A Handyman Isn’t Superman

Your Handyman Can’t See Behind the Wall … Yet

5 Year Old House

A huge challenge for every handyman is estimating what you can’t see, i.e. we don’t have x-ray vision like Superman. When it comes to exterior wood rot repairs, we know that a window sill, a door threshold or several pieces of siding have damage and we can estimate the time required to repair or replace the wood we can see. What we can only guess at is the extent of the hidden damage. We can provide an educated guess based on the age of the home and how deteriorated the exterior wood (see Estimating Rotted Window Sill) is but that’s not always a good indicator as illustrated by this 5 year old home, where there was extensive wood rot surrounding the front door which wasn’t properly flashed.

Today when we schedule wood rot repairs, we might tell a customer that the visible repairs can be done in one to one and a half days, but the job could take 2 to 3 longer depending on the hidden damage (we block the time on the calendar so we can get the job done once started). We require the home owner to be home when we remove the rotted boards as we need them to understand the scope of the problem and make decisions about the way we’ll handle the repairs, i.e. there are new materials available like AZEK that won’t rot.

Coming Soon: The Handyman’s X-Ray Vision

#35 on Time Magazines, 50 Best Inventions of 2009

What fun to learn that there is new technology on it’s way to us, that will give handymen X-Ray vision so they can see behind walls and get a much better idea of job scope before they open up the walls. Walleye Technologies is bringing a device to market using microwave technology. The device is portable due to it’s low weight (3 lb) and battery powered. It is planned to be in stores in 2010, cost less than $500 and give off less radiation that a cell phone.

Customers will benefit from this new technology as it should make estimating much more reliable and help the construction industry avoid many project delays which cost money. The manufacturer says “Walley’s portable imaging camera takes the guess work out of repair, renovation and installation by delivering high quality images of objects behind the walls, floors, ceilings and other solid objects. Walley uses microwave based technology combined with proprietary optical components to create the image. Having a clear, concise view of hidden or obstructed objects in residential, commercial and industrial buildings will reduce costs and increase efficiencies for consumers and professionals, and create a new category of tools in the construction industry.”