It's a great day here in Orem, Utah! It is great to be back in my normal bed with my normal pillow. It was so good to get away..... To those of you who declined the invitation to go cruising....... You made a bad choice.
The last 10 days have been wonderful. I am currently sitting in the Orlando airport with my lovely wife waiting for our plane back to the Leavitt abode. I am anticipating that this next week's work schedule is full, but just between you and me, I hope that it is not. While away we had a great time snorkeling in the Caribbean. The picture above is Castaway Cay which is a wonderful, Disney-owned resort island. We enjoyed the seclusion of the adult only Serenity Bay.
The surprise realization on this trip was just how blue the water is in St. Thomas and St. Maarten. The sand was clear and the water beautiful aqua. The coral reefs and varied colorful fish off St. Thomas took our breath away. This can be dangerous when getting used to keeping our snorkels clear. Shelly was a fish.... she took right to snorkeling. I thought that she would opt to lounge in the sun, but she was amazed at the sea life and for the first time she was able to see what lies beneath the raging surf.
Now the real reason that we went on the Disney cruise was to celebrate our original engagement 11 years prior. Shelly accepted my wedding invitation while floating along the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland. The Disney Magic will always have a special place in our hearts. The Disney cruise promised a lot of the wonderful Mickey Mouse aura that fills everything Disney touches. We were able to dress up for two very special formal nights on the cruise and even spend a little time with Mickey himself.
Now I didn't take my tools with me, but here is the short list of needed repairs within our 7th floor stateroom with veranda...
That is quite a short list considering the amount of full-time use that these cabins receive. The ship is aptly named the Magic and it filled all of our expectations....... So what did you do for those same 10 days that we were cruising???.... Call your travel agent today and schedule some relaxation. There was not a morning that Brent Foster and I woke up on the trip that we wished that we could rush out the door and do inspections instead. Now we did ask ourselves why we waited to cross the 5 years in business before we treated our wives to such a special event..... We never did come up with a good reason for the delay. We also are looking forward to the next one..... Alaska is sounding really good!!!
Hello Everyone! The membership roster is now closed and at the printers. That's not to say that we are closed to new members or old members returning to our association, they just won't be in the roster until next time around.
Also, the brochure for the Annual Meeting is finally at the printers and hopefully will go in the mail the end of the week. We have a great line up of speakers, meetings, a couple of pre-conference certification classes, a fun Saturday Night Banquet Dinner, an afternoon shopping trip to the Portland Saturday Market for the spouses/significant others and some other really great stuff. I have thoroughly enjoyed working on the Annual Meeting, although it really is a tremendous amount of work. Never having done anything of this magnitude before I have had a lot of learning to do. Everyone has been wonderfully supportive, including the representative at the Red Lion, who calls at least once a week to go over details and make phone calls to help arrange things. There is still a lot of work to do before the Annual Meeting so I will be calling on a few more of you who have offered your assistance.
Nathan's wedding was beautiful. There were some unexpected memories (challenges) but the end result was the same and they flew off to a week in Cabo San Lucas to honeymoon. I am so glad to have him back at work. Our business has continued to grow since inception almost five years ago and we are in an extremely busy, busy season. I am grateful to be so blessed to have a successful Inspection Business and my son for a business partner. We have just purchased a building in downtown Klamath Falls (about 8 miles away) to move our business into. After looking at several buildings while waiting for the right one to come along we finally found this one to meet our criteria and pocketbook. It is actually a seven-plex with a one bedroom apartment and six studios. We will use the front one bedroom apartment for our office and let the six studios pay the mortgage on the building. I don't tell you all this to brag, but to let you know that this can be done and really good things are possible as your business grows. The basis for all of this is good training through the American Institute of Inspectors, association with other professional inspectors, sticking with the winners, watching and listening to others who have been successful and doing what they do. Best wishes to all of you. See you at The Red Lion- Coliseum, Nov 9th - 12th.
Best regards, Betty Buckley - Executive Director
I want to pass along kudos to Roy Brown for his efforts to entertain us over the past 5 weeks. Roy's not so fictional character was a breath of fresh air for us Inspectors in the field. It is easy to read Punky's escapades and clearly identify where Punky goes wrong, and sometimes his misadventures hit very closely to home. I hope that Roy takes some more of his creative time to entertain us in the future with further escapades of Punky Mudsill. And after taking an unofficial poll of the readership they too are in complete agreement...... Keep it coming, Roy.
After enjoying Roy's stories, I was pondering on the cruise how many other creative people there are out there in inspection land that don't feel that they have a public outlet for sharing. Well, if that is you, then consider the MMM your launching pad to fame, fortune and glory. Don't be shy....... As the rapping bus driver in Orlando said just 2 days ago..... "Bring it on, everything is Good."
Thanks a lot, Roy, It was a lot of fun. I found myself skipping all da utter stuff just to read about Punky. Chris Burkhart - UT
I fortunately haven't had the misfortune of being served papers or having to appear before a judge, except for a couple of minor traffic violations. Even that experience was enough to have me do whatever I can to avoid being on the receiving end of a complaint. Good luck, Punky! Gary Holzbauer - OR
Superb!!! I got to hand it to you, Roy. You need to keep Punky Mudsill alive with new adventures in the future. Thanks for the entertainment. Steve Bradley - WA
Last week's photo showed an interesting water heater installation. Since I was out of the time zone I know that is why there were so few responses. Richard Grisham took the time to document the following....
Michael:
Richard Grisham - Las Vegas, NV
Following on the heels of this Photo Challenge came a great question from Ken Ives on the AII™ Inspector Hotline.....
To the assembled masses. Here is the lay out. Duplex property, one up - one down. Both water heaters are in a utility area/closet in the downstairs unit. No access to the tank of the upstairs dwelling is available to the tenant of the upstairs unit due to this design. Is this contrary to typical building standards? Is this a reportable condition? If anyone knows, and can site the area of the "code book" that addresses this installation, I'd be really appreciative. Thanks in advance - Ken Ives in Sacramento
It makes you stop to think about what should be reported. Is this a Reportable Condition???? Should any fuss be made? Should there be any comments in the report describing the layout and all of the Chicken Little "The Sky Is Falling" possibilities of impending future disasters???
Steve Dansby shared....... Ken, this may or may not be a "code" violation in your area (call the building department). However, it is a design and common sense issue at the very least. Whomever designed these buildings must have had a brain lapse. Common sense says "What would the upstairs tenant do in an emergency if the downstairs tenant was not home AND access to the water heater is IN the downstairs unit?" That is definitely a call in my book. NOTE: Access to the water heater is... Well, you get my drift. Remember, just because it can be drawn on paper doesn't necessarily mean it should have been built. Steve E. Dansby - Portola, CA
Roy Brown responded..... Ken, I can't answer any "code" questions, however it is typical in our area of Washington for older duplexes, especially those that have been converted from single family. If the water heater is plumbed adequately and safely, it might be a mentionable condition, but I'm not sure I would make a big deal out of it. Roy Brown - Lake Stevens, WA
Betty Buckley added..... Hi Ken, you didn't mention if this is gas or electric. The concern I would have is the upstairs tenant has no control over their energy consumption. Also, what if the downstairs person is a weirdo and turned the temperature up to the highest setting? Could happen. Interesting situation. Betty Buckley - Klammath Falls, OR
Here in Utah this would not be a big deal. It violates common sense, yet the renters really don't have any rights. If water is leaking, or if there is no hot water the next step is always the same...... Call the landlord. We have so many "Non-Conforming" duplexes that I have never bothered stating that both of the units were accessible by the one unit only. Instead, I note that they are located in the "Service Room" and its location is self evident. If water is leaking and the one tenant can't get to it they can surely just go out to the meter and shut the water off until the landlord or the plumber arrives.
This week's AII™ Photo Challenge is a wonderful example of third world wiring. We were eating at an out of the way little restaurant and I looked out the window into the alleyway to see this splice setup.
What strikes you as odd?
I then looked up at the next building and saw photo #2. What are the possible ramifications of these kinds of installations???
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