Paul Duffau

Most Idaho residents aren't aware of a wonderful benefit that the state government has for remodelers. During one of the periodic sindfalls that came to the various states, Idaho developed a self-funding mechanism for funding home improvements that target energy savings for residential customers while most other states committed the dollars to "one-time" capital improvement projects. The result is that Idaho still has funding for home improvements tht are lacking in other states.

You get to:

• Borrow up to $15,000
• 4% annual interest
• 5 year repayment term
  

Under the loan program, you have to tackle the most effective (lowest cost/highest return) items first. That means that all the recommended insulation and air duct sealing items are first on the list. They're not the fun ones (pretty new windows are way down the list) but they will save you or your client cash. In a market where funding sources are getting more reticent to fund, this provides a means for new buyers to upgrade older home at a reduced cost.

A huge part of the program is the testing process. Each home will be tested twice. The first time will be to develop the scope of work - what needs to be done - and the second to document the improvements. Testing should be done by Home Performance Specialists.

Before you start any work, make sure your financing is secure. You can request get more info by going to the Energy Division's website at www.energy.idaho.gov.

Well, it's about time.

For those that don't know me, I am an avid, if less talented, runner. Unfortunately, one that has been sidelined for several months. I'm finally back to running but because I haven't had a chance to build up my mileage, it won't be racing any time soon.

In the meantime, I'll be crewing. The Snake River Half is a fast 1/2 marathon run every year by the Palouse Roadrunners just down the hill fron Pullman WA. The course is an out and back with an elevation profile that looks like this:

Ideal for someone that hates hills.

Since I can't run it though, I'll be assisting at one of the aid stations with the Asotin HS Cross Country team and their coach, Tim Gundy.

I haven't helped at many races in the last few years and I find that I miss it. One year, while still in San Diego, I had the chance to crew all five ultra-running events sposored by the SURF (San Diego Ultrarunning Friends) club. Watching others succeed was wonderfully motivating in my own racing.

If you're a runner and want to take on a dead flat course, look up the race at: http://www.palouseroadrunners.org/RunningRoutes/SnakeRiverMap.htm

I gaurantee at least one aid station will be cheering you on wildly - including that old slow guy hanging with the kids.

Living in a rural community (even one populated with two state univeristies - the Univeristy of Idaho and Washington State University) often leads to interesting discussions since everybody knows everybody else.

Case in point is a debate that the home inspectors here have been having with several electrical contractors regarding Federal Pacific Electrical panels. The debate has gone on for the better part of four years. We insist that the panels are problematic, the electrical contractor declares them fine and says nothing is wrong with them.

Since the Consumer Product Safety Commission finished their testing (they didn't have the money for testing), excuses have been made that the panels and breakers are okay. Even the CPSC found that the breakers didn't not operate correctly under UL testing.

That debate may soon be ended though. The proposed Standards of Practice for State of Washington Home iNspector licensing explicitly states:

(h) Report on any circuit breaker panel or subpanel known within the home inspection profession to have safety concerns.

This will relieve the pressure on the inspectors that do report on FPE and other panels - not eveyone does because they don't want to be perceived as a deal killer - and major electrical issues can and do kill deals. At the same time, it is implicitly endorsing the idea that there are some very bad panels out there and the consumer should be warned.

Most of the standards seem to be a rehash of the ASHI standards but this one change is going to help the Washington home inspectors do a better job of protecting our clients.

Score one for the good guys on the Board.

In my profile, I mentioned that I am a runner -at least when everything is going well. Every once in a while, things don't quite go according to my plan.

An example; I trail run, often solo (I know, it's dangerous but I'm careful), and will turn 20 or 30 miles. Every year, I like to make the trip down to the Seven Devils Wilderness Area just outside of Riggins, ID. For those of you not around here (and that's most), the Devils are an absolutely spectacular area to hike, fish, horseback ride and camp. It is a family favorite when you want to get away and only a couple of hours from Lewiston ID.

Anyway, back to the topic of unintended consequences. The last time I ran down there, I did the loop trail which is about 28 miles long. Spectacular views. Unfortunately, the picture below came from that run. Why unfortunately? Because there are no major lakes on the loop. My first reaction breaking through the pine that surrounds the lake was "Wow!".

The second was, "Where the heck am I?" Not thoughts you want when your 15 miles into the wilderness and - from experience - I'm pretty well guaranteed not to meet anybody while I'm running.

As I said, I'm careful. With a combination of trail maps and a compass, I was able to figure out that I was at Baldy Lake, well off course.

I ended up turning about 33 miles that day, more than I had planned (but less than I prepared for -I always over-prepare). But sometimes the law of intended consequences works in your favor. It just a matter of recognizing the opportunity before you.

That's the "Wow!" moment that makes it all worthwhile.

I had a client in Lewiston ID recently who closed on a house over by Lewis-Clark State College. Eric, the dad, was active duty military and had only had a few minutes to spare when we did the inspection. His wife was also busy plus they had three kids under the age of four. These were busy, busy parents.

The night that they closed on the house, I got a phone call from Eric. The gas furnace was dead, no good, muerto. 7:30 pm on a Friday night and my clients have no heat with the temperatures supposed to drop to the high 20's that night. Not good at all.

So I bundled up, headed out and went to see what I could do to help. When I got there, the Realtor was already there (which impressed the heck out of me since it was a Friday night!) and the kids were running from room to room having a blast. Eric was out buying new fuses for the current overprotection on the furnace - he and Brian Wilson, the Windermere Allstar Realtor, thought it might be a power problem.

I tested the thermostat first and heard it click to activate when I hit it with a heat demand. Good. But nothing from the furnace. Bad. So I tried turning on the fan from "auto" to "on" to see if I could force the blower to start. Switch worked fine, good. Blower didn't start, also good - I now had a (slim) clue. Brian and Eric were on the right track - it was a power problem.

The next test was to see if the fuse was burned out (newer houses will have a wall switch instead). It looked good but we replaced it anyway. I could track the input power to the junction box and also to the furnace. Into the box was "live" and to the furnace was "dead". And it stayed that way after changing the fuse. Odd, so I did what home inspectors aren't supposed to do - I took apart the junction box.

It turns out that there were two lines into the box and two out but only one was live and they mixed up the two wires so the new stuff was connected to the old feed and vice versa. One line from the electrical panel (supplying the furnace) was dead. Obviously, the breaker at the main panel was off. Easy fix.

We went outside to the breaker panel and I just stopped dead. The panel didn't look right. It had been a couple of months between the original inspection and this particular Friday night. I had forgotten that the house had a Federal Pacific panel that was just fried. Eric had asked for the panel to be replaced and the seller agreed. Brian reminded me of the original panel - It's never good when the inspector is looking confused. I went ahead and opened the new panel, looking for the breaker for the furnace. I looked again.

Then I laughed. When the electrician rewired the panel, he forgot to include the furnace circuit when he did.

We didn't have a furnace problem. We had electrical issues , one easy to fix (on Monday!) It was very much a relief to Eric and his wife and to me as well, plus I had the satisfaction of being of real service to Eric's family and to the Realtor.