Inspection Implements, Inc. is pleased to announce that their flagship product - The Prober® dry rot and termite damage inspection tool is now available for purchase from the popular Tool Experts website. View and purchase the tool by clicking here .

ALL SEASON’S PAINT NAMED EXCLUSIVE RETAILER OF THE PROBER® A tool used to locate termite and dry rot damage in wood available now at both All Season’s locations Inspection Implements, Inc., a Woodland, California based tool distribution company named All Season’s Paint the exclusive retailer of their flagship product – The Prober®. It is available now at both All Season’s stores – 96 W. Main Street, Woodland and 817 4th Street, Davis. Company president and inventor of The Prober® Brian Wickstrom along with company vice president Gregg Kowes are proud to announce this retail partnership between the two local companies. Contractors, painters, appraisers, home inspectors, and termite inspectors all need to locate termite and dry rot damage in wood as a part of their job. Up to now, this was done with crude, home-made tools such as paint roller cages, ski poles, and screwdrivers taped to a stick. None of these are the right tool for the job and often fail at inopportune times. With The Prober® this problem is a thing of the past. It is a purpose-built tool made of extremely durable glass-filled polymer and steel. And with its universal female threaded end, it can be connected to any extension pole eliminating the need to use a ladder to inspect second story eaves and other wood members.

Brian Wickstrom, inventor of The Prober™ was interviewed on the podcast Colony Confidential live at Pestworld 2018 held in Orlando, Florida. Brian and the hosts discuss how he got started in the business, his scariest incident on the job, his proudest moment on the job, and more. Here is a direct link to the episode: https://overcast.fm/+OFSMO8Ge8 Brian’s interview begins at the 25:32 minute mark. A huge thank you goes out to the hosts Ed and Joe Sheehan. You can learn more about the hosts and their podcast at https://colonyconfidential.com

We sold our first Prober® (a professional dry rot inspection tool) in May of 2017. Today that customer contacted me and let me know that the extension pole threads had broken off inside the probe. I’m happy to report that no damage was done to the probe, but the pole has to be replaced. I gladly offered to replace the probe at not cost to my customer to save him the trouble of trying to get the threaded end out.

At long last, we have The Prober® in stock and we are taking orders via our online store. If you are a termite inspector, whole house inspector, or real estate appraiser, you may have the need for a dry rot probe or termite damage probe. Before The Prober® all probes were hand made. Many inspectors use ski poles, sharpened paint roller cages, pocket knives, screw drivers, etc. These are not the right tool for the job. The Prober® was specifically designed for the job of probing wood. It is durable and will last you a very long time. As an added bonus, it has female ACME threads on the end of it which means it can be attached to any extension pole. By attaching it to a probe, you will be able to inspect the upper eaves for dry rot and termite damage from ground level, thus eliminating the need for a ladder. This will reduce your time on the job site, as well as fall hazards.

At long last production has begun. Soon, we will have 1,000 units on hand and they will be available for purchase at Inspection Implements.

To expedite production, I asked that photos be sent of the T2 rather than shipping me the physical units. We asked for the following final adjustments : T-1 Metal Shaft. Please adjust to 4.75” (120mm) shaft length. Blue plastic insert color (Pantone Q300-1-3) Please use best effort to eliminate discoloration, splaying and flash. Based on the photo, I felt that the three adjustments were successfully made and I authorized production of 5,000 units! Once the units are in hand, I will be able to offer them for sale on my web site https://inspectionimplements.com and hopefully through several distributors.

The T1 samples arrived today and to my surprise, the factory has already implemented the new R2 tip profile. I am still not happy with the “red” they are producing, so I have decided to go with just the blue version. The metal shaft is still too long (it should be 4-3/4″ long). This will be addressed along with a few cosmetic blemishes that were observed on the body of the tool. To reduce the wait time, the T2 samples will be produced and photographed instead of shipped to me. Once this is done, the production of the first 1,000 units will begin.

Today after looking at the T-1 sample that we received from the factory, my lead inspector Eddie said “this tip is going to mark up every piece of wood it touches, including sound wood”. This got me thinking about my hand made tool which was a paint roller cage that I cut and straightened. This created a fairly blunt end and when probing, it would “bounce” off good wood. Only when dry rot or termite damage was present did it plunge through the wood. While using the T-1 sample as-is, it was getting stuck in splices between wood members, and it was indeed leaving a lot of unnecessary marks on the customer’s house. So, I took it back to my shop and used my wheel grinder to get rid of the pointed tip. I am asking the factory to make this modification to all future versions of the tool. I think it will make for a better experience.