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MONDAY MORNING MESSENGER

Message Prepared For Home Inspectors and Especially for Members of the

American Institute of Inspectors®

November 29, 1999

GOOOOOD MORNING, A.I.I.™

It's a great day here in Northern Utah. Thankgiving came and went without a hitch. This was the first year in many that we haven't had a house full of relatives when the bird was carved. This year it was just the six of us and one of Shelly's sisters. This made for a lot of leftovers...... Mmmm Mmmm Good!!!

Cold weather set in on us last week and as the snow lightly fell on the yard, I would get regular snow-depth reports from my nine and five year old. Adam would come in and say..... "Dad, the snow looks deep enough to ski on in the mountains." By Wednesday it was confirmed that several of the Utah ski resorts were opening up. This news changed our holiday plans dramatically. If you remember, the Leavitt family last snow skied on June 5, 1999. That was just 5 1/2 months ago...... Friday, November 26, 1999, the Leavitts again hit the slopes.

Skiing this year will once again be a lot of work for Daddy. Our 3-year-old Haily is now eager to master the sport. Teaching Haily means Daddy is skiing down backwards bent over and gently guiding her skis. This gets very tiring, but she improved rapidly and is now able to do it without clutching onto Daddy for support. By the end of her second day on skis, Haily can now maintain her own balance. Having already taken her once last season was a real boost for her confidence this time. The biggest motivator is her desire to keep up with her older brother Adam and older sister Jessica. It was very rewarding to help Haily make it down the slopes.

Snow skiing is a lot like Home Inspecting. It is an overwhelming bear to first tackle. If you are trying to master it single-handedly, the learning curve is very long. Having a guide to help you or a support group to aide you will increase your ability to balance and control yourself. It can be tough on the people skiing bent over backwards, but it makes for a stronger group as a whole.

AII ™ PRESIDENT'S REPORT

TAKE 2

by Scott Merritt - President 2000

The subject this time around is concerning our next AII™ Education Conference. As most of you know, the recent Las Vegas Annual Meeting was put together and managed by another inspector's association. It turned out that our AII™ Association had very little control or input into the program and there was a consensus among the AII™ people in attendance that we want to see that it doesn't happen that way again. We have put on some very successful educational conferences in the past, and it was decided that we will do it again in the future.

The idea is this:

Rather than going to the expense and difficulty of putting together a conference that runs several days, we will do a weekend event. This avoids the pitfall of interrupting the Inspector's work schedules, while offering several advantages. It was first conceived that we could hold three or four of these mini conferences in the coming year, that they would be one day events with topics and presenters scheduled and announced well ahead of time.

Later discussions leaned toward making these two day events to allow for the interpersonal exchanges that we all agree are such a tremendous benefit of these get togethers. If the first one goes well, we will put together the others.

The first AII™ Educational Conference will be held in Oregon, either Portland or Medford. Which town will be decided shortly after some research into airlines and conference facilities. Oregon was chosen in part because that state recently passed a licensing law for Home Inspectors. Among the requirements is continuing education for the Inspectors. One of the challenges for those Inspectors is the relative lack of opportunities to attend courses or seminars that are approved for Oregon continuing education credits.

Ron Cloyd has been teaching the AII™ curriculum for several years, training new inspectors out of Klamath Falls, Oregon. He has applied for the AII™ course to be approved by Oregon, and is confident he will be getting that recognition shortly. Once that hurdle is passed, any courses that are presented under our AII™ banner will be approved as continuing education for the licensed Oregon Home Inspectors. (By the way, Ron Cloyd was this year's recipient of the prestigious Founder's Award, presented by AII™ founder Bill Ball, for Ron's continuing strong efforts in AII™ and his involvement in the Oregon licensing process over the past year).

Additionally, there are a lot of Home Inspectors in Oregon and there do not appear to be any Inpector trade associations established, so there is an opportunity for us to attract membership.

There was relatively little discussion about what topics to present at the conference, as there was consensus opinion about the hot issues facing the inspector community. The objective of the AII™ Educational Conferences is to have clear subject matter presented by accomplished speakers who know their stuff and can convey it concisely, while at the same time keeping the attention of a roomful of inspectors for two to three hours. We are confident that we can find those people.

Subjects we want to address include:

E&O Insurance
Legal matters and perspectives for Home Inspectors.
The burgeoning topic of computer hardware and software options available to us.
LP, Masonite, and other problematic composite siding materials.
EIFS - Exterior Insulation Finishing Systems
Wet basements and crawl areas.

Any other subject matter is open to suggestion. If there is a topic that you really yearn to learn more about, please let us know. We will keep you posted as this conference comes together. It is not too early to plan on your own participation. The working dates at this point are the last weekend of March, first weekend in April, somewhere in there. Any feedback on preference is welcomed.

That's all for now.

Scott Merritt - AII™ President 2000

Once again..... Kudos to Scott for his dedication as the AII™ President 2000 and for his informative words. I look forward to traveling to Oregon for the AII™ Educational Conference. Scott also made mention of the recent Las Vegas Annual Meeting. I would like to clarify his observation of this years conference. We paired up with the Housing Inspection Foundation (HIF) out of Minnesota. I was unfamiliar with their organization before the conference. It turns out that they are the Association who gives out the RHI designation which stands for Registered Home Inspector.

The reason for the dissatisfaction about the conference that the AII™ members expressed is because the presentations were not clearly geared towards residential pre-purchase home inspections. HIF attracts all types of residential, commercial, and construction phase inspectors. The mixed focus left the majority of the AII™ members feeling less than fulfilled. This is where we discovered how importance our friendships really are. The socialization in the halls by AII™ members was a constant learning experience as the war stories, questions and answers never stopped.

The Housing Inspection Foundation worked hard to make the Las Vegas conference a success and they learned a lot in the process. I received a letter from their Managing Director Mr. Greg Burnham earlier this week thanking AII™ for their participation in the conference. He also confirmed his invitation to have myself and other AII™ members as speakers at their conference next year.

BLATANT ADVERTISEMENT

I was asked a couple of week's ago how I benefitted from 3D Inspection Systems by promoting their product. I shared with all of you last week my motives. Well, all of that has now changed a little. 3D offered me the chance to resell their software. I can now take orders for the software system and in turn, make some money. At first I refused, and then I gave it some more thought. I have resolved to do the following.........

Up until this week an AII™ Inspector would call 3D directly and order either the $549 Report Writer or the $799 Office System which includes the Report Writer, Office Database, and the Cost Estimator. Once they ordered the product they would then order my $205 AII™ based form sets directly from me. That made the investment in software either $754 or $1004.

After talking with 3D more about the oppotunity I figured I could pass a $55 savings on my AII™ based form sets to those that order the software and form sets directly through me. That means....

Report Writer.... $549, plus $150 for the AII™ based form sets = $699 ... or
Office System... $799, plus $150 for the AII™ based form sets = $949

All I do is get the information and pass it along to 3D who then processes the credit card and handles the shipping. Technical support is still handled by 3D. I look at it as a discount offer to AII™ members. Whether you go through me or directly to 3D to purchase your software, it doesn't matter to me.

LEANING CHIMNEY FEEDBACK

Michael, In regards to the pictures of the leaning chimney in the 11/22 issue of the MMM. Is it possible to get Ron Cloyd to share the newspaper articles pertaining to the chimney with us? It looks like a interesting issue. Thanks, Frank Johnson

I agree with you, Frank. I am left wondering what ultimately will happen. If Ron had inspected the home several months prior before the leaning was detected, would Ron be paying out his E&O deductible right now??? I asked Ron to provide some more details, but the newspaper article got away from him.

FUTURE TIP - I recommend that we all be on the lookout for these types of Inspector stories. Clip the articles and send them along. I can transcribe them if necessary. An even better solution is to look for the same newspaper article on the internet. Many newspapers are also online too. Then all you have to do is provide us with the link to the news story. The leaning chimney story got away from us, but hopefully the next interesting news story won't.

Keeping The Hearth Safe

I found the following chimney story of interest at: http://realtytimes.com/rtnews/rtcpages/19991126_hearth.htm. The article is not that technical for seasoned Inspectors, but there are some good links contained within the story that may also be beneficial concerning chimneys and brick masons.

Before you fire up the hearth this season, take precautions to make sure your celebrations don't go up in flames. Wear and tear on fireplaces, wood burning stoves, other fire-breathing appliances often begin insidiously, like a cancer.

A hairline crack, for instance, first lets heat and gases escape. That can eventually crack the liner and expose the wood frame to intense heat and eventually fire. By the time the fire inside the chimney or fireplace erupts, it could be too explosive to stop.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends an annual inspection to check the fireplace or wood-burning appliance, chimney, flues and vents for blockage, leakage, damage or other problems.

In some communities, fire fighting officials will visit your home and give the hearth a cursory once over, looking for obvious signs of damage, deterioration or other problems.

Chimney sweeps, private inspectors, general contractors, structural engineers and masonry contractors, if properly trained, can all give a fireplace, stove, chimney or flue and vents a more thorough going over. Such safety inspections can be $100 or less. Be sure the inspector is licensed or trade-group or guild certified to perform the task.

Some inspectors will offer to lower a video camera into your flue for a close-up inspection, but flue damage is fairly obvious to the trained naked eye when smoke tests are also used.

When a fireplace is regularly used for heating, but hasn't been cleaned since last season, a chimney sweep may be most beneficial, at least first, because he or she is trained to clear out creosote and other debris that might otherwise hide damage.

Following the cleaning, a trained sweep or other professional can then also inspect for damage.

Heavily used hearths can yield a host of problems that include a corroded or inoperable metal smoke damper, a damaged metal ash dump cover, eroded mortar joints inside a masonry fire box, improper clearance from combustible materials at the hearth opening or at the chimney within the attic space, a cracked flue liner or no flue liner in older chimneys, a damaged or missing spark arrestor and a damaged cement cap at the chimney top which can allow
moisture to seep into the chimney and deteriorate the system.

You can check the sturdiness of the chimney above the roof line. If it moves with a slight tug, it's probably broken.

If your professional inspection turns up the need for extensive repairs or replacement, especially on a masonry fireplace, costs can be prohibitive. Some cities' tough building codes, however, mandate that a certain level of fireplace damage warrants tearing out old masonry fireplaces and flues and rebuilding them to code.

Allow only licensed masonry contractors to perform major work on your masonry fireplace and chimney. General contractors and structural engineers are not trained in the highly specialized masonry field. Sweeps and private inspectors generally are not licensed to perform major construction or repair work on any fireplace structure.

In any event, it's not a good idea to allow the fireplace/chimney inspector to also perform corrective work for any defects reported because of the inherent conflict of interest.

Instead, get a written report from the inspection specialist, then hire a professional to do the work.

To find a mason, get referrals from trusted sources, including structural engineers, general contractors, building inspectors and chimney sweeps. Chances are neighbors, family members and friends, who own homes, have had to contact one or more of these professionals in the last year. Ask the professional repairing, rebuilding or installing a new fire place or wood-burning appliance for proof of license and insurance and ask to see some of his or her handy work.

Alternatives to a rebuilt masonry fireplace can include cheaper, less damage-prone, free-standing wood burning stoves, inserts or built-in fireplaces.

They can be installed and repaired by general contractors, carpenters or similar qualified professionals.

Broderick Perkins, has been a consumer journalist for 20 years. Experienced in print, electronic, and consulting journalism, he is chief executive editor of San Jose, CA-based, DeadlineNews.Com, an editorial content and consulting firm.