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MONDAY MORNING MESSENGER

Message Prepared For Members of the American Institute of Inspectors®

March 29, 1999

GOOOOOD MORNING, A.I.I.™

It is the ending of a great month at Michael Leavitt & Co Home Inspections. We are currently wrapping up our third best month ever in the Home Inspection business. The phone keeps ringing and 3 a days are not uncommon. Last Monday found me on 6 roofs in one day. Admittedly, two of those were roof only evaluations, but it was a long day to start off an extremely long inspecting week.

I want to thank all of you who sent along condolences last week regarding the death of my 16 year old niece Jocelyn. The car wreck inspectors further investigated the crash vehicle and determined that a bolt sheard on the rear axle sending the Chevrolet Lumina into the wicked slide and tumble at 75 miles per hour. Shelly went back to Idaho to visit with her sister and family this weekend while I have been at home in Utah taking care of three of our kids. The messages received from AII™ members were quite a lift for us and we greatly appreciated your thoughts.

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THIS???

SETTING: Turn of the century home relocated to this site in the 1950's

CITY: Spanish Fork, Utah

AFFECTED LOCATION: Recently remodeled main floor Laundry Room wall and floor.

NOTES: In the process of a normal Home Inspection there was found a substance that resembled sea kelp. The 220 volt outlet pictured was situated directly underneath the washing machine hook-ups located within the wall cavity behind a thin piece of paneling. The hot water valve had been leaking steadily for the past few months within the wall cavity.

Have you ever encountered this kind of growth???

E-MAIL us your thoughts

PROVE ITS NOT MOVING

Being a Home Inspector is never boring work. I received a call from a Lawyer in California. The request was very simple...... "Would you please visit the property and verify that this is a permanent structure. We are in the middle of a foreclosure in which the owner is claiming that the structure is a mobile home and therfore considered Personal property."

I had previously rehearsed many different possible phone calls, but never gave any thought to this one. I told them that I would be more than happy to do as they asked and grabbed my digital camera and headed out the door. On the drive to the property I was wondering how difficult this task was going to be. I was to be their eyes and ears and would probably end up in a court room to defend my findings. What pictures should I take? What was going to be my fee? They were already aware that my hourly rate was $110 per hour and that was fine with them. This seemed to be like shooting fish in a barrel or taking candy away from a baby.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well here are five of them...... Looking at the photos what would have been your remarks. What are the key evidences obvious to you in the pictures that indicate that this structure is not ready to be rolled away on the back of a Peterbuilt at any moment??? I look forward to your keen Inspector observations.

E-MAIL us your Reportable Comments!

HUD CRACKS DOWN ON MOBILE HOME MANUFACTURER - Written by Trey Garrison

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary has reached a settlement with a North Carolina mobile home producer, demanding it correct construction and safety violations in 275 homes, pay a civil penalty of up to $300,000 and inspect about 600 more homes for possible additional violations.

The settlement ends a year-long investigation by HUD of Southern Energy Homes of North Carolina, Inc., under the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act.

HUD regulates construction and safety standards for manufactured housing under the 1974 law. The Act requires manufacturers to notify homeowners and make corrections to manufactured homes if they have certain kinds of defects or imminent safety hazards.

"It's important for families to know that HUD will enforce the law to protect them from substandard manufactured homes," a HUD spokesman said. "Buying a manufactured home should be the fulfillment of the American Dream of homeownership -- not the beginning of a nightmare caused by a poorly built or unsafe home."

HUD's investigation of 275 manufactured homes produced by Southern Energy between 1995 and early 1998 found numerous violations of HUD construction and safety standards, including: ceiling mirrors that may fall; loose or faulty wiring in electrical outlets, furnaces, range hoods, and panel and junction boxes; plumbing vents that did not go through roofs; walls that were not properly glued to studs, and vinyl siding that was improperly installed.

HUD's investigation also found that Southern Energy failed to comply with the consumer notification and defect correction requirements of the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act.

While not admitting any liability, Southern Energy agreed to enter into the settlement with HUD and to work with the Department to solve problems found in the company's homes.

Under the terms of the settlement Southern Energy will correct the defects in the 275 homes identified by HUD. Southern Energy also will inspect approximately 600 additional homes to identify classes of homes with serious problems. All such problems will be corrected within 60 days. Southern will also extend warranties for one year on homes produced between November 1995 and March 1998 in its Albermarle, NC Imperial Homes factory.

Southern Energy has agreed to pay HUD a civil penalty of $300,000 pursuant to the civil penalty provisions in the federal law. However, part of the penalty can be waived if HUD determines that the company has complied with the terms of the settlement.

In addition, Southern Energy agreed to implement a computerized system for tracking problems in its homes, to provide new training for quality control and customer service personnel and service contractors, and to use a private inspection agency to evaluate its quality assurance program and review class determinations of problems in Southern Energy's Imperial Homes factory.

Southern Energy announced in a letter to consumers: "...some homes produced at our Albemarle, North Carolina plant may exhibit certain performance problems that our in-factory quality control system failed to detect. As a result, we are working with both our customers and with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to find any such problems and to get them resolved."

BLUE'S CLUES CPSC RECALL

This CPSC product recall may not be of interest to some of you, but in the Leavitt household it is of major concern. With 3 little pre-kindegardeners in our home Blue's Clues is a popular TV show. If you are not familiar with Steve and Blue then you just haven't spent any recent quality time with a 4 year old.

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 25, 1999 - Release # 99-086

CPSC, Colorbök Announce Recall of Blue's Clues(tm) Toy Notebooks

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Colorbök, of Dexter, Mich., is voluntarily recalling about 3.8 million Blue's Clues toy notebooks to replace their coils. The ends of the notebooks' coils can break off, presenting a small parts choking hazard to children.

CPSC is aware of four incidents where the end piece of the coil broke off. In three of these incidents, the end piece was removed from the mouth of a child by a parent. There have been no reports of injuries.

The "Handy Dandy Notebook" includes a crayon and 14 wipe-off pages. Consumers can identify the recalled notebooks by looking for the words "1998 Colorbök Paper Products Inc." on the notebook's back cover. The notebook measures about 4 inches wide and 4 inches long. The coils are red plastic, the front and back covers are green with a black border and the
inside pages are yellow. A red chair is on the front cover, and "This is _____'s Handy Dandy Notebook" is on the back of the front cover. Several versions of this notebook are made by a number of companies. Only the Colorbök notebook is being recalled.

Chain and toy stores nationwide sold the notebooks from June 1998 through January 1999. The notebooks sold separately for about $5 and as part of an activity set that cost about $10.

Consumers immediately should take the notebooks away from children and call Colorbök anytime toll free at (877) 677-4725 to obtain a free replacement coil. Consumers should not return the notebooks to stores. Information about the recall also is available at www.nickjr.com/bluesclues/products/home.html.

CARBON MONOXIDE RECALL

This recall is much more informative for the Home Inspector files.

NEWS from CPSC - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 19, 1999 - Release # 99-082

CPSC, Kidde Safety Announce Recall of Carbon Monoxide Alarms

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Kidde Safety, of Mebane, N.C., is voluntarily recalling about 1 million carbon monoxide alarms, including 650,000 Nighthawks and 350,000 Lifesavers. The Lifesaver models could alarm late or not alarm at all, and the Nighthawk models could alarm late. These alarms are used to detect carbon monoxide (CO), a colorless, odorless gas, leaking from fuel burning appliances. When they don't work, consumers can be unknowingly exposed to hazardous levels of CO, and suffer injury or death.

Kidde Safety and CPSC are not aware of any injuries involving these products. This recall is being conducted to prevent the possibility of injury.

The Nighthawk models included in this recall are all models manufactured between November 8, 1998, and March 9, 1999. The manufacturing date is on the back of the unit as year, month, day. "NIGHTHAWK" and "Carbon Monoxide Alarm" are written on the front of the unit. If "Carbon Monoxide Detector" is written on the front, the unit is operating properly and is not part of the recall.

The Lifesaver models included in this recall are models 9CO-1 and 9CO-1C manufactured between June 1, 1997, and January 31, 1998. The manufacturing date is on the back of the unit as the first six numbers in the serial number, located above the UPC code. The manufacturing date is written as day, month, year. "LIFESAVER" and "Carbon Monoxide Detector" are written on the front of the unit. Kidde Safety will help consumers identify whether their units are involved in this recall.

Consumers can participate in the recall in one of two direct ways. Visit the Kidde Safety recall web site at www.nhawk.com and follow the instructions, or call Kidde Safety toll-free at (888) 543-3346 between 8 a.m and 8 p.m. EST Monday through Sunday to identify whether their alarms are involved in this recall. If so, consumers will be sent a postage-paid envelope to return the alarm. Lifesaver models will be repaired, and Nighthawk models will be inspected and tested, and repaired if needed.

Kidde Safety has informed CPSC that consumers will receive alarms back within 30 days. All returned alarms will be recertified to UL-2034.

Hardware and mass merchandise stores nationwide sold these alarms beginning in 1998 for about $20 to $50. Consumers should not return the alarms to stores.

The initial symptoms of CO poisoning are similar to flu, and include headache, fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea and dizziness. Exposure to high levels of CO can cause death. CO poisoning associated with using fuel-burning appliances kills more than 200 people each year and sends about 10,000 to hospital emergency rooms for treatment.