

Annual Meeting in Las Vegas
BHA seminar to feature tips from The BlueBook Network,
geotech expert, and keynote speaker Randy Anderson
The BHA Annual Meeting will be January 16-20, 2017.
The event kick off is the networking reception on Monday at 5:30 p.m. at Bally’s Hotel and Casino. The seminars are Tuesday with a full day of BHA-sponsored educational seminars starting at 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. followed by a Tuesday evening reception at 5:30 p.m.
The Annual Meeting luncheon is on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Lawry’s Steakhouse. Wednesday evening there will be a final reception at 5:30 p.m. The rest of the time can be used to browse the show floor at the World of Concrete.
Educational Seminars
The seminar docket is packed with great speakers covering industry topics to expand your business. BHA is thrilled to have Shelly Mason from The BlueBook Network with tips for landing commer-cial jobs. There will also be a geotechnical expert talking about soil types and drainage. He will discuss how to deal with the different soil types as a waterproofer and foundation repair contrac-tor. The keynote speaker is motivational speaker Randy Anderson.
The BHA education committee limited the semi-nars to one day this year to allow for more time to walk the World of Concrete exhibit hall. BHA members receive free admission to the show with their Annual Meeting registration.
BHA seminars will be on Tuesday, January 17, starting at 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Lunch will be pro-vided.
Networking Receptions
This year BHA is hosting three cocktail recep-tions on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Bally’s Hotel and Casino on the 28th floor. Thank you to our reception sponsors Rhino Carbon Fiber, Blue Angel Pumps, and Safe Basements.
Certification
Certification testing will be offered two days this year. Tuesday and Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. for those taking multiple exams.
Annual Luncheon
The Annual Meeting luncheon (also included in the meeting registration) is at Lawry’s Steakhouse on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Don’t miss this event. This year’s STAR Award winners will be honored as well as certificate recipients and new board members will be elected.
World of Concrete exhibit hall
As part of the Annual Meeting registration fee, BHA members can walk the World of Concrete show floor to browse new products, meet suppli-ers, network, and visit the BHA booth #S10706 in the South Hall.
Because BHA is a co-sponsor of the World of Concrete show, BHA receives a rebate for every person that comes to the show using the code A-15. Register for the BHA events on www.base-menthealth.org.
To sponsor any of the BHA events, call BHA at (800) 245-6292.
STAR Award deadline Dec. 31
There is still time to turn in your STAR award customer surveys. The deadline for the 2016 STAR Award is December 31, 2016.
The Service and Technician Assessment Report (STAR) award is awarded by the Basement Health Association to acknowledge these businesses for their honesty, integrity and quality of work.
Make sure to turn in your survey reports to BHA Headquarters. Either by mail or by email to info@basementhealth.org.
Basement Health Association:
STAR Award
136 South Keowee Street
Dayton, OH 45402
The STAR Award survey postcards have prepaid

Home inspector, IAQ expert discusses diagnosing cracks
By Jeffrey C. May
Before I became an indoor air quality professional, I was a home inspector. In this bulletin, I’m putting IAQ issues on the back burner to focus on
a home inspection issue: cracks. It can be disconcerting for a buyer to see foundation and/or wall cracks in a well-maintained home. And cracks can give home inspectors information about the house (or its owners!).
Foundations
Most homes built prior to the 1920s have stone foundations, often with stone below-grade and brick above-grade. Loose stones and cracks in mortar joints are common, particularly at exterior corners. Buyers can get upset when they can pull loose bricks from a foundation wall, but all residential brick walls on top of tone foundations that I have seen contain at least a double brick (doublewythe) wall If the outer bricks are loose and the house is still standing, the weight of the house is on the innerbrick wall. The outer wall can be easily repaired. The most common cause of corner cracks and eroded mortar is roof water. When water runs over the mortar in masonry, the mortar either spalls due to frost, or slowly washes out. Eventually the mortar loosens, and pieces may even fall out. Roof water from poor drainage or dispersal at the corner of a building can cause symmetrical, diagonal settling cracks at the foundation. Over a long period of time, the soil under a corner of a foundation can shift away because of excess moisture, causing the corner to settle relative to the adjacent walls. Generally this condition is not serious, and installation of downspout elbows and splash blocks,
along with grading improvements, will stop the corner settlement. Then the cracks can be mor-tared.
Splash blocks can be knocked out of place, and dry wells can become blocked over time. I prefer to see solid, 4” PVC piping buried a few inches below the soil and extended to daylight at the edge of a landscape furrow or downhill from the build-ing. The downspouts can then be inserted into this piping to direct water away from the foundation wall.
Starting in the 1930s, most homes were built on poured concrete foundations. Shrinkage cracks are normal and quite common in concrete foundation walls and floor slabs. This type of crack is either vertical or diagonal, and radiates from wall open-ings such as windows or between floor penetra-tions such as beam-support columns. Cracks in concrete may widen in dry weather and become narrower when it’s humid. More serious cracks will increase in size over time.
Cracks are common in masonry because masonry products such as concrete and plaster are brittle and rigid, but are supported on materials that may not be equally rigid. Plaster walls are attached
to flexible wood structures, and foundations rest upon compressible soil. In addition, home com-ponents expand and contract with fluctuations in temperature as well as increases and decreases in relative humidity. Wood and other construction materials shrink when they lose moisture in dry weather, and expand in humid weather.
Walls and Ceilings
Ceiling cracks in buildings with plaster lath ceil-ings are quite typical. The cracks usually form be-cause the floor joists have sagged; building vibra-tions help to loosen the plaster bond to the lath, as
well as the tightness of the nails. The patterns of the cracks often reflect the ceiling structure. Long cracks appear under the strapping where joists have deflected. Shorter cracks form in the plaster between the wood lath strips, usually perpendicu-lar to cracks under the strapping.
Buildings constructed between about 1930 and 1950 may have plaster on metal lath; metal lath walls tend to be much stiffer and are thus not as prone to developing cracks. Sometimes you can distinguish between plaster on wood lath and plas-ter on metal lath by hitting the wall. Loose plaster lath often makes a crunching noise when pushed. A crack monitor (Avongard) is a useful tool
to measure cracks – a tool you can use on your inspections, but also a tool you can recommend to your buyers, so that they can keep track of a crack over time.
How old is a crack?
The age of the crack cannot be determined with accuracy, but what’s in a crack can give you some

In another property, another client was bothered by allergy symptoms in her basement, which had been finished three years before. The floor was raised and carpeted. She noticed some damp spots on the floor, about 16 inches on center in the car-pet. She thought that perhaps her dog was respon-sible, but there was water leaking under the floor from a foundation crack. When the carpet and subfloor were removed, much of the joist structure was rotted after only three years.
I look at a building in a more thorough way than I might have done otherwise, because of the train-ing I received and the experiences I had as a home inspector. The skills I acquired in that profession have proven to be invaluable in my IAQ work.
Evaluation by a Structural Engineer
Cracks are rarely evidence of a serious structural problem; still, if you have concern about cracks in a property you are inspecting, don’t hesitate to recommend that your client hire a structural engi-neer to inspect the property.

Certification committee report
The Certification and Education Committees have been busy this year. They are working on several projects to make the certification program better for its members.
The next oportunity to take a certification test is at the Annual Meeting in Las Vegas this January. The Certification committee is offering two time slots to take the exams in Las Vegas. Tuesday, January 17 and Wednesday, January 18 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. both days. This will allow for peo-ple to take multiple tests on separate days if they would like. Contact BHA to register for the test. The certification committee is also researching options for online certification testing and proc-tored exams on location. This would allow for


Australian scientists develop new waterproofing material

Strong turnout at NY regional

Tips to boost employee loyalty

By James Ketterer
Please accept my apology for the vulgar nature of the topic but after much thought I just can’t think of an alternative phrase that conveys the thought.
As defined by urbandictionary.com, “giveashi**er – That metaphysical mechanical device inside most of us that enables us to care enough about a task or circumstance such that we put forth effective effort to accomplish the task or effect the circumstance. The giveashi**er is not infinite, but instead is subject to performance drops due to relative emptiness.” My vice president of field operations first introduced me to this “giveashi**er” concept while discussing whether or not a particular employee was ready to be promoted to a foreman position. “His “giveashi**er” is not where it needed to be in order to assume the role
of foreman,” were his exact words. I knew immediately what he meant. This employee just didn’t have the gumption, the attention to overall detail,
the do the right thing for the customer and by the company attitude and mentality that we expect a foreman to have in order to keep installation problems at a minimum and maintain our companies stellar reputation. Last month upon returning from an all expense paid annual company trip that I provide for employees and their immediate families to the Outer Banks I realized that all of the attending employee’s respective “giveashi**ers” had seemingly been lifted. For example, an employee alerted me that a truck needed preventative maintenance when I know he normally just wouldn’t do so until it was broken. I now recognize that everyone in the company has a “giveashi**er” that needs to be maintained and influenced in the right direction on a regular basis and that it is crucial to the success of the company to consciously do so.
As owners and managers we prioritize all kinds of issues. Marketing and material costs, installation complications, hitting projected sales numbers, accounts receivable, equipment main tenance, traffic violations, employee turnover, are just a few that I have dealt with over the past couple of weeks. I have added maintaining the “giveashi**er” of my employees to that priority list. It is easy to forget how important it is to take the time to sincerely ask employees and subordinates how their weekend was, what is new with their family, etc.. By asking these questions and creating environments for employees to interact with one another on a personal level an employee’s “giveash**er” can be maintained and heightened. On the other hand, neglecting to take time out and pay attention to maintaining your employees “giveashi**er” can be very detrimental to the overall health of your business, increase owner and management stress,
increase turnover and negatively impact your companies reputation. So the question becomes how do we as owners and managers maintain this so called
employee “giveashi**er”.
Here are a few of the ways that I have found that work.
• Sincere, “How was your weekend, What’s new with you, How’s the family”questions
• One-on-One lunch meetings between owners/ managers and subordinates.
• Spontaneous nice weather team lunch meetings during slow demand.
• Company outings including family at professional sporting events.
• Holiday parties that include family members.
• Summer family appreciation picnics
• Annual company trips that include family. The employee “giveashi**er” needs to be maintained just like the truck my employee so graciously alerted me about. Sincere conversation and family must be included in sincere conversations and company sponsored events. I try to keep shop talk at a minimum and only congratulatory were possible. If family is in attendance I always thank family members for being supportive of the employee especially during times of high precipitation when I call on employees to go above and beyond. In doing this the employee and their family should truly feel that the company
cares about them resulting in an increase in their “giveashi**er.” I appreciate it when my employees show that they care and I know that they appreciate it when I show the same. These events and the personal conversations that happen at them fill the “emptiness” outlined in the urbandictionary.com definition outlined above.
James Ketterer is the president of ValueDry,
LLC, Savage, MD.
If you have a member article you would like to submit for the newsletter send it to info@basementhealth.org.

John Bryant
President

Andre Lacroix
Vice President

Jason Weinstein
Secretary/Treasurer

John BryantBill Crawford
Director

Alan Chandler
Director

Hugo D’Esposito
Director

Jerome Fokas
Director

Dave Hill
Director

Dan Jaggers
Director

Sean Worthington
Director

Robert LanFrank
Director

Luke Secrest
Director

Jeff Roberts
Association Executive

Melissa Morton
Newsletter Editor Media relations
Basement Health Association 2016-2017 Board of Directors & Committees
PRESIDENT
John Bryant, CWS, CES
AquaGuard Waterproofing Corp. 6820 Distribution Drive Beltsville, MD 20705
- (301) 595-9670 jbryant@aquaguardwaterproofing.com
DIRECTOR
Jerome Fokas, CWS, CSRS
Select Basement Waterproofing
279 Route 79
Morganville, NJ 07751
(732) 526-7770 selectbw@aol.com
EDITOR Basement Health News
Melissa Morton
5621 195th Place East Bonney Lake, WA 98391
- (253) 473-0133 melissanmorton@yahoo.com
Vice President
Andre Lacroix
EZ Breathe Healthy Home Solutions, LLC 349 Highland Road E. Macedonia, OH 44056
- (330) 468-6500 andrel@ezbreathe.com
DIRECTOR
David Hill
Spruce Environmental/RadonAway
3 Saber Way
Ward Hill, MA 01835
- (800) 767-3703 dhill@spruce.com
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
John Bryant (President)
Andre Lacroix (Vice President)
Jason Weinstein (Secretary/Treasurer)
BUDGET COMMITTEE Alan Chandler (Chair)
SECRETARY/TREASURER
Jason Weinstein, CWS, CES
Budget Dry Waterproofing 158 Route 81 Killingworth, CT 06419
- (203) 421-8560 jason@budgetdry.com
DIRECTOR
Dan Jaggers, CSRS, CFRS
CL Support Services, LLC
8400 N. Sam Houston Pkwy W.
Houston, TX 77064
- (281) 664-8443 djaggers@cablelock.com
EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Hugo D’Esposito (Chair), Andre Lacroix, Sean Worthington
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
Robert Lanfrank (Co-Chair) and Rick Frack, Ed Stolba, Marc Weinstein
CERTIFICATION COMMITTEE Jerome Fokas (Chair)
DIRECTOR
Luke Secrest CWS
Rhino Products USA, Inc.
1633 Thornwood Drive
Heath OH. 43056
888-684-3889
lsecrest@rhinocarbonfiber.com
DIRECTOR
Sean Worthington, CWS
Worthington Waterproofing System 404 Edgewood Drive Exton, PA 19341
- (610) 280-777 sean@worthingtonwaterproofing.com
NOMINATING COMMITTEE Dan Jaggers (Chair)
GRIEVANCE & STANDARDS COMMITTEE
President, Vice President, Treasurer
PUBLICATIONS
Melissa Morton (Chair), Dan Jaggers
DIRECTOR
Alan Chandler, CWS, CSRS
All Dry, Inc.
P.O. Box 148266
Nashville, TN 37214
alan@alldrysolutions.com
DIRECTOR
Robert Lanfrank, CWS
Healthy Way Waterproofing & Mold
Remediation, LLC
1901 Route 71, Suite 2D
Wall, NJ 07719
- (732)741-1103 rlanfrank@healthywaynj.com
INTERNET/WEB COMMITTEE
Bill Crawford
WOC & REGIONAL MEETINGS COMMITTEE
Alan Chandler (Chair)
STAR AWARD COMMITTEE
Tara Hoey (Chair), Cynthia Keegan
DIRECTOR
Hugo D’Esposito, CWS, CES
- M. Shield Corporation 33 Albertson Avenue Albertson, NY 11507
- (516) 294-8400 hugo@amshieldcorp.com
Director
Bill Crawford, CWS
Rainmaker Internet Marketing 217 South Main Street Wheaton, IL 60187
- (630) 929-7246 bill@rainmakerinternetmarketing.com
SPONSOR RELATIONS COMMITTEE
Marc Weinstein
ASSOCIATION OUTREACH
COMMITTEE
Bryce Skeeters (Chair)
