They always say, in popular lore, that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. That is not necessarily true. In the last few months, on large or assumed difficult inspections that I book, I have been co-inspecting with Curtis Brown of Curtis C Home Inspections. I am busy enough these days, and keep a tight schedule, so when a job is tough or large, I like to have good solid and capable backup. Curtis has been an inspector for several years now and, years back, he was a graduate of the home inspection training program at Bellingham Technical College (2x in fact, so he knows his stuff). We work well together and, when I cannot do a job, I often refer people to Curtis because I know that he will serve them well with great dedication.
I tend to have just about every tool I NEED, however sometimes there are tools that could be handy that I never thought about owning or making. Case in point: I have, on many occasions, had to go get the ladder out of the truck, after having already put it away once, because there was some high suspect fascia or rafter tail that I noticed later on in the inspection.
Curtis showed me a handy tool that he put together for just such an eventuality. The nifty device, made from a telescoping painter's pole, saves time and enhances safety at times when you can keep your feet on the ground. He put a sharp tip on the pole, made from an old paint roller handle. This seems like such a simple idea, yet it is not something I had thought to put together. I had, in the past, heard of inspectors carrying around poles with points, but I had not thought about the telescoping feature. That makes it manageable.
I bought my own telescoping pole, 6ft to 18ft, and it is now in the back of my truck. I was playing around with it today, my day off, so I staged a photo for you. Even without the pole being extended very far, about 9ft here, I can reach places I did not expect to be able to reach from the ground.
This just goes to show that you can always learn something from somebody else even if you think you have a pretty good bag of tricks. Sharing good ideas can make it easier for everyone. By the way, the pole is significantly farther away from the wire than it looks, the handle of the pole is Fiberglass, a non-conductor, and I am being careful.
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