The Failures That Give No Warning — Collection Vol I, II & III

The things that run on a delay longer than the career of whoever built them and give no warning at all. Deck connections, radon, water behind cladding, floor joists in fire, relief valves, dryer ducts, flues, gas pipe bonding, guards, windows, pool barriers, stairs. Each entry gives what the document requires, how to compare your own house against it, what it costs to look — a torch, a tape measure, or nothing at all — and which professional the question belongs to.

In three separate entries the mechanism is a repair somebody made on purpose, believing they were helping: capping the pipe that drips, fitting the stainless screw into the galvanised hanger, sealing the wall that has no drainage. The volume also carries the measurement that best explains why this book exists — a smouldering fire test where one alarm technology gave 2,136 seconds of escape time and the other gave 276 — and the code clause written in plain language to stop a homeowner making things worse, because the code anticipated the homeowner. For this class of hazard, paying attention is not the tool. Procedure is.