Anyone got one of these? I’d like a simple one for inspecting the insides of wall cavities, etc. Plenty of them online but I have no idea how good the affordable ones are. A few hundred bucks max, preferably.
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I think in this case, you get what you pay for, and a few hundred bucks isn't going to cut it.
I was part of a crew that used one on timbers of a church in Brunswick, Maine. Very impressive. It was built with a Bosch cordless drill, and used long (16"?) drill bits. You had to load a strip of paper into it and after drilling into the timber you had what looked like an EKG readout of the inside of the timber.
It was very helpful in justifying repair/replacement of timbers that looked to be in otherwise good condition.
The unit was a bit over $2000.00 for the kit.
I don't have all the particulars, but I can get them if you like. They do have a website , I'll have to make a call if you want the address.
Rod
Rod, the device I'm describing is a flexible fiber optic probe that goes through a small hole and provides a view inside a wall or other assembly. It's a little bit like a doctor's endoscopy scope, but they make versions for less demanding uses that are apparently fairly cheap. What you're describing sounds different and interesting, too--what were you checking the timbers for?
Oops, my mistake!
We were hired to replace timbers in a church spire frame. The blueprints were marked (by the engineers of the project), as to which timbers were to be replaced. These were 10' x 10" timbers well over 100 years old and we were told to replace the top 25' or so.
Problem was that the engineers never really checked the condition of the timbers all the way to the ground. They just drilled a few holes in the sheathing, shined in a flashlight and said, "Good to go!".
We suspected that there was more rot than than the engineers had figured on, and after a more thorough visual (by our crew), our fears were confirmed.
One back corner post was rotten right to the ground! 100 feet of 10 x 10 rotten post! And the engineers never caught it! And they wanted us to put new 10 x 10 oak on top of this. Talk about a liability!
The rig I was talking about helped us prove our rot discovery to the engineers.
Just another tool that paid for itself.
Rod
Here is what we were up against. Rod
there a tool catalog for Home inspectors, Its precision ?. Bob Walker would know. It had about ten different model. Some wasnt that bad in price.
Hey davidmeiland,
I got a link off of another thread here at breaktime from awhile back. This is a building inspector tool site. Lots of great stuff, some of it fairly pricey $$$$
Even if you don't get anything from these people it is a great place to learn about the different types of borescopes out there being used by people in the field and their different uses.
http://www.inspectortools.com/bores.html
Check it out
Cork in Chicago
Hey Cork,
Thanks, that's a good link. Guess I better puff up my wallet a little before I go shopping--they've got 'em up to $10K!
name of that catalog was "Professional Equipment"
http://www.professionalequipment.com