Lewis Capaul

Kurt, I think you missed the part about Craig being "MY" Senator, regrettably he has been for way too long. There have been stories going around here in Idaho for years about him being gay. He and I got into a nose to nose several years ago, 3 months later I got a letter from the IRS telling me I owed them money from several years before, one of those threatening and accusing letters they send. I called the IRS to find out what was going on and told them their letter sucked. I also jokingly told the guy on the phone that I found it odd that a case so many years old should come up so soon after an argument with my Senator. He was quiet for a minute and then said that he was sorry to say that sometimes some Senators and Congress men's offices did call and have them "look into" an individual's tax history, then I was really mad, I still don't know if it was just a coincidence or spite on the part of Craig's office, even though I tend to believe he or one of his aides was behind it. Being Gay isn't the problem, I don't care what anyone's sexual preference is, unless like some religious zealots, they try to push it on me or my kids. It's the hypocrisy that offends me, especially from those who shout so loud against someone else's lifestyle, while hiding in the closet themselves. He won't survive next years election. If I didn't have an Inspection this afternoon, I'd go down to my good old boy tavern and have a few beers and laughs with the guys. It's a great day anyway.

Part of the problem with attempting to attract younger people to an expensive college course is going to be, I'm afraid to say, the lack of "glamor" in Home Inspection. It will be hard to convince many that Inspecting is better than "Constructing". If like me, you remember back to your younger days in construction, you can recall the sense of satisfaction you had each day when you left the job site looking back at the physical evidence of what you had accomplished that day. That's something I miss in home inspection even today, way too many years later. Any college course is going to have to be set up to allow credit for work experience because many entering the Home Inspection business are still going to be coming from the trades and construction industry. Mike O', seems to have some of the same "Army" background as I do, Army Engineering, and as we both grew up in construction and had quite a bit of experience before joining the Army, he can probably relate, as many can, how damn boring it is to set through a class that is a waste of time for you and where you often know more about the subject than the instructor. Those with experience should be able to "Test out" of certain courses by taking both a written test and a hands on demonstration and evaluation of their skills. Any curriculum designed for Home Inspection should eliminate all subjects that some of you call fluff, but on which Colleges and Universities rely on to make money. Someone mentioned English, it should be no more than Eng 101 and Technical writing, there should also be some classes on public speaking. The classes on actual Home Inspection should be similar to Trade School Classes, direct, to the point, and related directly to the subject or system involved. Any degree offered should be a two year "Technical Degree". In my opinion a four year degree would be a waste of time and great waste of money. If potential inspectors were required to complete a 4 year program, you would lose a lot of them to other professions like engineering and architecture, partly for, as I said the lack of glamor in Home Inspecting. but These "Fluff" courses have been one of my many complaints about Higher Education for many years. Every year the cost of a four year degree increases dramatically and has reached the point where it is very difficult for the average working family to get their kids through college. The "Well Rounded Graduate" may have been a great idea long ago when the cost was not so high, but now the required fluff can more than double the costs of a degree in any field. It might be nice for an engineer, a computer scientist, a doctor, and many others, to be able to speak a couple of foreign languages, and to be able to tell which artist made which painting, but none of that "fluff" is essential for the job the graduate is seeking. "Fluff" is also harming America's standing and ability to compete in the world market, the added expense of "fluff" prevents us from turning out the scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and many other necessary professionals. Many European and Asian Universities train Engineers as Engineers, Scientists as Scientists, they don't waste two years of education studying Art, Philosophy, etc., much of the "fluff" would be nice to have, but it's an unnecessary luxury that most American Students can't afford. Well that's my ramble for today, I keep finding myself laughing about the "outing" of MYSenator, the great conservative family value guy, Larry Craig. "He who shouts the loudest often has something to hide", another "social" conservative chased out of the closet. What a great day.

What "college" courses would you recommend? Eastern Washington University used to have a Technical Degree program that could have been used, classes created, and an HI Course developed, but budget cuts did away with the Tech Program. There are carpentry, plumbing, an electrician courses offered at various Jr. and community colleges, and lots of business and marketing courses, but unless someone want to become a P.E. there is not many classes directly related to HI around today. Hopefully that will change

A lot of people who don't like you have met you though James, and even some of those who you believe are your friends tell others about your "background" and experience, one of your best buddies called and actually questioned whether or not you were Inspecting at all, Joe F., your fearless leader even mentioned your lack of experience while he was telling me about your great experience as a legal secretary in the Army. Another mentioned your carreer in Hearing Aid sales, is that true? I don't believe you are banned from this Message Board, or the other where you post under your alias, why are you afraid to use your own name? Embarrassment? Speaking of being revered on only your own message board, you only have a dozen or so out of your 10,000 members who revere you on your own board. My bet is that there are many, many more Nachi members who respect Mike than there are who have any use for you or your BS.

"Move In Certified" is Nick's latest, it's a ridiculous as all his other "Certifications". I don't actually believe that Bushart joined the CMI group, even though anyone, even those who have never performed a single inspection could and probably have, he is though, as he is in everything, that associations self appointed spokesman. The actions of that association has taken away any credibility the the word "certify" may have had within the Home Inspection Industry. "KISS", within that association is the major rule for many of its members. Whatever the Master Designation means within the trades, at least those who carry it have done something to earn it, 1,000's of hours of supervised experience, and many, many hours of training, some of it done by local colleges. Certified has much more meaning in the trades than it does in the Home Inspection Industry. Like you I grew up in construction, and learned much more in the military, since retiring from the Army, and while on active duty, most of my construction experience has been part time, I also retired from another government job, doing renovations and remodeling, with new home construction thrown in every now and then. I'm just beginning my 4th year as an Inspector, although the way I have inspected homes I have renovated and "flipped" for years is similar, but a lot more intrusive, than Home Inspecting. With things being so slow as far as inspections this summer, I reverted to flipping houses, I just finished two projects that netted me what I would have made from around 240 Home Inspections, good old "Plan B"

An Association I used to belong to believes that "NOCA" is a "dirty" word and "NOCA's) requirements are "too high" for Home Inspection Certifications, even that of a "Master Inspector", one of the leaders even States that : ".the single and only value of the CMI designation. It doesn't take skill or brains to acquire, granted. But it does take time...time that will distinguish the newby from the established inspector." Jbushart Some Certifications are truly not worth the paper they are written on. One thing that no one on the link you provided mentioned is the value of the Trade Certifications on employment, if the certifications are not worth anything why does an employer pay a Master Plumber, Electrician, or Carpenter so much more than an apprentice or journeyman?

Who and what is an FHA inspector?>>> Sorry I was thinking FHA Appraiser and typing Inspector. When performing an FHA Appraisal the appraiser can call for a Home Inspection. I should never post until I've finished my first pot of coffee.

Realtors, Inspectors, and Sellers often forget that some buyers use the inspection report to get out of a purchase agreement that they have changed their mind about, maybe they found a better deal, maybe they are suffering buyers remorse, who know. I've been surprised several times when an agent told me that the buyers have backed out over some pretty minor issues in my report, and then a couple of days later I get a call from the same buyer asking me to perform an inspection on another house with a different agent. I've started to ask clients if the home is going through FHA and if so if I have their permission to provide a copy of the report to the FHA Inspector, who, by FHA Rules can get one on request or call for another inspection. Having me provide a copy can save them a day or two of time in their closing process. Cooperating with the FHA Inspector, with the clients permission, has also resulted in the FHA Inspector asking for me to perform inspections on homes where he needs further evaluation.

In my contract I have a clause that the client must sign giving permission and the name of the agent he wants me to send a copy to. The client can provide a copy to who ever they like, but only the person he names will get a copy from me. I don't like listing agents at my inspections, the buyers if fine, I'm as polite as I can be to the listing agent, and I may ask them a question or so about items that may be on the sellers disclosure, in fact I ask to see a copy of the disclosure, but I don't answer very many questions from the listing agent or explain what I've found. If the buyers agent is there I ask them to get rid of any pushy sellers agents. I represent the buyer, not the seller or the sellers agent, I usually have to explain that. When I get a call from a Realtor who says my report killed their deal, I explain that it wasn't my report, but the condition of the home and the buyers decision that killed the deal.

It really doesn't matter what type of Exam interNachi has, as long as anyone can go on-line and take it under anyone else's name, the exam is meaningless and of no value.

Both the IRC and UPC require the installation of pressure regulators whenever the water pressure exceeds 80 psi. IRC 2903.3.1 UPC 608.2 If you are measuring higher than 80 lbs,appliances like dishwashers and washing machines may be damaged, if you measure more than 80 psi, I would recommend that a Regulator be installed by a licensed plumber. Once you mention 100psi, you need to cyoa

Would you buy a home because the Seller's inspector found no major defects? I certainly wouldn't. In a slow market a pre-listing inspection may be of some use as a marketing tool, and it may provide the seller with information about conditions he knows nothing about, how many home owners spend much time in their crawl space for example. They have their uses, but I don't believe they are the "future". Here's a link to what realtors think of the Idea: http://activerain.com/blogsview/109357/ ... u-Have-the

Lorne of Porter Valley Softsare has announced that the long awaited Version 5 of InspectVue will be released on 20 June. Here are a couple of links to a screen shot and a functionality chart that he provided. http://www.pvsoftware.com/IVR5_functionality.htm http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=nh97racab.0.szo ... apture.htm It looks pretty good, but my worry is that many of the features are not available until the 3rd quarter of this year, if they are delayed as long as Version 5, then that may be the 3rd quarter of 08'. Lorne did run into problems with Vista and was forced to build a completely new platform for Version 5, so he did have a good reason I guess for the long delay, his mistake was in announcing it way to early. Looks great though, of course it's taken me almost a year to get my InspectVue "tweaked" to just about where I want it, I guess I will find out how much more "tweaking" I will have to do after June 20. Hopefully it will be easier this time.

Dropping in on a meeting at Shoreline from Kenmore isn't quite like dropping in on the meeting from Spokane. A group that claims to represent all Washington Inspectors, should be able to keep those inspectors who are interested informed of what is being proposed. Mike, I did email TIJ last fall asking for Domagala's email address or for him to contact me, he said he never received it, but we got together from the e"Other" Board. Seeing as you often cruise the messages there, you know I tried to eliminate Bushart and the rest by asking Washington Inspectors to move their discussions here to the Washington Only forum, I also repeatedly told them to contact Domagal, who finally replied. You had told us that our various association reps from the group would be notifying us or the groups proposal, if that happened at all that was after the information had all ready leaked, and weeks after many of us had started our own letter writing campaigns to the Senators. From your recent posts about the Groups Proposals and their reasoning behind them, it shows that nothing has changed from the Original Proposal that we saw. From the reaction of many other Inspectors over the past few months it seems to me that the Groups ideas are not widely accepted across the State. I'm not unwilling to listen to your groups proposals and ideas, or to send them my ideas and concerns, as a nonmember I may choose to support many or the groups proposals and include them in my correspondence and campaign to the politicians, but I'm not bound by your groups rules to speak with one voice after you reach your conclusion. If you want a One Team, One Fight approach to the licensing question, then the "Team" needs to be kept informed of the plan, and to have some sense of input or of being members of a Team, otherwise there will be a lot of teams showing up the next time a Bill is proposed, and the only one that will win will be the one pushing Spanel's buttons.

Mike, Your group was as guilty of making Home Inspectors appear disorganized as any other, you yourself promised to post the groups preliminary proposals here on this board, yet they never appeared. Your group took it upon themselves to claim they represented Home Inspectors in Washington State, look at the Name, yet no one else could get information on what was being discussed or decided within your group. You west side inspectors seem to forget how large the State is that you live in, Spokane and the East are a little far away to permit someone to just drop in to one of your meetings. By the way, Domagala did receive emails and a phone call from me, he stated the same thing that you had told me, that the Group was sworn to secrecy and that when they did make their proposal public no one within the group would be allowed to disagree with that proposal. What good then would it do for anyone outside the group to ask questions? My letters and conversations with the Senators contained no reference to any HI Association, they contained my proposals some of which I already stated. No one in any Association or Group speaks for me, and it would seem from this years HI Battle that I'm not the only one who believes that. No doubt your group worked very hard coming up with its' proposal, but the way it turned out that's all it was, the Group's proposal which not too many Inspectors in Washington seemed to agree with. One Team One Fight, that sounds good Mike, but do your really expect the "Team" to jump off the Bench and play a good game when they have no input or sense of belonging to the "Team" and when they don't even see the play book until the game starts?

Mike, Why was anyone suprised that a new Bill came up this year? Once last years crap was killed most inspectors I know expected another this January. That's why I kept bugging you about what was happening with the WHILAG? You complained that the Senator wasted the groups time by listening to them and then just going ahead and doing what she wanted. Many Inspectors sent in comments to the WHILAG about changes in its proposal, but from the latest I've seen the Group stuck to what they wanted and ignored the suggestions of other Inspectors. Secrecy might be a more efficient way for Groups like yours to come up with a proposal, but secrecy also alienates others outside the group. What you end up with are different groups proposing different things with time running out and no time to compromise, if that were possible, so the politicians just do what ever they want This year is the WHILAG going continue meeting, and are they going to open up for suggestions and proposals from other inspectors and keep those interested informed. If not then come next January, if the present bill fails, we'll all be in the same position, on different sides and some BS Bill that nobody likes may be passed. There were things I liked about your groups proposal, like getting rid of the ridiculous SPI requirement, and things I didn't like, like the number of required Inspections which I feel is too restrictive, and the mentoring which I feel is unfair to those new inspectors residing in rural areas of the State that would have few mentors available, I wasn't a fan of the "Classroom" training over recognized Correspondence or Internet training for the same reason, it's 300 to 400 miles to the nearest Home Inspector Training from Spokane, unless the proposal were to include provisions for providing Training at all State Community Colleges at least until Private Courses were offered Statewide. If there is no organization and everyone operates in secret, then we will have the same result next year, one of these days the politicians will get their way.

Mike, Thanks for the Info on the Sunrise process Lew

Here's an answer to questions several of us asked Dr. Soumi and the Director of WSDA about the specifics of the WSDA SPI Requirements for Home Inspectors. most of us who are licensed already knew this, but this may help clarify the subject to those who believe they can use loopholes to get around the asinine Laws. I din't support the Law, but it is the Law, for now. These questions and answers were cleared by the Washinton State AG. Questions and Responses on SPI Licensing (Cleared by AG 3/26/07) Question 1: When a home inspector conducts an inspection of a home that is for sale and reports any of the following, must they be licensed as an SPI and follow the rules for conducting a complete WDO inspection (See WAC 16-228-2025): plumbing leaks and inadequate ventilation restricted or non-functioning gutters vegetation touching exterior siding earth to wood contact standing water in substructure failed or missing caulk or grout at water splash areas conducive debris in substructure Answer: If a home inspector reports on one or more of the above conditions they must be licensed and must follow the rules for conducting complete WDO inspections. It does not make any difference whether the home inspector actually identifies a WDO such as rot, they still must be licensed and follow the rules. Question 2: Once a home inspector reports any of the conditions in question 1., above, (regardless of whether they identify a WDO infestation) does the inspection then become a “complete WDO inspectionâ€

I live 6 miles from the Stateline and have been Inspectiong in Eastern Washington for two years now, my company, Snowy Mountain Home Inspection, LLC, is licensed in Washington and I am licensed by the WSDA. Because of the SPI Requirement in WA, there are only a two or three Idaho Inspectors who cross the border, there are many more Spokane Inspectors crossing into Idaho, typical Border town business.

The Washington State Senate Bill 5788 the Licensing of Home Inspectors just passed in the Senate 45-2-2

Here's a nice site sponsored by the Colorado Office of Energy Management and Conservation. There's lots of good info here. Be sure you have the latestest media player. http://www.codecollegenetwork.com/video_center/ Lew

Here's an interesting sealed roof system from Dupont/Tyvek: http://www2.dupont.com/Tyvek_Constructi ... K14127.pdf And here's an interesting site on Unvented systems: http://www.buildingscienceseminars.com/ ... lation.pdf And here's a site that shows the results of doing a sealed or unvented system incorrectly...scroll down to Attics, the unvented crawlspace is interesting too. http://www.technology.appstate.edu/cons ... Attics.pdf Lew

You're correct, however. . . I remember debating this point with another inspector many years ago. He insisted that, if the plastic strips weren't removed, the seal tabs wouldn't work. I told him he was nuts. He finally took me to see a roof where this was happening. Sure enough, there was the plastic strip neatly positioned right over the seal tabs. My guess is that the bundles got hot and the plastic adhered to the seal tabs instead of their initial location on the shingle. When the roofer peeled off a shingle, the plastic strip came along for the ride. I saw it with my own eyes and I can't think of another explanation. - Jim Katen, Oregon Jim, I'm not easily offended, especially not when someone points out my mistakes as nicely as you, I still feel like a dumba** though. I'd mentioned the plastice strip to my brother who told me the same ting as you, but being my brother he wasn't so polite. I must be getting old and its been 10 years or so since I did a roof, but I do remember having to pull the plastic strips off the TOP of nearly every shingle on a couple of roofs. Thankyou for being tactful and pointing out my mistake, but that's how we learn I guess. Thanks Lew

I lost a quite a few shingles in the wind storm last week, every one of them still had the plastic protector strip still on the adhesive'tar strip, that makes it a "little" difficult for the shingles to adhere to each other. When I went to Home Depot to get a couple of bundles there were broken shingles laying everywhere that people had brought in to match, every one still had the plastic strip, that shows the quality of work for many of the roofers in my area. A**holes.

I dug this one out of the WSU Site, Thanks to Burge Pest Control for providing this to the public.. http://www.burgepest.com/bugfacts.htm