Rat’s eat ivy, fruit, pet food, nuts and other goodies found in neighborhoods. They are identifiable because their tail is longer than the head and body together.

A lesser seen rat in the San Jose area is the Norway Rat (also called the Wharf Rat, the Sewer Rat, or the Brown Rat). This rat has a shorter tail and is usually seen in less developed areas, creekbeds, and farm areas, which are rapidly disappearing here in the South Bay.

Recently a neighbor of ours found a dead rat in his yard, and he called The Santa Clara County Vector Control District office to come out and help him identify if there was a problem with rats getting into his home or not, and to shed light on the issue of why this critter recently appeared in his home. The officer came out and performed this service for free, enlightening my neighbor as to access points and providing a helpful brochure about rats and what attracts them.

I’d heard that Italian Cypress trees, juniper and ivy were all bad – that is, that they attracted rats. What I did not realize is how many other things do too.
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