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MONDAY MORNING MESSENGER

Message Prepared For Home Inspectors and Especially for Members of the

American Institute of Inspectors®

September 6, 1999

GOOOOOD MORNING, A.I.I.™

This edition of the MMM is being composed while returning from a whirlwind, stress-filled 48 hour trip to Southern California. The stress is continuing even as I type. Shelly is currently driving as I have every sense and nerve in my body concentrating on the load behind our minivan. Only 4 short hours into the trip that would take 15 hours, I was a stressed-out basket case and could drive no more. The mission that we had accepted was much more involved than most would think.

THE MISSION

As some of you are aware, Shelly's parents are relocating after 26 years in Southern California to Cedar City, Utah. Cedar City is about 3 hours south of our home in Orem, Utah. We learned that the people buying their home in Southern California did not negotiate for the large, above-ground spa. Thoughts of relaxing evenings floating in a pool of bubbles filled my head and we decided we would drive down and get the spa.... I think the bubbles also clouded my judgment.

The spa is a ten-year-old, at the time, top-of-the-line Sundance Spa with extra jets for comfort. The unit is trimmed with redwood perimeter siding. The spa is a large 8'x8' model and my mind has been fretting over the details of how to transport such a structure 675 miles north on the interstate across four states ever since Shelly posed the idea. I have had many thoughts and nightmarish dreams of the large structure blowing off the trailer and wiping out the traffic behind us en route back to Orem, Utah. In one dream, I found myself looking at the crash wreckage and trying to remove any identification serial numbers on the spa's pump and blower motors so that the FBI might not be able to finally track us down after we fled the crash scene.

So how would you transport such a spa unit??? Most people would just opt for passing on the mission and purchasing a new jacuzzi in their own time zone. In hindsight, I think that our experience would have us taking the same option. After considering several transportation choices, we ended up leaving Orem with a borrowed 7'x10' trailer in tow. Being very bright and perceptive, you have already concluded that an 8'x8' spa will not fit into a 7'x10' trailer. It is the old "round peg into a square hole" trick.

So how do you haul the trailer??? The dream option is the big Ram turbo diesel duelly truck. Since the Leavitt's don't own one, how about settling for the Dodge Grand Caravan with the trailer hitch...... Okay, I guess the Caravan will have to do.

So how much does a spa tub weigh??? I estimated about 800 pounds, so I called a spa dealer and they confirmed that spas generally weigh 600 to 800 pounds. When I told the salesman that it was a 10 year old unit he sighed and said..... "It might be a lot more." I'm not sure how much moving any of you have done, but have you recently moved a new sleeper sofa??? They are really light and easy to relocate. Have you ever helped somebody move Grandma's old sleeper sofa??? If you have, then it was surely time for Doans backache pills the next morning. Well, the same can be said of spa tubs. The older they are, the beastier they are.

So how do you get a heavy spa tub onto a trailer??? Well as usual it is a trickier proposition that one might expect. This is especially true when your Father-in-law has just recently upgraded the beat-up, 20 + year-old side yard large gate system with a brand new permanent fence and a very small gate. Just getting the trailer near the spa turned out to be quite the chore. It is especially fun when your Father-in-law is standing their as you have the power saw in hand and he says..... "So could you run it by me one more time how you are going to remove this fence and then put it back together again without anybody realizing that you took it out?"

Well my Father-in-law didn't put up too much of a fight as I cut off the fence post in such a way that I could splice it back together again. The vegetation took quite a hit as I backed up the van and trailer into position. Loading the unit was sketchy and not worthy of sharing because of all the ribbing and abuse I would have to endure from your feedback. Let it suffice that it took 3 hours of preparation work before actually loading the unit onto the trailer. This is where the pertinent home inspecting information fits into today's MMM.

REDWOOD SPAS & TERMITES

How many above-ground spas have you evaluated. I encounter them regularly in Northern Utah. I know that they are also popular in California and Oregon, too. Do you ever evaluate them for wood destroying insects??? I don't want any negative feedback from the California Inspectors who aren't allowed to say the dirty "Termite" word without fear of prosecution, but would you expect a redwood framed spa to have termites?

The biggest obstacle a male Home Inspector faces is his pre-disposition to make assumptions. The female Inspectors that I have encountered do not have this character trait. Women inherently don't make assumptions. They go through all of the necessary steps of inspecting w/o tossing aside evaluation steps just because they assume they don't apply. If you told a female Inspector that the spa was made of redwood they would look at it for material deterioration and pest infestations because the wood is in direct contact with the ground. A male Home Inspector is a totally different bag full of hormones.

My assumption is that any spa manufacturer who gets between six and ten thousand dollars is going to use the best quality lumber where it is going to come in contact with a concrete slab or with the earth..... A male Home Inspector planning to set a spa tub on the top of the trailer's perimeter angle iron frame mistakenly would assume that the lower tub frame would be good quality lumber and in good condition. The same Inspector would be shocked upon raising the spa off the ground to find that the perimeter wood 2x4 frame was 90% destroyed by Drywood Termites.

I was shocked to find the extent of the termite damage. The slat siding was relatively unscathed, but the base plate retained little structural value. Now the $64,000 question....... "Will a spa tub with Drywood Termites survive in the freezing snow of Utah?" Or to better phrase the question, will the freezing temperatures kill off the termites living in the wood, or do I have to have the spa treated? I have no qualms about what I will do with the spa. Removing the base plate and replacing it is not the issue. I have been told that Dry Wood Termites live in the structure until the wood is gone...... But I have no experience with them. Can some of you Oregonian Pest Inspectors pass along any advice???

SPA POWER CONNECTION

It was quite a fun chore to remove the electrical hook-up for the spa. Like "no trace" camping I was determined to leave my in-law's home with no trace that a spa had been there. This unit was powered by its own 220 volt circuit that had been routed off the main home exterior electrical panel. I even removed the 50 amp breaker.

I was very surprised to look at the breaker once it was removed. The slip that secures it to the power bar was black and pitted like a worn out set of car ignition points. The side of the breaker had black charring. The contact clips had a very poor connection with the panel and this breaker must have been severely overheating over the years. The scariest part from my viewpoint is that from the outside of the panel everything looked fine. It was not overheated when I removed it.

So how do you identify a breaker with a bad connection??? I have occasionally encountered a "warm to the touch" breaker. This condition has been easier to identify since I started using my infrared thermometer. The charring marks on the breaker looked like a sure fire hazard in progress. The #8 wiring with the 50 amp breaker didn't look any better. I have been left to ponder just how much of a fire hazard this really was.

Please keep down the moaning about how we are not responsible as Home Inspectors to remove each breaker and verify the quality of the connection. Instead, just kick it around and chalk it up as one more of those items that might be faulty that are beyond the scope of our ability to identify in our visual evaluations.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) was the pleading of the last couple weeks of MMM feedback. The following is a compilation of feelings expressed by seasoned Inspectors that I have taken the liberty to play around with for dramatic purposes...... This is where the dramatization and the non-offensive "tongue in cheek" starts....... "Please, no more CPSC notices" they say....... "Please, no more questioning our inspection methods........ Please, no more questioning our reporting methods. Afterall, we only perform a general visual inspection and we can't keep up with the vast amounts of new information. We can't be responsible for knowing all this stuff...... It is too much to ask of us........... And by the way, that is why we have the Umbrella Philosophy."

On a serious note, I am a firm believer of the comfort that the AII™ Umbrella Philosophy provides. I believe that the overall purpose of the MMM has been misunderstood. Let's talk about what I do and don't expect.

I DON'T EXPECT YOU.......

To share every bit of information from the MMM with your client's
To agree with my every expressed viewpoint
To need every portion of the MMM........ There is stuff here for everybody

I DO EXPECT YOU......

To read the MMM every week
To take the information that is presented and apply it to your own enterprises as needed
To have an opinion each week on the topic discussed and provide feedback.

The MMM is multi-faceted. Some of you like the stories. Some of you like the tips. Some of you like the tech updates. Some of you just appreciate the effort that goes into producing the MMM. It was never intended that you should take the PB info and share it with your clients unless you felt you should. The new information and CPSC notices are posted FOR YOUR LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE. Not so that you will now be responsible for sharing the info with your clients and stepping out from the umbrella. Some of you seemed to scream at me, "Stop sharing new information...if you share it with me, then I am responsible for that info with my clients. I would rather stay ignorant and not be held responsible... what I don't know can't hurt me." For those inspectors who feel this way, can't you read the info and tuck it away in your brain, chalking it up as one more thing you are not responsible for but are glad you know about?

I look for the MMM to continue to provide new inspecting information. AII™ has always prided itself as being a leader of learning and new information. We will never know it all. There will always be new ideas, new information and new components with which we will need to become familiar. It is my hope that through my efforts, combined with your input, we can fill those objectives.

FULL CIRCLE

Let's bring this Father-in-law spa-filled holiday weekend full Polybutylene circle. On my way to Southern California, I stopped in Cedar City, Utah, to inspect my in-law's 3-year-old newly purchased home. What kind of supply pipe do you think it was plumbed with??? You guessed it....... Polybutylene with a Manibloc for distribution. Knowing what we all have recently gleaned about PB pipe from the MMM and other sources, and knowing that this is your in-laws new place..... How are you going to break the PB news to them??? I'll let you struggle with that task all on your own and am waiting for your comments.

IN-LAW FEEDBACK

For a good laugh I need your help........ Please e-mail me your "Reportable Comments" to break the news to my in-laws that their newly purchased home is plumbed with Polybutylene.....E-MAIL Me Now With Your Reportable PB Comments!!!