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MONDAY MORNING MESSENGER

Message Prepared For Home Inspectors and especially for Members of the American Institute of Inspectors®

April 26, 1999

GOOOOOD MORNING, A.I.I.™

It's a great day at Michael Leavitt & Co Home Inspections. Today's edition of the MMM is late off of the presses due to a long overdue vacation for the Leavitt family. This is the first trip in 10 years of marriage that wasn't centered around visiting family. Our family trips were always to visit relatives and maybe a side sightseeing trip mixed in with the bigger family fun.

SIDE NOTE: Clay Higgins was suffering withdrawls by the MMM's late arrival this week..... I am having withdrawals already. Nothing to read late Sunday night. Have a good trip, I am sure that you can use the change of pace. Clay Higgins - Aptos, CA

About 8 months ago, Shelly and I purchased a timeshare. Instead of the normal "one-week-a-year-at-the-same-place" year after year, we bought into a revolving program that should turn into a great experience as the years roll by. I have been overwhelmed with work lately and I told Shelly that we just had to get away. She called the timeshare firm and booked us for 3 nights in a Jackson Hole, Wyoming, condominium.

Shelly and I were unaware of how difficult it was going to be to pack up and load 4 kids under age 9 and head out for 5 days. Talk about a lot of work........ Whew! It was so nice to finally arrive at our condo. (After hours of "Are we there yet, Dad?") The condo had 3 bedrooms and 3 baths and the master suite was surprisingly huge. The bed was too big for me and at 6'7", you know that was a huge bed! The kids each had their own bed and there was even an extra room for Grandma, who we took along to share the experience. We now have a new name for these trips: "FFT" = Family Fun Trip. Sometimes we had to be reminded that this was supposed to be fun. Our 3-yr-old kept asking when the trip was going to start (not usually a good sign). All in all, it was a great experience, but very tiring.

JACKSON HOLE COWBOYS

ADAM THE KID - The roughest, toughest cowboy in town.

THE LEAVITT'S - 3 of the 4 kids and Mommy... Adam the Kid (With his gun drawn), Jessica AKA Belle, Aaron & Shelly

BELLE, GRANDMA & THE KID

Ma & Pa Leavitt..... Shelly & Michael

"BLACK PIPE KUDOS"

Last week's MMM was well received by Home Inspectors everywhere. Even the feedback on the verdict was enlightening. Thanks again to all those who contributed........ Michael

Mike, I just wanted to congratulate you on your success in finding galvanized pipe. I know how you feel and I'm sure you are quite relieved. The closest I've come to this scenario was with a client who called for six months every time a faucet leaked or he found anything wrong with the home, even though I had called out the problems in the report. After six months of this, he called to tell me his main circuit breaker had melted down. This was on the coldest day of the year and on a holiday when they had a house full of guest. He was running electric heat and they were using both ovens and the stove. People were showering and the hot water heater was working overtime and they were doing laundry (electric dryer running). He told me all of this himself.

Long story short, his buddy at the utility company who replaced the panel told him it had been melting down for over a year, so I should have reported it. I didn't argue. When I went to look at the panel I took a release and offered to refund his fee if he would sign the release. He signed, I wrote him a check and told him to NEVER call me again and to not refer me to any of his friends. Bill Loden - Huntsville, AL

Dear Michael: Your article on black pipe was very interesting. I'm happy all turned out so well.

One thing you mentioned in your article was that if a regulator goes bad the water pressure will go to nil. My brother called from California a few months ago with a "problem." His water pressure had shot up in all areas of the house.

I suggested that he probably had a regulator somewhere under his house and that it might have failed. He checked it out with a pressure gauge and it was up to 135 lbs. He removed the old regulator and replaced it with a new one, setting it for 65 lbs.

I don't have much experience with regulators so I don't know if all or some of them will go to a very low pressure. His did go up considerably. Thanks for your MMM's, Ron Cloyd - Klammath Falls, OR

My reply to Ron Cloyd.....

Ron: You are correct that the regulator can fail both directions. Logic would tell you that if they were designing a failsafe mechanism on water pressure that it would shut off completely before over-pressurizing the system and rupturing the lines. I wish that I had more mechanical engineering understanding of how they work. I think that I will throw the question and explanation out to the likes of Jim Corbin or Steve Jordan. They are sure to have diagrams and everything.

Thanks for the reply... I needed it. Michael Leavitt - Orem, Utah

Well done Michael,

First let me say you gained my respect when you offered to step up to the plate if you were wrong. To my way of thinking, that's essential!!!
Second, I am as happy as you are that things turned out well for you.
Third, thank you for sharing your dilemma. A lot of people learned a lot from the posts. More, I think, than just those who wrote. I suspect more than a few boilerplates were updated and a few water lines examined more closely.

Noel McShane - Georgia

Congratulations Michael and Shelly!! ..... Larry Hoytt - Marin County, CA

Michael and others, I enjoyed reading this week's MMM and all of the discussion about your piping situation. With these types of conditions facing us on every inspection, I don't see how some HI's are able to complete multiple inspections in one day. It almost seems impossible to be thorough and efficient at the same time. One usually has to give into the other. We often have to make an educated guess and pray that knowledgeable and professional licensed technicians were used during the construction/replacement of the many building components.

In trying to diagnose this particular situation, would it not have been beneficial to be able to obtain some water pressure readings taken from various locations in and around the house? Doug Treloar - Carpinteria, CA

In response to this portion of the Black Pipe saga Jon Gudnason responded.......

Mr. Stern was well-versed in the fact that there could be a hundred pounds of pressure and still very little flow. This is a principle that I still don't understand: Static Pressure vs. Functional Flow, yet I will take the experts word for it.

Michael, Let me take a run at explaining this. Think of a great big two inch water main with 150 psi in it. There is a cap on the end. You drill a hole the size of a thin needle in the end of the cap. How much water will come out? Not very many gallons per minute (gpm). That is water volume or flow. It is different than pressure. You still have high pressure but also low flow.

When the inside of a pipe becomes restricted it will reduce the amount of water that is able to flow through it. It will not reduce the pressure inside the pipe. That is why we run more than one fixture at a time. We are checking for adequate flow or volume. I also test pressure because if the pressure is too high it can cause damage to components in the system. I find pressure in excess of 100 psi in at least ten percent of the homes I inspect. 80 psi is considered the maximum acceptable by industry standards. 30-70 is "normal". Jon Gudnason - Placerville, CA

DEAR BILL.... "INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY?"

By BILL BALL - Las Vegas, Nevada

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'd like to thank Bill Ball for taking the time to elaborate on the topic of Intellectual Property. It is formatted in an Ann Landerish format with questions from both Ken Jones and myself.

Also I would like to know what your thoughts are on agents that use your inspection report for another buyer when the original buyer didn't buy the house and a few weeks later the agent provided a new buyer my report without asking. I don't feel I have any liability as the report says it is for Mr."Original Buyer" -- and not the "new" buyer.

Thanks..... Ken Jones, Accurate Home Inspection

Hi Ken: Copyrighting your work is as simple as stating at the bottom of each page that the report is copyrighted. What report form are you using that doesn't say that?

Are you still using the A.I.I.™ Report Form COVER PAGE? If so, it clearly says that the report is "copyrighted" and may not be reproduced.

If you are using the A.I.I.™ Cover Page, the agent who gave a copy of your report to another buyer is in violation of your copyright privileges.

If your report states that you prepared it for a specific party, giving it to another party for their decision about a property without consulting you is simply foolish and/or deceptive behavior on the part of the agent.

You are not obligated to reply to any party but the person(s) that paid you for your intellectual property -- (except to clearly state that you provide your opinion for a fee, and since the inquiring party did not pay you, they have no "privilege of use" of the data they possess). The form itself can not be copyrighted, but what you write down on it is your intellectual property.

DO NOT ever imply that any other party has the privilege of using that property without paying you for its use. If you do, then precedent has been established that you really don't mean that you hold your opinions as intellectual property, and a sharp attorney may be able to pierce your copyright claims.

Dear Bill: I don't know if I would agree with some of the idealistic principles involved because in today's world anybody can sue anybody. I would also be really interested in any real life (or mock real life) experiences of what could happen if your copyright was infringed. This situation comes to light every now and then when a third party gets the report without my permission.

How do we harmonize this hard line with the guidelines we share in the A.I.I.™ training to provide three copies of our reports instead of just one? Our Service Agreement spells out the conditions, but the third parties don't get the Service Agreement. Sure they read the confidential and exclusive use, but what could you really do against an agent, seller, etc., if your report makes the rounds???

I certainly don't want to start a war with an agent and Broker. Michael Leavitt, Orem, UT

Hi Michael: Of course, the objective is not to start a legal battle. But it IS to establish your legal rights. When an agent uses your report without your permission, the purpose of all of the notations about copyright on the report and Service Agreement are to protect you from liability.

You see, you have a legal right not to have your property used without your permission. It's kind of like not allowing someone your farm to hunt pheasant without permission. Should a lawsuit result between the buyer and real estate agents over the sale of a home you inspected for another party, your clearly stated copyright and ownership of the "intellectual property" will give your attorney, (should you be named in the suit -- which might happen but is less likely with the subject notations and paperwork to support your position), a tool to use to have you dismissed from the suit.

You're right, of course, you would NEVER sue, or even make a stink about an agent using your report improperly -- Other than to write a kind letter stating that you hold "ownership of the reports, and the next time would s/he please consult with you before distributing unauthorized copies of
your reports."

Any other approach would destroy your relationship with your "How High" agents and real estate offices. But don't be bashful about politely claiming your rights.

Bill Ball, Founding Chairman of A.I.I.™ and publisher of INSPECTOR'S FIELD NOTES™ -- a quarterly Newsletter for Home Inspectors and The Uniform HOME INSPECTOR'S CODE BOOK(tm) which details the home inspector's PROTOCOL for evaluation of a home's components.

SIDEBAR - COPYRIGHTS - By BILL BALL

A copyright gives the owner the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or license his work. The owner also receives the exclusive right to produce or license the production of derivatives of his work. Limited exceptions to this exclusivity exist for types of "fair use," such as book reviews.

To be covered by copyright a work must be original and in a concrete "medium of expression." Under current law, works are covered whether or not a copyright notice is attached and whether or not the work is registered. The federal agency charged with administering the act is the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress.

Courtesy of Betty Buckley's, (buckleys@CDSNET.NET (buckleys), research at:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/copyright.html