It's a great day here in Orem, Utah! This is looking like a strong week with inspections, family events, inspection training, and court. That's right, court! I don't have to defend myself for inspecting. Instead, I finally get to defend myself for a freeway construction traffic accident that occurred in August of 1999. Talk about a speedy trial..... This one has drug out for 14 months. Out of curiosity do you think that I can ask that it be dismissed on the merit that it occurred 14 months ago??? When the trial date came up 6 months ago I received a Certified Letter the day before the court date saying that the judge needed to postpone the events of the day because of other commitments. That day lost me at least $700 not to mention the previous appearance where I was privileged to plead "Not Guilty." So far this is a 3-day ordeal that I can't wait to be over.
The highlight for the upcoming week is a special, all-day training at our regional Questar Gas Company facility. A group of Utah Home Inspectors will be trained first hand in correct installation practices and how to evaluate gas appliances. This is a "Not To Miss" event.
Add to these the normal monthly radio show, Realtor Affiliate meeting, kid's soccer games, Boy Scouts, co-ed softball tournament and the week looks full. Somewhere in this mess will come about 6 to 8 Home Inspections too...... What a week!..... I'm tired already just thinking about it!!!
NOTE: The password change for the MMM has been delayed a week.
Saying "No" is very difficult when you have worked so hard to be in the position to say "Yes!" So.....
Here are two responses....
My wife Jo and I book all of our inspections, and so far have been able to keep our inspection bookings in control. I have my pager number on my answering machine with the message to use it if the caller needs to "reach me right away." I occasionally get a call for booking an inspection while I'm in the field, but I find the occasional calls manageable. I also have made up Inspection Request Sheets that can be faxed to us for some of the agents that I work with on a regular basis. Jo is home a fair amount during the daytime, so she is able to take a lot of the calls. Gary Holzbauer - OR
I don't take phone calls in the field ( except from my wife.) She screens the calls and tells the caller she would try to get a hold of me. I then put things in perspective as to how urgent the call really is. I don't make a habit a giving out my car phone number. My wife books most of my inspections (90% of them.) I think it is a real turn off to be talking to someone about a inspection and have to stop and take a call in the field. I have agents do this to me and I don't like it. At the inspection the client has my full attention. My phones all have voice mail. If you don't have voice mail on your car phone-- get it, and leave it in your car while doing the inspection. I will return all phone calls after I leave the inspection. Having your wife or someone else book your inspections makes it easy to tell the caller we're booked that day or we can't do it till...XXX. We will always try to fit them in, work on weekends, night or whenever! We hate to say "No." I have my appt. book marked out to how many inspections I want per day, each day is marked for 2-3 weeks in advance. Most times having someone else book the inspection I don't know when we said "no" or when the caller really could have made the appt. another day. I also understand that "No" is not easy to say for the first 2-3 years while building your business. Ken Jones
"How do you handle scheduling and the phone???"
Your Name: Please include your name or else I don't know who it is from.
Last week I challenged all of you to respond to the Photo Challenge, with the prize for the first correct response as a 7 day, all expense paid cruise to see Glacier Bay in Alaska. I'm proud to announce that the winner is Shelly Leavitt from Orem, Utah. Her winning response was.... "Hey that green jumper wire between the copper wire connector and the white wire connector shouldn't be there..... Should it?" So with that response, I will have to award her with the Grand Prize. All of you wishing to congratulate her can e-mail her at GoldynGirl@TheHomeInspector.com...... Here are some of the other responses:
The black wire that touches the bottom of the case should be green and it should go directly to the ground bus bar. The green wire that goes from the neutral bus bar to the ground should be eliminated. In a subpanel like this one the neutral bus bar should be isolated from the ground bus bar. The bonding between the ground bar and the neutral should happen at the main panel. Eric Smith
I see the power leads passing through the disconnect panel before they are attached to the main power lugs on the branch panel. In fact, all of the incoming leads pass through the subpanel first. Totally incorrect! Now where is my winter coat? Carl Fowler - FL
Jumper wire between the neutral and grounding bars. Am I too late for the Glacier Bay Trip? Jon Gudnason - CA
The neutral and ground bars are connected. Ken Jones - CA
For Immediate Release * Contact: Russ Rader * October 5, 2000 * Release # 01-003
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Ann Brown today unveiled a new initiative to make products safer and reduce the number of products recalled each year.
In New Orleans, La., speaking to the Defense Research Institute, a national organization of product liability attorneys, Brown challenged industry to implement a "Top Ten List" of safety principles aimed at reducing product defects that lead to recalls.
Brown announced that 32 major companies have agreed to implement the principles, name a senior product safety official to oversee implementation, and agree to share and publicize product safety innovations. These companies are joining with the CPSC in a "Product Safety Circle" to promote safety.
"We're laying out a plan for companies to put safety in before they have to take a defect out," Brown said. "There are too many safety recalls. Often we find that the safety defect could have been anticipated and prevented. The CPSC cannot certify the safety of products before they go out on the market, but many companies are taking steps to engineer their products with safety in mind from the outset. We want to highlight those examples and encourage all companies to follow them."
The CPSC's job is to vigilantly enforce consumer product safety laws. However, it can also encourage good corporate citizenship in the safety arena by recognizing where companies are doing a good job and challenging others to follow that leadership.
"In many cases, the first time a company deals with the government is when there's a safety problem," Brown said. "This is a way to help companies improve safety on their own without government regulation. We hope companies will find ways to make products safer before they reach the marketplace or peoples' homes."
Over the years, CPSC has identified safety practices that tend to result in the manufacture and sale of safer products. Companies wanting to do the right thing often ask: "What should we do?" This initiative is a way to answer that question.
The top ten corporate product safety principles are:
"These are straight-forward principles," said Brown. "Unfortunately, we often see product safety problems that might have been avoided had such principles been followed."
These Top Ten principles can be used as a tool for top level corporate officials to give direction to their employees responsible for safety. They can also provide impetus to middle management and employees throughout the company to suggest creative safety improvements for their company.
"The CPSC has a track record of working successfully with individual companies or groups of companies to prevent safety problems before they arise," said Brown. "To achieve gains for the public, we have used persuasion, public recognition of voluntary advances in consumer safety, and partnership with those who are willing to work with us cooperatively. We want to build on these efforts to make products safer." Brown said the CPSC will stay vigilant to recall dangerous products, but consumers need to do their part by taking advantage of recalls and getting dangerous products out of their homes, and industry must do better by building safety into their products.
Brown emphasized that the Product Safety Circle initiative is not an endorsement of any product and CPSC, as always, will continue to monitor the safety performance of the companies in the marketplace. CPSC reserves the right to remove a company from the circle if it is broadly disregarding the pledge or failing to operate in the spirit of the initiative.
The Commission voted (2-1) (with Chairman Ann Brown and Commissioner Thomas Moore in the majority; Commissioner Mary Sheila Gall in the minority) to approve the Product Safety Circle initiative. Commissioner Gall's statement is available through CPSC's Office of the Secretary at (301) 504-0800.
More information on the Product Safety Circle is available on the web at www.cpsc.gov.
Last week's story from Bill Schwahn drew very little responses. This generally means that we have hit a topic that most Home Inspectors are sitting back waiting to learn more. Ken Jones passed along this warning......
Molds are like an up and coming great movie. It hasn't hit the "big screen" yet, but stand by, it's one we will all see....... and start to deal with in our reports. This could be about a four-hour class for training. Ken Jones - CA
Steve Jordan sent along this plea for more information..... Can any of you help him out???......
My thoughts are that until we are all a lot smarter than we are right now, we need to report all crawl space and living space molds we see AND---we need to know who to refer the matter to in our individual states---or is EPA the right and only necessary place to report to??? In the past HOUR, I got a call from a worried mom who is going to move out of a rental house because it has molds. She wonders who can tell her if the molds she has are dangerous. She also wants to know what to do with bedding, furniture, etc., that may need decontamination. If anyone in Oregon can help with some Info I would really appreciate it!!! Steve Jordan, with the moldy rain shovel, on the Oregon Coast.
The Mold, Fungus, and Spores issue is such an important topic that I am sharing the article from page 15 of the April 2000 edition of the Journal of Light Home Construction. If you do not subscribe to this wonderful magazine you are missing out. I strongly encourage you to visit their site at http://www.jlconline.com and get a multi-year subscription.
NOTEBOOK - APRIL 2000 - EDITED BY MARTIN HOLLADAY & JON VARA
Homeowners in southern California are wrestling with an unusual wood-destroying fungus called meruliporia incrassata. Under the right conditions, the fungus (which is generally referred to simply as poria) can spread throughout a wood-framed structure in a matter of months, causing serious damage before the inhabitants realize there's a problem. Even if poria is discovered early, it's often mistaken for ordinary brown or white rot, and inadequately treated.
"My insurance company said I just had water damage," says Joanna Poppink, a Los Angeles psychotherapist. "I put in gutters, resloped the front lawn, and replaced some studs and drywall. I thought it was fixed until a few months later, when I looked up and saw this big orange mushroom growing out of an inside wall."
PHOTO NOTE (Left): The black part of the wall is badly deteriorated building paper. The white is the innermost layer of stucco, as seen from indoors. The wall studs and floor are completely gone.
Like all fungi, poria can only consume wood in the presence of moisture. Unlike more familiar forms of rot, however, poria forms rootlike structures, called rhizomorphs, that draw water up into the building, enabling it to consume otherwise bone-dry wood. The rhizomorphs typically have a reddish-brown exterior, and may grow as big around as a person's arm. "They look like a tree roots," says John Menge, a plant pathologist at the University of California at Riverside. "But if you break one open with your hands, it looks and smells like a mushroom inside."
Even in California's naturally dry climate, the enterprising poria fungus can usually find all the moisture it needs. "I saw one case where the rhizomorphs had grown into the swimming pool," John Menge says. Sprinkler systems that are used to water lawns or landscape plantings are another source of moisture. Not surprisingly, wet weather also seems to stimulate the growth of the fungus. In the aftermath of the rain-soaked El Nino year of 1997, John Menge observes, reports of new cases of poria doubled.
PHOTO NOTE (Right): There's a mushroom growing out from under the bathroom mirror.
Science-fiction nightmare. The actual number of cases is still relatively small, with most estimates placing the figure at fewer than 25 per year. But that's small consolation for those like Joanna Poppink, who have experienced its effects. Among other things, Poppink was horrified by the fungi's eerie ability to travel freely through solid concrete.
"It's hard to imagine unless you've seen it," she says. "You have this thing as big around as an anaconda that breaks into microscopic filaments when it comes to the concrete, passes through it, then turns back into an anacondalike thing that comes squirming up the inside of your wall. It's a science-fiction nightmare."
PHOTO NOTE (Left): Three months after buying the house, the owner of this house received a pleasant surprise.
Repairing a poria-damaged structure is usually difficult and expensive. "You commonly end up with a bill for $50,000 or more," says Jerry Turney, a curator with the Los Angeles County Arboretum. In addition to tearing out and replacing damaged wood, it's often necessary to break up and remove a fungus-filled slab and pour a new foundation. Even then, the fungus may remain active in the soil, making it impossible to rule out future infestations.
To make matters worse, insurance companies have so far been reluctant to pay homeowner claims for damage attributed to poria. "Homeowners' policies often have a clause that says the insurer doesn't have to pay for damage caused by dry rot," Jerry Turney says. "You can sue the company, but then it all comes down to what the judge thinks 'dry rot' means."
PHOTO NOTE (Right): Poria growing through the inside of the hearth and emerging from the mortar joints between bricks. The brown dust is a layer of spores produced by the fungus.
Even where the suit is successful, the settlement may fall well short of covering actual costs. "After I took them to court, the insurance company finally paid me a lump sum," Joanna Poppink says, "but I have to pay the cost of the lawsuit. I won't even know what the repairs cost until the work is done."
Prevention and control - Luis De La Cruz is a pest-control contractor from Van Nuys, Calif., who has treated hundreds of cases of poria over the past two decades, and is widely regarded as California's foremost practical expert on the subject. In general, De La Cruz observes, houses close to the ground, on slabs, are much more likely to be invaded by poria than those that sit up higher, with a well-ventilated air gap between soil and wood. "Sometimes you'll see poria coming in under the stucco, if the bottom edge is buried below the finished grade," he says. Brick or concrete patios that butt directly against the edge of a slab can also spell trouble. "If there are grade stakes or scraps of lumber under the patio," De La Cruz says, "the poria will feed on them, then move through the patio to the slab and into the framing."
PHOTO NOTE: There's no telling what you'll find inside the vanity
In other words, builders can probably reduce the risk of poria infection by constructing higher, drier, better-detailed foundations. But no one can explain why so few of the seemingly vulnerable foundations are actually being attacked. "Why does poria enter one house, but not another one just like it?" De La Cruz asks. "I just don't know."
Unanswered questions. It's also unclear how the fungus moves from place to place. Most fungi reproduce by means of windborne spores, which poria produces in vast quantities. Wayne Wilcox, a forest pathologist with the University of California Forest Products Laboratory, tells of wriggling through a foundation crawlspace over what he thought was a thick layer of dust, only to find it was actually poria spores.
PHOTO NOTE (Right): Unlike most wood-decay fungi, poria can attack wood in dry areas house, , thanks to its ability to draw moisture from remote sources.
"If those spores were viable," he says, "you'd expect to see localized outbreaks, with spores from one house infecting others nearby. But that doesn't seem to be happening."
Luis De La Cruz observes that most of the poria infected houses he sees have had major landscaping done in the recent past, raising the possibility that the fungus may travel in loads of topsoil. Wayne Wilcox finds the idea plausible. "In the wild, poria lives on dead trees," he says. "If you scrape up landscaping soil from a forested area, it could contain pieces of infected roots."
Nor does anyone know how many cases of poria occur each year. There's a general sense that the fungus is on the rise in California, but this may be more a matter of perception than reality. Many of the affected homes are large and expensive (the Santa Monica home of actress Julie Andrews, for example, recently sustained $1 .6 million in poria-related damage), and the effects of the fungus are so spectacular that the resulting media coverage may exaggerate the severity of the problem.
PHOTO NOTE (Right): A contractor replaced damaged wood and treated the new joists with copper napthenate. A year later, the area looked like this.
Wayne Wilcox finds the lack of hard information deeply frustrating. "I'll be retiring this fall," he says. "I spent years trying to convince the state of California to fund some basic research on poria, with absolutely no success." In the continued absence of research, he fears, better methods of control and treatment will be a long time coming. "There are probably millions of houses on poria-infected ground down here that no one knows about," he says. "It's an important problem with serious consequences, and we need to start taking it seriously."
"What are your thoughts on molds, fungus, and spores?"
Hey, Eagle Eyes..... I posted this question to the AII™ Inspector Hotline and am still waiting for clear identification....... Can any of you identify this type of attic insulation in the attached photo??? It was found in a 25-35 year old detached garage attic. It is white and like the flocking that gets put on Christmas trees. It is NOT like the vermiculite that I have seen which is more like bean bag chair stuffing. This stuff does not have fibers like fiberglass, but it falls and moves like dust particles.
I'm trying to figure out what to call it and whether or not it is a possible asbestos-containing material. The Client is going to be getting into the attic to run some new wiring and it would be nice to accurately alert him to the danger, if any. Anybody got a website link???
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