GOOOOOD MORNING, A.I.I.....
It's a great day here in Orem, Utah! I hope that all of you have grand plans for a wonderful Thanksgiving. You did remember to keep your schedule open for Thursday, didn't you? We will be heading to Idaho to spend the day with Shelly's older sister Juli. This will be the first time in several years that I will not be the one responsible for cooking the turkey...... Wait a minute. That means that we won't be having any leftovers. Ouch.... That hurts!!!
We have so much to be thankful for here in our household. Even though we have our health struggles our hearts go out to those that are also struggling. Hearing the news of Ted "Q" being in critical condition battling leukemia took the wind out of our sails. Our prayers are with him and his family as well as any of the rest of you that are in need. We have felt the blessings of the MMM readership and are touched by your love daily. As the years pass by it is important for us to reflect on our growth from year to year. We are learning to live with Shelly's health issues and pray for her body to once again return to full health once again. Our four children are such great individuals and they are getting so big. Each is so talented and they help to make my efforts worthwhile.
I was asked earlier this week to re-explain the process for making a great looking photo cover page for a 3D Inspection System reports. As you know, I am unconventional at best and like to accomplish things in a unique fashion. Making a cover page in 3D is no exception. There are a lot of different ways to accomplish it, so don't think that my process is the only way. You will not find these same instructions in any of the 3D documentation.
You will notice that I love to use a picture of the home on the front cover. I also insert the inspection address below the photo in bold white letters. I think it gives a great effect and my client's just love seeing their dream home immediately after opening their e-mailed report.
COLOR OPTIONS: Some of you are currently enthralled by the use of red and blue in my report, while others are doing their best to keep from spewing their guts. The great part about the 3D Inspection software is that you have control over positioning and color schemes. I developed the red and blue after 9-11, but you are free to design yours any way you like (That will be another 3D tip in the future).
You will also notice the top header portion of the report. I went with blue based graphics, while I used to use mainly black and white. The very top portion and the bottom footer with the footnote are the same on every page of the report with the exception of the page number. These are all user modifiable as well.
AII STYLE REPORT FORM COVER: To take advantage of the tricks that I use, open up a new report with any of my AII style form sets.
I designed the report cover form with a little used 3D feature known as a blank subheading. This feature has many uses, but few users have tried it out. In this case, it will allow us to use text and an image in a formatted HEADING box. This means that it will be centered and using the color scheme of your choice.
Look at the photo here for the unique layout of the cover page section. Look at the first blue line that says LEAVITT REPORT. Yours probably says RESIDENTIAL REPORT or INSPECTION REPORT. Immediately below it is a line that is offset far to the left. This is a blank heading line that information can be typed into. I put the address, city and state on this line and change the color as needed. Currently I change it to white, but in my older color scheme I just left it to the defaulted black.
NOTE: There is also a line down lower that says INSPECTION ADDRESS:. I leave this line blank when I use the photo of the house on the front cover. I do not use it with a photo because it will cause the photo to be positioned offset to the right of the page. You also can't position the address underneath the picture in the cool fashion like mine above. I have this line for the occasional inspection that I do not include photos.
The photo should also be imported into the same line that the address is on. If you look closely at the 3D photo above you can see the little graphic image offset far to the right of that same line next to the yellow arrow.
PHOTO TIP: One drawback to taking digital pictures of house fronts is that houses are much more rectangle than the cameras viewfinder. This means that you get a lot of blue sky and street in your stock image. But if you look at the photo on my cover page you will see that it is rectangular. My cover photo has very little blue sky or street. Take a look at the photos below. They are exactly the same width, but the top and bottom of the photo have been cropped. I will not teach you how to do this in this segment, but the majority of the photo editing softwares have a cropping or trimming feature. The idea is that you trim it to be more rectangular and this allows you to place the house larger on the cover without hogging the entire cover page with blue sky and street.
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What do you use to evaluated those dark and stanky places under the homes? Do you use Tyvek suits? Or do you use coveralls? What equipment have you found best for evaluating substructure crawlspaces?
I use coveralls (much larger to go over cloths), rollerblade knee pads for the rocks, etc. and rubber gloves. I do not enter muddy or wet crawls as I have found energized wires under homes. Jim Lucas - Camino, CA
Here in central Oregon where most homes have crawl spaces, good equipment makes a big difference. I buy new Tyvek coveralls with hoods and elastic on the sleeves and cuffs, and get them 2 sizes larger than I normally wear (I'm a medium , so I buy extra large) so they don't restrict your movement when crawling. I don't buy the used Tyvec coveralls because you don't know what they might be contaminated with (here has to be a reason why the original user doesn't want to re-use them). I've tried different types of gloves, and found that the Atlas Fit cloth gloves with the rubberized palms work the best because they keep your hands dry and provide a good "feel". I also like them for inspecting roofs and attics because they provide a much better grip than regular cloth or leather gloves. When you have to do lots of crawling, protecting your knees is very important. I recently found some new knee pads at a local home improvement center that are much better than any of the other ones I have seen or tried. They have a light blue flexible rubber outer shell, a thick layer of closed-cell foam, and an inner gel pad. They stay in place better than the old ones I had, and I haven't had even a minor knee injury or pain since I got them. Another essential for avoiding injury in crawl spaces is a "bump cap", which is a scaled down, closer-fitting version of a hard hat. I also use it for inspecting inside attics and under decks. Gary Holzbauer - Junction City, OR
When I took my training, from Bill Schwahn and Ron Cloyd, I learned about Toxic coveralls and laundromats! Probably one of the last places I want to spend my time and $$ is in a L-mat, so I was sneaking my stuff into the washer at home. After getting beaten to a pulp by Diane, I discovered a uniform service! For about $14/week I get 8 pr. of coveralls delivered to my office, along with a bag to put the dirty ones in. I keep the bag in a plastic garbage can in the garage until pickup day on Friday. Somehow I even got my name on them. I guess it is incase I am found in a crawl space and they can't recognize the mummy. I think it is cheaper than a L-mat, easier at home and they are always clean. I am now looking for one of those Harley Davidson type minimum hard hats to protect the scab on the top of my head, something about baseball caps and thin hair. Jim Archer - Florence, OR
I wear Key brand coveralls that have a pocket on the side of the leg for a cell phone, rubber boots, leather gloves, good rubber knee pads, respirator, and one of those 4-AA battery forehead lights. I added pockets on my sleeves to put the elbow pads in to prevent them from moving up or down my arms. Hammer, probe, flashlight, Fluke tester, camera in other pockets. Long web-whacker in the right hand and spotlight in the left hand. I gave up goggles and pocket recorder. Too much stuff! Diane Capp - Medford, OR
Probably 90% of the homes that I inspect have basements. The kind that you stand up and walk down the stairs, then turn on the lights. They run the gamut from partial to full - from unfinished to full finish. For the few crawl spaces that I encounter I wear coveralls. D. Ray Arey - Thermopolis, Wy
I always have two pair of coveralls on hand and hopefully they are cleaner than the crawl space I am about to enter. I have not been very good lately about rembering to bring them in to the wash every night. I just ordered a case of the tyvek coveralls to give them a try. If you are thinking about giving them a try you may look at eBay, I found several auctions for tyvek coveralls. I will keep you posted as to what I think of them after I try them a few times.
As far as the other equipment used when evaluating a crawlspace: A super bright 500,000 candle power spotlight is very nice. It seamed a bit bulky when I first started using it but you get used to it very quickly. If it breaks, I can purchase a new one at Wal-mart for $14.96, which beats the heck out of investing $45 in a Hot Spot which burns up the trigger assembly just as rapidly.
Also, for those of you didn't invest in the Booties that the lady in Portland was selling, you really missed the boat. They are great. Nathan Buckley - Klamath Falls, Or
I always report health hazards to all parties who are present during the walkthrough of the property. If the seller is not present, I leave a note. In one case, I did not report a gas leak to the seller. When she was informed about it 2 days later, she became furious with me because she believed I put her at risk (Of course, she was overreacting, but you never know what kind of person you're going to be dealing with). Tim Walz - St. Paul, MN
I notify the agent for the client and discuss the issue. If the client is a lending institution, the contact person is notified. Only after discussion do we decide who will do what in notification. Usually the agent will handle the notifications, sometimes by cell phone at the time. Jim Corbin, AII 2002 President - Bow, WA
When should you break confidentiality and tell the Seller or other parties what you found during an inspection?
According the Uniform Home Inspector
An Imminent Hazard requires that you report the condition to the occupants!!!!
HEREprovided that you take pro-active steps to notify those in danger. However, if you do not notify anyone, then your insurance company will interpret that as "gross negligence" (for which there is an exclusion in your policy), and refuse to cover you.
PRACTICAL REPORTING of Imminent Hazards can be accomplished through the following steps:
Yes Sir!!! I'm more "concerned about those worn out outlets. And I definitely want to buy one of those ST 1D testers. But the phone # you gave out Michael has been changed and now belongs to some contractor in Iowa or someplace. Also can you resubmit the name and address for the Woodhead tension-o-meter. Thanx, Robert Fischbach - Spokane Wa
I was hoping you could elaborate on this a little for the people who were not at the meeting. What exactly is causing the problem if all prongs are hot? Tim Walz - St. Paul, MN
Tim, I will elaborate more over the coming weeks in future MMM's. But first, you should answer the following questions......
As you know, most of us use a standard inexpensive 3 prong tester to evaluate the outlets in a home. Most of us have have also followed blindly by relying solely upon the 3 lights to tell us the grounding and polarity of the outlet. This blind loyalty to such a simple tool has left us misreporting many miswiring conditions.
I recommend that you invest in an extension cord and receptacle and try to recreate the scenarios that I present in the current and future weeks. For today, pretend you have an older home and there are only two wires. Hook up the wiring with reverse polarity and DON'T connect the ground. What did your 3-light tester tell you?
That's not M Leavitt. That's Jerry Steinfield with a new haircut! Carl Fowler - Fort Meyers, FL
I never would have believed I would ever see him speechless. You had to be there! Betty Buckley - Klamath Falls, Oregon
As a new member of A.I.I. and the world of home inspections, I am very pleased and excited to meet Michael in person and to see I have a brother in having fun, education, and very cool hair. Michael, you are a gem! Kim Martin - Seattle, Washington
Michael... Speechless!!! Wow! Just goes to show you anything can happen. Larry at Cameo - Olympia, WA
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