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It's a great day at Michael Leavitt & Co Home Inspections!!! This week we are looking forward to traveling to Idaho to spend Thanksgiving in a small little town named Debois with my sister-in law and her family. Last week was a disaster week for us here in Utah. There weren't any hurricanes, earthquakes, or tornadoes, but there was a famine of home inspections performed by this business establishment. It is ironic that last week's MMM talked about the highs and lows that are typical for our profession. Coming off of the high in the form of the "Day In The Life", we haven't had a week like last week for 22 months. The 22 month low was paired up with a client complaint, and a major local Broker threatening to kill my business. Talk about a blow to one's self-esteem! I can only reflect on Elton John's hit, "I'm Still Standing." The Broker after my blood was the same one for whom I inspected the home mentioned in last week's MMM (More on this in next week's MMM).
Board
Meeting Minutes - by Sarah
HarrisonAnnual Board Meeting Minutes - November 7, 1998 - Reno, Nevada Holiday Inn
Board Members Present: Ron Cloyd, Scott DeWitz, Brent Foster, Michael Leavitt, John Griffin, Tim Griffith, Jim Lucas, and Sarah Harrison
Called To Order at 5:10 P.M.
Agenda:
A) Continuing Education
B) Training for trainers, changes by trainers
C) CCHI Members
D) President and Ballot
E) Leadership Positions
F) Nominating Committee
G) Annual Meeting speakers and agenda
H) Mechanical Seminar
I) Mobile Home Manual
A) Continuing Education Requirements
Credits should be attainable by attending
the annual meeting. Training is essential.
Open for Discussion - Ideas brought up: keep it simple,
any annual meeting counts, many sources, members spread out, almost
anything counts, don't start with less hours than competition
requires, compare with like associations, use clock classroom
hours not unit hours for community college courses, Tim Griffith
proposes 40 hours, have to keep a balance = too high we may lose
members, senior inspector at 15 hours and master inspector at
24 hours, how do we police hours, decided that if they aren't
honest they hurt themselves.
Propose 12 hours per year, amended to
be able to make up over 3 years, 3 year average.
Categories
12 hours Certified
24 hours Senior
36 hours Master
Motion to accept the above categories and titles for continuing
education requirements, seconded, discussion: minimum 12 hours
to maintain membership with a 3 year average, set up titles for
categories in sub committee, counts for this year to dues year,
vote passed unanimously. Betty Buckley and Sylvan Stenge are committee
for details.
B) Trainers
Discussion of trainers and process for becoming trainer. Nothing is documented on the process. Little information on changes of course outlines.Board wants a written policy for the process. Discussion of training curriculum. Time period set for certifications. 2 or 3 options for home inspection training: 6 day course, 2 3-day course, video, and 3 * days plus 30 inspections. Discussion of which trainings have been approved. Request to find minuets for clarification of Home Inspection training with videos approved or not to be sent to board members.
C) California Coalition of Home Inspectors
There are 3 member of A.I.I.: Jim Lucas,
Dan Back, and Jon Gudnason, Ken Ives was removed for not showing
up to the meetings. Explanation of where CCHI came from and what
they were set up to do. Lobbying and keep ears open on the legislation
that effects home inspectors.
Bill Ball requests Board to appoint him to CCHI. Mark VanBuskirk,
Jon Gudnason, Bill Ball, Earle Alford.
Motion to appoint above mentioned to the CCHI steering committee
as public relations reps. Discussion of CCHI steering committee
members who don't like Bill Ball, does not appear to be an issue
that Bill Ball is disliked,
discussion of whether or not California members should be appointed,
but all are representing A.I.I. Why new member now? We want to
make sure that A.I.I.'s needs are being met. Suggestion to use
a ballot for the matter and let the members vote.
Motion amended to use a ballot to elect CCHI reps. Reason for
new members is that no minutes have been mailed to members and
no one knows what is going on. Motion amended to be voted on by
all members of A.I.I. to elect CCHI members for a yearly term,
suggested a 3 year term. Names for ballot = Bill Ball, Earle Alford,
Jim Lucas, Jon Gudnason, Dan Back and Mark VanBuskirk. Seconded.
Bill Ball officially takes his name off the ballot. Suggest that
nominee write why they want to be elected. Suggested that A.I.I.
needs an agenda for CCHI, what do we want to accomplish. Amended
to make a 3 year rotational term with original members on ballot,
person with most votes gets longest term and 4th person is alternate.
Vote, Passed unanimously.
D) Standing committees
Nominating committee
President issue, discussion of office holders and how everyone
is busy. Choices are to elect Sarah Harrison president or to nominate
someone
Discussion of what has happened, Steve Dansby had to remove his name from the ballot due to medical reasons. Discussion to appoint interim members of Board until proper ballot can be put together. Motion to postpone election to later but prior to Jan. 1, 1999, seconded, passed by 6 to 1. Nominating committee to be held on 11/8/98 at 9:00 A.M. at the Holiday Inn Restaurant.
Meeting adjourned at 7:03
P.M.
DAY IN
THE LIFE FEEDBACKLast week's MMM drew differing types of responses. My older brother corrected my misquoting of the Beatles "Day In The Life" (I'm so sorry..... it was not quite my generation). I made the proper lyric change and reloaded the issue. The greatest aspect of electronic publishing is that when errors are identified they can easily be modified and updated, unlike a hard copy newsletter that cannot be changed once mailed out.
Jon Gudnason responded from Placerville, California by first quoting the MMM....
".....It was fun going back through their 5,000 square foot home. They, too, had recently updated all of the kitchen appliances, as well as having completely redone their home's interior. It was as nice as the Telford's, but they were on the phone during the inspection trying to line up their painter to return to the Telford's and re-do the neighbor's recently redone interior. This is a mind set that I can't relate with, but it sure is fun to inspect."
"And two years ago you could not relate to doing a $500 home inspection. Interesting how things change, isn't it?" Jon Gudnason
Dan Sochor responded with this posting:
Michael, Just wanted to tell you that
I appreciate and enjoy reading your "Day in the Life"
story. I find it very interesting. I am still amazed that you
can do your inspections as fast as you do; A 7200 SF home in 3
1/2 hours!!!! WOW!!! It reminded me of the home I did 3 weeks
ago; 7500 SF, 6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, finished basement, 4 heat
pumps, a flat membrane roof; Only it took me 9 1/2 hours including
the extra long walk thru!
But I did quote a higher fee..$680.00.
Anyways, thanks for your weekly effort with the MMM. It's great!"
Dan Sochor - Moneta, Virginia
WHERE
IS ALL THE WATER COMING FROM???About 5 months ago I had the opportunity to perform an inspection for a wealthy doctor who was buying a home for his recently divorced daughter. The doctor was paying for the home in full with a personal check. He seemed happy with the inspection process that included an hour and 15 minute walkthrough. I thought that I had another satisfied customer on my hands. It turned out that I had to add several new comments to my report to protect me from the claws of a dissatisfied client.
It is now a regular comment in my report for the client to invest in a home warranty policy to help protect their pocketbooks when a component fails. My doctor client did invest in one and they have lost their shorts. Their has been plumbing back-ups, both water heaters failed, and the cooling system needed repairs when it was brought back on line.
The first time that I spoke with
the doctor after the original inspection was after about his fifth
component failure and he wanted to let me know how mad he was
at me. Afterall, if it wasn't for my inspection he would not have
bought the home. The fact that I reported all of the conditions
accurately made little difference. He remembered the comments
made during the walkthrough much differently than they actually
occurred. He let me know that he felt I was only looking out for
the agent's interests and that I did not protect his interests.
By the end of the conversation I was consigned to the fact that
this was going to be an individual that would eternally hate me.
He stated repeatedly that it was me who was bad and not honest.
This was destined to be either a big hairy lawsuit or a forever
grudge of hatred on his part. Sense or reason was not allowed
into the conversation. The doctor did not care what the report
said, and being sued many times himself, he let me know that he
was going to move forward with some sort of litigation.
SIDE NOTE: The good doctor's complaint was one of the motivations for the July 13, 1998 MMM dealing with water heater reporting.
Time passed and I thought that the steam had fully boiled off the pot when I received another call, this time from his agent. She shared the long version of the events that had occurred with the home. I then told her about my previous contact with the doctor and asked what she wanted from me. It seems that the doctor had since calmed way down. He was about to press some formal litigation against the sellers of the property. The Readers Digest version is as follows:
A week and a half after moving into the home the basement exterior entry stairway drain backed up and flooded inside the home. Nobody knew where the water was coming from. Over the following months it would get to be a regular occurrence. Damage was evident on the doorway, vinyl was discolored and interior carpet padding was repeatedly saturated. City inspectors and engineers, as well as a geologist and water specialist, were all consulted, ruling out all of the normal water possibilities. Since new construction was recently completed next door, thought was given to leaking water and sewer lines.
No thought was ever given to the fact that the good doctor was of middle-eastern descent. His daughter that resided in the home with two children also has a very brisk personality and doesn't win over friends very easily. Normally, this isn't taken into account during my inspections, but as the pieces of this mystery came together, it appeared that this could have played a key role.
The reason for the call from the agent was to ask me to return to the property and document the current conditions. I was at first reluctant wondering what more I could possibly add to the situation. All of the technical professionals had already been there several times. It turns out that they could offer nothing in writing to help or hinder the cause. Since I had performed the original inspection I was the perfect individual to document any changes in conditions. A key point in the process is that my original report documented the moisture damage around the exterior door and the discolored vinyl. This was followed by the guidance to ask the owners about the water entry condition history and repair history. The sellers said....... "This room was used as a beauty salon and the only moisture has come from the daily mopping of the salon to clean up the hair." Other than that, they denied anything else ever occurring.
I agreed to return to the property for the steep fee of "Nothing." I know that it is customary to elicit my hourly fee, but I had a dissatisfied client who has been through the dark side and back already. I volunteered my efforts to even the slate, although I had done my job for him without any regrets. I was surprised what my follow-up visit would identify. I have included here my report findings...........
I was asked to return to the home located at %$*# Juniper Drive in Cedar Hills, Utah, to document a continuing water damage condition. The original Home Inspection was performed on March 31, 1998. My return visit was on October 9, 1998, at 5 PM. I met Laura Gross, the selling agent, at the property and the following conditions were observed.
The
east basement stairway bottom landing currently had ponding water
(See Photos 1. 2 &3) According to Mrs. Gross, the owner said
that they have been dealing with a continuing water condition
at the bottom landing since moving into the home.
The
landing has a built-in drain that goes into the ground. This it
typical since modern building standards do not allow exterior
drains to be routed into the public sewer system.
The
evidence of moss and swimming bugs in the water indicates a long
term ponding condition. The owner spends a great deal of time
away from the home, and says that water has been identified coming
up through the drain and forming a pond deep enough to bring water
in under the east exterior door threshold. They have witnessed
water come into the old salon room from under the east door, down
the hall to puddle around the toilet and saturate the carpet and
padding in the salon/family room doorway.
During
my return visit there was only about 1 inch of standing water
at the drain. This was not enough to completely cover the landing.
Damage was now evident of long term
water at the entry door jam. The severity of the long term damage
was not visibly present during the original inspection (See Photo
4). This long term type of damage appears to have become exposed
from someone probing the door frame. 
Probing
or other destructive discovery was not performed in the original
"Visual Only" inspection. Long term moisture damage
decays the wood behind the painted surface first. The damage was
very long term and had been occurring for many years. There was
total saturation and no evidence of wood destroying insect infestation.
In
looking for other possible contributing factors, it was noted
that a sprinkler head is located directly east from the entry
door and it sprays onto the home, door, stairway and foundation.
There were hard water deposits on the side of the home that verified
this condition, although the sprinkler system was shut down for
the season at the time of this re-evaluation. The owners had previously
placed a 3' x 4' panel board along the stairwell railing to block
sprinkler spray from entering the stairwell.
Damage
from the constant water entry into the home included a saturated
and deteriorated entry door threshold. The securing screws are
rusted and the wood is rotted. There was no presence of wood destroying
insects, only long term water damage.
The vinyl in the old salon is yellowed, and lifting along several of the edges. This was identified during the original inspection. It is unknown whether the yellowing is a result of the moisture, or if it is a reaction from the adhesive, concrete and vinyl. The edge lifting is consistent with moisture presence and/or poor installation.
The
damage to the threshold was much more obvious on the return visit,
although the original inspection report brought to light the evidences
of moisture damage with the advice to ask the old owners about
any water leak history and whether or not proper repairs had been
made. The interior damage from water was clearly present in the
form of discoloration and lifted vinyl back on March 31, 1998,
but the door frame and threshold damage was now much more pronounced.
Photo
9 clearly shows the gray discoloration around the toilet base.
This is usually evidence of a toilet base wax seal leak. No other
source of possible moisture to create this type of staining was
identified. It was in the same condition on the original inspection.
According to Mrs. Gross, the previous owner said that the water
damage was caused from a constant mopping of the salon floor in
an attempt to keep it clean. This is possible in the salon area,
but would not account for the stainage around the toilet base.
Constant mopping and the fact that the previous owner had a relative
install the vinyl could very well explain the discoloration and
lifted vinyl edges. This would not explain why there has been
so much water in the basement landing area. It is also unknown
if the water in the landing occurred during the previous owners
stay. It is certain, by the new owners reports, that the standing
water in the landing area and flooding into the home has been
occurring since shortly after the new owners moved in.
On my return visit I attempted to
narrow down any possible sources of water to this area of the
property. I had already been told that both the City Building
Official and a geologist had ruled out the possibility of the
east neighbor's new home causing the condition. These two professionals
said that it was not the neighbor's drain, sewer or water main
line, according to Mrs. Gross. 
Logic
ruled out a ground water table condition because the lowest level
of this 4-level split home sits 5 feet deeper than the east entry
and there is no evidence of any past or current water entry there.
The home's sprinkler system had been shut off for days before
my re-evaluation, and the lines run along the east edge of the
property and not along the home's foundation. There was no evidence
of plumbing, water, or drain lines on this side of the home. There
had not been any substantial rain for weeks and the current conditions
were clear skies and 70 degree weather. The owner had also been
gone the entire day of the re-evaluation.
Knowing
this information raised questions as to why the following conditions
were present? The yard was wet on the grass leaving the stairs
to the north and following around the front of the house towards
the front porch in about a 4' wide strip. Moist earth was also
found on the berm that separates the property from the new home
on the east in a 3' wide area equal with the space between the
car and the RV. Since the sprinkler system was shut down and in
the "OFF" position, how come the grass was wet?
There were two obvious possible sources of this water, one is the Home's front garden hose and the other is the east neighbor's west side garden hose. Both were long enough, and dragging them to the east stairway might have been the cause. I questioned this, because it would mean that the water was being manually, or knowingly deposited into the stairwell. As previously stated, the homeowner had not been home all day.
The
other key conditions were two puddles of water. The first was
noted at the top of the stairs on the concrete at the base of
the wrought iron support post. This sits about 6 feet higher than
the landing drain, so it eliminated water coming up through the
drain as the source.
The second interesting puddle was
the one inside the lower portion of the wrought iron stair rail
handle. This sits about 3 1/2 feet off the floor of the landing
too. My visit was in the late afternoon, and since it had been
a sunny and warm day, it did not seem possible that the moisture
on the lawn or at the wrought iron was caused by nightly dew.
The water would have to have been applied within the past 8 hours.
It is my opinion that the possibility of somebody manually applying the water should be considered. If the water was regularly applied, then the ground would become saturated and cause the landing drain to not function at all. In fact, if any new moisture was introduced to already saturated earth by way of the drain or the surrounding yard, then the low drain would appear to back up. Only further investigation, or constant monitoring of the area will confirm if and how water is actually being applied to the area.
Sincerely,
Michael Leavitt
Certified Home Inspector
The follow-up report printed out beautifully and the close-ups made the investment in my Sony digital camera all worthwhile. I only alluded to it earlier, but my gut feeling is that the daughter quickly did not make friends with her neighbor's. The water condition on the east basement entry appears to be sabotage. I did not immediately perk up with that option, but by the end of my re-visit, I asked the agent if it were at all possible. She lit up and said that it was her suspicion all along.
Now that I opened the can of worms about a possible intentional condition, it was interesting to try to report it properly. I am glad that this is well beyond the scope of normal home inspecting. Who wants the liability???... Now how about your war stories???
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QUOTABLE
QUOTE: "Thanksgiving
is truly the time for stopping our busy schedules and giving thanks
to our Creator for our lives, liberty and family relationships."
Michael Leavitt[Return to the Current Issue of the Monday Morning Marketer]
copyright 1998 Michael Leavitt & Co