teejaydee

When I was looking for an apartment, I came across the following comment as part of a review of the Marina Bay condominium:

"... there were also claims made by some property owners of Block B, stating that their units were infested with termites. Although the cause of termites' infestation could not be confirmed by the condo authorities, it was believed that it was due to the earlier mentioned factor of poor build quality".


Marina Bay, Tanjung Tokong | Propwall

InVinoVeritas

I've spoken to lots of people at Marina Bay and no one has ever heard of this, which is not surprising when you consider:-

Termites are found in dark, damp areas whereby they are not exposed to air. They require a source of moisture to survive. In temperate regions, they are found in dead tree stumps, dead logs, and in the soil. They are also found in dry wood structures where the termite nest has been established in the soil.

It's an urban myth.

bakedbean

I think the emboldened above are the key words
I feel a new topic coming on.

JC3

Perhaps they should have looked at Hunza Property Developer site, where “owner of block B claims the place are infested with termites, the damaged the little creatures create is unstoppable”.
Source: Penang Property | Apartment-Penang.com

The problem of course is that property owners in Malaysia are often economical with the truth when it comes to any factors that might have a detrimental affect on the value of their property, and hush them up. And when there is a problem, the newspapers rarely if ever mention the actual name of the condo / property developer for fear of being sued, or losing advertising revenue.

Termites? – oh no, not here
Burglary? – oh no, not here
New development coming up nearby? No, don’t think so…
Short term let problem with troublesome holidaymaker tenants who don’t give a damn? – Sama Sama
Significant Maintenance Charge & Sinking Fund bad debt problem with Owners? - Sama Sama
Hopeless Building Supervisor / Managing Agent constantly changing? – Sama Sama
Illegal security guards? – Sama Sama
Owners breaching the House Rules with dogs in the building? – Sama Sama
Bird shit problem on the balconies and ledges? – Norwegian Blue

Caveat Emptor!

JC3

JC3

In 2012, my wife and I were guests at the Penang Swimming Club one evening. We were enjoying drinks with our friends in the bar when the club was hit by a swarm of flying insects, closely resembling winged ants. But these weren’t ants - we get those at home.

I think this was a swarming colony of flying termites. There were thousands and thousands of them – almost biblical proportions – absolutely everywhere - on the tables, on the chairs, in the drinks, crawling up our legs, on our faces, in our hair. Urgh!

Eventually the barman turned all the lights off in the bar and the insects swarmed away towards some outside lights, but still leaving many hundreds behind.

Swarms are provoked by heavy rainfall and warm, humid temperatures, and occur when established colonies produce winged male and female termites in order to reproduce. After these mating flights, fertilized termites shed their wings and go on to establish new colonies. Termites seen flying in a home are indicative of a mature colony.

Here’s a photo of a similar incident in China.

JC3

Gunnar45

We have these swarms occasionally here in Miami Green.
Especially after a heavy rain after a long dry spell like it was a few days ago.
When seeing the firs insects entering we close all windows for a couple of hours as it subsides quite fast.
On the next day, pool, staircases and outdoor areas are full of dead insects or mostly just wings.

We have however never seen any of them live indoors after the swarming, maybe because of the geckos?

There are both live and dead trees in the vicinity around the buildings.

With this said, it may not be impossible that some furniture or woodworks in some condo somewhere may get infested, but I don't think termite infestation is really something 'to expect when living in a highrise'.

JC3

For sure, but then,
"If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it; for it is hard to be sought out, and difficult". Heraclitus (c.535 BC - 475 BC).

Forewarned is forearmed, and all that.

JC3

Gunnar45

So the response to montakutes question is 'anything'
Just limited by his own and fellow posters imagination.

Davita

in bahasa Indonesia/Malay they are called Laron...a moth. We get them swarming once a year in Bali in front of the rain and, except for clogging up the pool filter, are harmless...I don't think they come from the termite family.
To avoid them you need to switch off all lights.

Edit: Google says Laron are moths but 'her highness' tells me it means termites. She says locals know it predicts the rainy season. She has never fried nor smoked them so cannot comment on their gastronimic nor culinary delights.

Gunnar45

They do not look like moths and as far as I know, moths do not shed the wings.
And - they tend to swarm more than once per year and this would be after a rain, not before.

InVinoVeritas

And also "one swallow does not a summer make" or in other words one tale by one person in one apartment block but which is quoted ten times "does not a termite infestation make"

SushiFan

I live on the 20+th floor. We do not get many insects. I guess that, as a result, the number of geckos in our place is small (and almost no spiders). We do get these flying insects after a rain shower. If this happens at night and they do manage to get in, we use one of those blue lights to catch them (switch off all regular lights at that time).
As a general measure we close doors and windows before sunset, and only open after sunrise.
We see a cockroach approximately once per month. Unfortunately for the roach does he not much time left after being spotted by us....
We have also been warned for rove beetles as they can leave nasty irritation on your skin if you squash them. This seems to be a bigger issue if you live in a place surrounded by trees.

JC3

My point is that condos are far from immune to termite infestation, that termites are the number one property pest in Malaysia as stated by Rentokil, and that the presence of termites is far from "always because infested furniture was moved in" as you claim above.

Even the Penang chief minister's official residence, Seri Teratai, was found unsafe for occupation due to an infestation of termites that had damaged the building.

Perhaps I should have added "Also beware of buying a condo that has a reputation for termite infestation (whether true or not)!"

JC3

Davita

from another forum regarding those swarming Laron...

"Hmm.. they are quite delicious and nutritious too.
Back when I was a kid living in kampung/village, my javanese nanny used to make a deep fried laron, with a little bit of salt, they can become a tasty dish."

InVinoVeritas

Yes, well at least that is landed property and since termites live and nest in the soil it's quite likely it could have problems. But termites can't live for long in a high rise unless they have taken to eating concrete, there is just not enough wood.

Incidentally, the weight of all the termites in the world is more than the weight of all the humans.