allpro: Here's One Way To Vent A Clothes Dryer...... NOT! - 04/16/11 01:15 PM
I love inspecting, especially a home that has been tricked up by an enthusiastic DIY. This guy used a unique pulley system in his garage where he used plastic bags filled with water for work-out weights! I figured when he installed the clothes dryer he went with the "any port in a storm" philosophy. Oh what the neighbors must have thought!
The reality is that this is a fire hazard. 1. The liklihood is all the lint is collecting at the base of the vinyl flexible duct. 2. The flexible transition hose between the dryer and the wall outlet should be … (7 comments)

allpro: Keep Lee County Beautiful Event A Big Success! - 03/21/11 06:06 AM
A big thanks goes out today to the volunteers who helped cleanup Cape Coral. Approximately 75 volunteers showed up yesterday morning at 8:00am to clean up the Cape and its numerous canals. This is the fourth year the City of Cape Coral and Keep Lee County Beautiful hosted this event.

Most volunteers began cleaning up at their own canals, then continued their cleaning by boat or kayak, while other volunteers helped clean up the local water parks. The event finished off at the yacht club where pizza and drinks were served.
 
 
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allpro: Fetch A Foto Friday......Choose quick!! Vanilla Shake or Unsweet Ice Tea? - 03/18/11 10:03 AM
This is the busy season for real estate in Florida. Snow birds, soon to be retirees, and lots of others just wanting to escape the cold winter come down, and many decide to make SW Florida their home.
After a long week of inspecting, this January photo popped up so I decided to share it. This is from the local Steak N Shake where they do have fantastic shakes. I ordered both that day, a vanilla shake and an unsweet iced tea.
Today, I'd opt for the Vanilla Shake, and may be heading there tonight for dinner. Which would you choose … (3 comments)

allpro: Edison Festival of Light Parade..... tonight! - 02/19/11 10:08 AM
Tonight is one of the biggest nights in Fort Myers, .....the Edison Festival of Lights Parade is tonight.
Head downtown tonight and see the most famous parade in SW Florida. The parade begins at 7:00pm and features lighted floats, marching bands, law enforcement officials and a famous Grand Marshall. The parade honors the life of Thomas Edison who has his winter home in Florida.
The parade is free to the public, however, there are "Street Seats" available for $10.00 These seats put you right in the parade literally on the street and guarantees the best view of the parade. The proceeds of the sale … (4 comments)

allpro: Ft. Myers Everblade Hockey Game "Pink in the Rink" tonight! - 02/19/11 09:48 AM
Tonight at 7:05 The Florida Everblades are taking on the Georgia Gwinnett Gladiators. Tonights game is special... it is "Pink in the Rink".
The players will be wearing special pink jerseys and after the game these jerseys will be auctioned off. The proceeds go to Radiology Regional to fight breast cancer. I'll be there super early, camera in hand and will post pictures in a future post.
 

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allpro: Just Listed My Company On Thumbtack....it was so easy! - 02/12/11 10:31 AM
I've been gathering up every website imaginable from so many of my friends here at AR and put them in a file to check out later. Well, fast forward a year later and I'm now getting to that file. The first one is thumbtack.com.
Thumbtack.comwill list your business for free and also handle your craigslisting. Every 10 days they'll send me an email to update the craigslisting....that's one less listing I have to do..... (actually, I've never advertised on craigslist). Anybody post to craigslist? I'd like to hear your experiences.
You can find my home inspection service on thumbtack, and while … (11 comments)

allpro: Can't Pass Up An AuntieAnne's Pretzel! - 01/30/11 03:41 PM
I went to my trusty optician at LensCrafter's Optique. This store at The Edison Mall is inside Macy's....kind of tucked outside of view on the second floor.... hard to find if you're not looking....but worth the search. The staff at this location is top notch!
I had a little wait time so I headed straight away to AuntieAnne's Pretzel. The guys that work at this location inside The Edison Mall in Fort Myers Florida are great! They'll make up a fresh pretzel....my favorite, the almond pretzel, and a cool Coca-Cola slushy. It was delicious!

 

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allpro: I'm Late to the QR Code Party but......here it is.... - 01/29/11 11:03 AM
Having some time on my hands today, I thought I'd tackle QR. I had visions of learning new code, hours of work etc. ...to my pleasant surprise, there's a website to do it for me.
I used qrstuff.com and they did ALL the work, instantly! Then, used picnik.com to add the drop shadow and poof! ...the code is done and goes straight to AllPro Inspection's home page.
If I'd have known it was so easy, I'd of done it back when I joined the QR group. Now, new business cards, shirts, stationary, hats, ...I'll slap that baby on all kinds of … (10 comments)

allpro: Just Opened! Authentic New York Pizza In Downtown Cape Coral - 01/28/11 04:10 PM
I LOVE PIZZA!!! Practically any kind, but my favorite is New York style pizza....the kind you can fold... But, it's hard to find authentic New York style pizza in SW Florida....till now,...I've found it!
A new place just opened in Downtown Cape Coral called Sabatino's Slice of New York and boy, do they have a fantastic pizza pie! The pizza I had was a plain cheese pizza, but I also tried the freshly made cannoli and a Nutella Pizza Dessert that was to die for!
The owners Frank & Chris are from New York and prepare everything fresh and you can … (13 comments)

allpro: Does This Bug You? ...24/7 News In Waiting Rooms? - 01/28/11 02:15 PM
I'm not sure when this started, but I've noticed it more & more. 24/7 news in every waiting room I've visited lately. Not that I'm against news, ...just bad news, sensationalized news, ...the kind that demands I watch every second as though my life depended on it.
Today I waited for my wife while she had a procedure done, and asked if they could change the channel. They kindly searched for another station. Guess what?..... the only channels that work are 24/7 news channels. Every other channel ....a blue screen.
The waiting room was packed, and to my surprise, every person … (10 comments)

allpro: Concrete Driveway Pitting and Cracking Problems - 01/22/11 09:11 AM
We see this quite often in SW Florida; pitting and/or cracking driveways. In most cases, the cracking is simply settling issues. We have mostly sand in our area so cracking of driveways is common.
Pitting can occur and is more difficult to determine how it happened. During the summer months in Florida it rains....buckets.....every afternoon, but only for about an hour. If the driveway was poured just before the rain, there's a good chance of pitting. Other factors are the temperature...it can't be too hot or too cold, tree roots undermining the driveway, the attentiveness of the concrete tenders, and of … (6 comments)

allpro: A Beautiful Florida Garden In Winter.... huh? what's that? - 01/21/11 07:02 AM
We inspected a lovely home with beautiful Florida landscaping. You could smell the fresh cedar and all the greenery. But what's the feature in the middle?

Yep, it's the clean-out for the septic tank underneath. I think it's a good idea to keep the clean-out fairly visible. It makes it so much easier for the septic cleaners to find. We include the location of the septic clean-out on our reports when we can find it. ....but most times, it's been buried by landscaping rocks, cedar, or just buried over the years with dirt.....

This one however, looks like a little … (6 comments)

allpro: Copper vs. Hydrogen Sulfide Gas......and the winner is? - 01/21/11 06:36 AM
Hydrogen Sulfide! ...but you probably knew that already. The premature aging of copper pipes in a home with well water. This is typically a result of decaying organic deposits underground; water passes through and the hydrogen sulfide gas is picked up. When the water reaches the faucet, the gas is released.....P.U.! ...rotten eggs smell! This foreclosed home had been vacant for some time, when the faucets were tested, the smell permeated the entire house . In high concentrations the gas can be quite corrosive to copper pipes. The damage is pretty obvious by the pictures below. This home is only 9 years old!
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allpro: Fetch A Foto Friday The Leaning Masthead Of Cape Coral - 09/17/10 04:22 PM
On a recent inspection while looking on the roof I saw a familair site in an older home. The electrical mast was leaning; pulling towards the electrical pole at the street. 
 
This is usually caused by the plywood rotting around the mast. The problem begins when the rubber boot, attached at the base of the mast and the roof deteriorates. In this case a poor repair was attempted using caulk or roofing cement.

After taking pictures and inspecting the roof I got down off the roof and walked around the side of the house, and saw something I've never seen before. The entire electrical mast had leaned over … (11 comments)

allpro: Electrical Box Findings... A Nest! - 08/26/10 03:44 PM
I've seen a lot of odd stuff in electrical boxes. Mostly incorrect connections, sometimes a spider, rust, rain water, ....I even saw an old cigarette butt perched inside. I thought I'd post my most recent find... a rodent nest.
They came in through the hole in the back of the box. The nest was built on top of the box. You can see the hay looking material between the top of the box and the chase. They made their home inside the chase. You can see the rodent "droppings" down below inside the box. This could create a dangerous condition when rodents gnaw through … (8 comments)

allpro: What Kind Of Camera Do You Use? - 08/25/10 04:27 PM
As a home inspector I take a lot of photos, some illustrate a defect, other for archival purposes. My cameras are in some of the dirtiest attics crawlspaces imaginable, not to mention the sand from a beach home. Needless to say I burn through cameras to the tune of 1 every 60-90 days.
I've tried the most expensive to the cheapest. I gave up on the super expensive because I found myself worried about dropping the camera while on a ladder, roof, or using it with a rain cloud in site.
Lately, I've settled for the Nikon Coolpix series. The cost is anywhere … (6 comments)

allpro: Strategic Default .... with help from a pre-pay website? - 08/25/10 04:05 PM
I heard something on the news today that was news to me. It's a website (this one was called youwalkaway.com) that for a membership fee from around $200. to $1,000. help homeowners through the process of strategic defaults, short sales, foreclosure, bankruptcy deed-in-lieu.
This is not a real estate website. Not an attorney. The website states they give advice, guidance and put homeowners in touch with professionals in their state depending on what kind of help they need. There's other phone support services, ongoing guidance etc depending on what level of membership you buy. But for the money, I don't understand what the company provides that the homeowner with … (2 comments)

allpro: Moisture Stain On The Bathroom Ceiling Tile..... is this a leaky roof? - 08/21/10 02:56 PM
I inspected an office space recently. My client was concerned about what looked to him like a leaky roof. The ceiling was a tile dropdown and the moisture stain was around and near the bathroom vent fan. I'm sure inspector's reading this know the true problem...
Once I peeked my head through the dropdown tile ceiling the "leak" was apparent. The vent fan flexible duct had broken away and all the moisture that should have been vented out of the room, was pooling up in the ceiling tile. My client was relieved....an easy cheap fix!!

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allpro: Deadliest Catch Stars to Bike Fort Myers This Weekend! - 08/20/10 04:48 PM
This is cool, and unfortunately, I'll be working all day and cannot attend!! I love watching The Deadliest Catch and the crew of the Northwestern is my favorite ship. I love the friction and love between the brothers. These guys have the toughest job around especially their winter season.
Part of the crew from Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" will be taking a break from fishing and joining the bike run this weekend. The route starts at the Harley Davidson dealership in Fort Myers located at 2160 Colonial Blvd. 239-275-4647.
The Deadliest Catch stars biking are Edgar Hansen, deck boss; Matt Bradley, deckhand; and Jake … (3 comments)

allpro: A Beautiful Work Day On Fort Myers Beach Florida - 08/19/10 03:40 PM
I had the opportunity to do a home inspection on Fort Myers Beach. Even though August in Florida is mid to upper 90's, the weather on the beach is always pleasant. On this day, there was a nice gulf breeze blowing, and there's nothing like the fresh gulf air. The water was clear and the beach was clean, without even a hint of oil.

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