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MONDAY MORNING MESSENGER

Message Prepared For Home Inspectors and Especially for Members of the

American Institute of Inspectors®

December 13, 1999

GOOOOOD MORNING, A.I.I.™

It's another great white day here in Northern Utah. This week will bring the challenges of a full inspection schedule that will include an EIFS evaluation on a Mansion in the canyon above Salt Lake City...... How many of you would like to spend 4 hours outside in the freezing cold doing an EIFS Moisture Intrusion Evaluation??? The home is 6,000 square feet and nestled into a hillside with two stories on the front and a third story for the walkout basement on the rear. The ladder work will be incredible in the snow on the hillside. Have I talked you out of it yet???..... Well, there is still a chance that the inspection will not come to fruition.

The biggest question of the week is how the cold weather is going to affect the EIFS moisture meters..... I'll keep you informed. It is tough enough to do an EIFS inspection in the warmth of the summer sun, let alone with at least 18" of snow on the ground. The referral for the EIFS inspection came from another Home Inspector who identified wood pecker damage holes once again.... Those woodpeckers should be getting a commission check from me for the work that they provide.

The Leavitt family is still busily preparing for Christmas. Saturday we were major helpers in a Breakfast with Santa Claus for the church and neighborhood. It was kind of like an indoors block party with lots of focus on the children. Our almost 4-year-old Haily was especially cute as she sat on Santa's lap. Aaron was also cute, but he was after the candy cane and really wasn't that concerned with Mr. or Mrs. Claus. The kids really loved it. We were also serenaded by our 9 year old Jessica and the school choir in a wonderful Christmas choral performance earlier in the week. Tonight we will go to see the golf course that is annually turned into a light festival that has become a Leavitt Tradition. We have our first Christmas guest with the arrival of Shelly's mom today. The rest of Shelly's family should arrive next week. I hope that your Holiday traditions are coming together as planned and that the Christmas spirit is resting upon your household.

INTERIOR FOOTWEAR

Doug Treloar from Carpinteria, Ca., brought up an interesting topic this week regarding footwear. We have all encountered the "Please Remove Shoes" signs on the front doors of some of the houses that we inspect. Doug addresses the topic this way...

"Hi one and all. I've got a concern. Lately, it seems that in many of the homes I am inspecting, the owners are asking for people to remove their shoes upon entering. What do you do about this? I would like to abide by the wishes of the homeowner but am also concerned about my own health and safety. I do change into tennis shoes when I go into the attic or under the house. It does seem like a legitimate request, especially this time of year when I come inside after walking on the wet lawn.

When I worked as a County inspector, it was against the policy to remove my shoes, due to potential injury from objects in the carpeting or from being barefoot, or from any illnesses that may be lurking about.

I have been thinking about getting some kind of booties, similar to what you see employees wearing in a hospital. Does anyone use something like this? Do you know of a supplier where these would be available?

At the last house where this was requested, it was funny when both the Buyer and Realtor went outside in their stocking feet to look at some of my concerns. When we went back inside, they were both wearing wet, muddy socks, and it sort of defeated the request for no shoes."

The seller didn't originally request that you remove your socks so I think it was quite appropriate to muddy up the house. For a long time I struggled with the homeowners requests as well. Scott Merritt shared the following....

"Doug: I use the pullover shoe covers. I got them from Conney. Their number is 800-356-9100, 6:30 am to 7:00 pm Monday - Friday. Their web site is www.conney.com.

When it is wet, I start my inspection by bringing my ladder to the garage to drip dry while I do the inspection, (I do the attic towards the end), along with whatever else I think I may need during the course of the inspection. I'll do the roof and exterior, then slip on my shoe covers and acknowledge the appreciation that is expressed before moving into the house. The shoe covers are not used at all homes. Sorry to say, but there is a prejudice that comes into play - if the people who live in the home take care to protect their floor coverings, then I will also. I will also offer them to agents (gave a couple of pairs to a termite inspector last week).

I can usually get 2 or 3 uses out of one pair. If ordering, get larger than you think you need to make them easier to fit. Scott Merritt - Grass Valley, CA

I took Scott's admonition and went to the Conney site, but was disappointed to not find any mention of the booties at the site. Instead, they do offer a Free catalog and I signed up for one. I will be interested in finding out which style that they stock. Betty Buckley offered another resource....

Yes, Doug, I have worn surgical booties for years for inspecting. They fit on right over your shoes. They are available at medical supply stores. I don't wear them all the time or in every house, so a box lasts me quite a while. I use them when its wet outside or if the carpet is
white/light colored. Also when I see the occupants leaving their shoes at the door.

Best wishes for a Happy Holiday. Betty Buckley - OR

I think that Betty uses the type of booties that I am looking for. They are a light blue type of material that has a rubber anti-slip pattern on the bottom. I first got a few pairs from the Parade of Homes program a few years back. They worked really well, but they were difficult to stretch over my size 15 shoes. Jim Corbin offers a different approach...

Hi Doug, I took my shoes off once and the lady of the house did a lot of sewing. I got a sewing needle in my foot. I use rubber, padded Clogs. They slip on easily, are comfortable and protect against foreign objects. They are also nonslip. The booties can be slick on floors, stairways and carpets if not careful. As a back up, I also have the booties that I can use or to give to others for their use. The Clogs can be obtained at most nursery or shoe stores. I have a second pair that I wear in my wood shop...great for wearing on concrete and easily removed when I go into my house.

Have a great and Happy Holiday Season! Jim Corbin - Bow, WA

Ouch!!! I'm trying to imagine a pair of these rubber clogs in a size 15. Maybe Jim can provide us a digital picture of him modeling these fashion statements. I'm curious if bringing in a separate pair of shoes is enough to calm down the finicky sellers? Maybe Jim can offer some feedback. Brent Foster concisely offers another supplier, situation of use, health warning, shoe use mandate, and painful testimonial all in just 5 sentences.....

The booties we use are from Grainger Supply. You can tell when to use them. In some cases we use booties to keep us from getting any thing on us that drugs won't get rid of. Do not take off your shoes. I have had a sewing needle in the ball of my foot due to this request. Brent Foster - Olympia, WA

Double Ouch!!! I agree completely with all of the above. I currently have a case of the Tyvek booties from Graingers. The product website is http://www.grainger.com/cgi-bin/item_detail?768884Y4T060 and you can order right online. I purchased the booties back in March of this year and have gone through about half of them since. The plus is that they are large enough to easily fit over my shoes. The bad part is that they have absolutely no traction and are very slippery on both wood floors and carpeted stairs. Complicate this with the addition of carrying around a laptop computer on a tripod and I have come close to falling a few different times.

Before purchasing the booties I would usually tell a client that I would have to wear my shoes, but that I had a pair of special indoor shoes. This calmed down most of them, but I often saw a look that was less than delightful from the extreme fanatic. There were occasions that I did take my shoes off, but it became a pain as I would have to go out to the van or relook at something in the garage. We also have basements and I would find that they expected me to have my shoes off, yet inspect a concrete slab in a full unfinished basement. Concrete is very cold and I have a hard enough time keeping the circulation going.

Some of the comments indicated that Inspectors will provide a set of booties for the clients, too. I have yet to do this. Booties run about 75 cents a pair and I have yet had a client ask if I had an extra pair. Instead, I watch them sometimes ignore the signs themselves indicating that they will be wearing shoes on their carpet as soon as they close. Others do remove their shoes out of courtesy.

This is what finally broke me from taking off my shoes: I was inspecting a home with "the sign" posted and the Seller verbally requested it as well. As I performed the inspection, I could not figure out why the Seller cared. They had both dogs and cats. The home was poorly cleaned. The carpets were filthy. This was a situation like Brent Foster described when he wrote..... "In some cases we use booties to keep us from getting any thing on us that drugs won't get rid of." I was chapped by the request throughout the inspection and knew that I had to take some assertive steps.

I now use booties on all of the nicer homes where somebody is present. On all the rest I have a second pair of great condition tennis shoes. The last thing that I want to be accused of is soiling a carpet..... The flashback is clear in my mind. It was a Tuesday afternoon when the business phone rang and I was sitting in the office ready to use my new phone answering skills. I was new in the business and had not had that many negative interactions with clients or sellers. Having worked at Sears years earlier I was trained in the "Customer is always right" philosophy. This has come back to haunt me in the years since then.

IRATE SELLER

The business phone rang and there was an irate individual on the other end of the phone...... "You inspected my home and the carpet on the stairs is filthy and I expect you to have it cleaned.!" I had never pre-rehearsed this conversation before and it caught me totally off guard. I limped my way through the conversation after having been heavily maimed in the first sentence. Which house?.... When?..... Did I really soil the carpet?..... All I knew was that I was always extremely careful at each inspection to clean up after myself.

As the conversation continued I found out that he owned the vacant house that I had inspected the Friday prior. The home was under $100,000 and it was during the busy home buying season. This meant that the home was probably visited by 20 or more first-time buyers in between my home inspection and his discovery of the soiling. I was quickly gaining confidence in the conversation, yet was still concerned that word might get out through his agent that I was untidy and careless in my inspection process. I was still a horrible person in this seller's mind and for some reason I agreed to meet the individual the next afternoon. I also explained to him how ludicrous he was blaming me when there were others that followed me (as could be verified by the realtor's lockbox).

The next day I was stood up at the property by the irate seller and I even waited 15 extra minutes. Then I left him a choice little note explaining his obvious back treading of his stance on my carelessness. I graciously invited him to never contact me again in such a fashion unless he was going to apologize for his demeanor first. It's a funny thing because I have never heard from him again.

TIDINESS RESOLUTION

It was after this return visit that I immediately headed to our local thrift store. I was able to purchased a rechargeable cordless handheld vacuum for $3.00. The same units brand new were over $30.00, so this was quite a score. At that point in my career I did not have the extra money to buy brand new... I needed the extra money to buy extra advertising fliers to help get my business phone ringing. The same used unit is still working several years later. Since that time I have vowed to take whatever precautions are needed to keep my inspection process free from reproach. If I get that same call again from an irate seller I will confidently say that with the booties and/or special interior shoes, drop cloths and mini-vacuum that I made sure that I cleaned up after myself.

MOIST ROOF FOOTWEAR

Have you ever found yourself slipping on a roof or an icy walk? I tend to stay off of the roofs when they are wet, but icy walkways are common here in Northern Utah. I have been searching for a solution knowing that there must be a solution out there somewhere. I had considered using a pair of golf shoes, but the shoes themselves are not warm enough to traipse through the snow covered yards. Whatever the solution was, it was going to have to fit over the pair of size 15 Sorel snow boots that I use in the white fluffy stuff.

I never did find anything that would solve my dilemma until I spoke with Brent Foster in Olympia, Washington. When I told him what I was looking for he said that I should go get a pair of "Corkers." He currently owned two pairs of "Corkers" and all I could say was "What are Corkers?" Corkers are what roofers wear when working on wood roofs in moist climates. Most of you are familiar with the great fall from the roof by Jim Lucas a year or two ago. His misfortune taught us all how easy it can be to slip and fall from a slightly slick roof.

Corkers are a strap-on pair of studded soles. They look like a studded heavy duty pair of Teva summer sandals. Brent says that they run about $75 and can be purchased in a couple different sizes. When I visited him this past summer I tried his pair on and they fit over even my big shoe. According to Brent they can be easily purchased through a Roofing Material supply house. "They really work on moist wood roofs," says Brent. He uses them quite often on wood shake roofs because of all of the wet weather in his area. Brent says that the studs do leave indentations, but that is the price to pay for personal safety. Brent says that "You would be a fool in my area to mount a moist roof and not use them."

INTERNET SEARCH NOTE: I did an internet search and found this roofing supply house located on the web at: http://www.rwc.org/cgi/catalog.cgi and found out that the shoes are called Korker Kleats. Once at the website look under "Shoes_Hip Pads". Wholesale the Korkers run $42.95 and notice that it is Korker Kleats with K's.

Y2K Revisit

I received the following request this week from our incoming President, Scott Merritt.

Michael: I went back and read some of the MMM that I missed last summer, including the discussion and survey on Y2K concerns. Now that we are 3 weeks away from the event, I wonder if you think it would be interesting to re-open the dialogue on that? Scott Merritt

Great idea, Scott. I can tell you that I have kept records of how much, dollar wise and inspection totals, I have done per month since I started this business and have tried to watch for trends. In the past, December has been my 6th best month. This year, based on what I have done thus far, it will probably be my lowest month of 1999. The phone is not ringing as much as usual. I have talked to realtors and lenders and title companies for various reasons and they have all mentioned to me that their business has come to a screeching halt. My "average" inspection (# of inspections divided by gross sales) has dropped significantly this month. Inspections are sporatic, at best. I have noticed a drastic increase in phone calls from fellow inspectors. We seem to have a lot more time on our hands. Or is it just me??? Although this week looks to be busy, I would have to say that the Y2K, whether real or in our minds, IS affecting my business. I would love to hear from others about what they are experiencing, if anything. Any changes for you from Decembers in the past?