KatieStar

I would be grateful if anyone knows anything about these critters. We are in the process of buying a house and the pest survey has showed up termites.

The estate agent has assured me it is a recent infestation in a small area. I guess she would say that LOL.

I am waiting to receive the report, but I wondered if the majority of people would just walk away from a property if termites are found, or would you consider it if it is a small infestation?

I am clueless tbh. I need to know stuff like, if they are there now, are they likely to come back even if sprayed. Would we need to put some sort of protective layer in the house to prevent further attacks?

Any info would be good.

Katie

spartacus

Hi KAtie

I've no experience personally but have a look at:

http://www.forest.nsw.gov.au/researc...festations.pdf

NSW but generally still applies.

Any treatment, I imagine, would generate a warranty on behalf of the contractor, which would be required to be passed onto subsequent purchasers of the house; the same as dry rot etc in the uk. Have a think about whether you would be willing to buy a house which had previously suffered from termite infestation, and if the idea puts you off then it would certainly put others off also. As with most things, buying is the easy bit, selling is the more difficult.

Andy

Vim Fuego

We are in the process of getting some barrier protection in after a scare (the timber was just rotten, in the end). Termites are also known as 'white ants' by the way. You can sometimes tell where they are by looking for 'airtight tunnels' that they build. Have a google, there's good info out there.

The stuff we are looking at is injected into the ground and is a repellant, the other type of treatment involves trapping them.

Nothing is 100% but the people we are thinking of using give a 10 year guarentee that if any problems occur in the future then they will cover the costs of repairs ... how sure that is remains to be seen (a lot of loopholes I'd imagine) ...

We are looking at about $2,000 for the whole job, this is for a medium-sized low-set brick and colo(u)rbond property.

We have had various good bits of advice like keeping wood away from the house, removing plants next to the house and lowering some paving slabs below a certain level.

We will be pulling down the rotten excuse for a 'patio' soon anyway and plan to do the treatment after the new one is constructed (makes more sense than disturbing the repellent).

That's about all I know, I would advise getting at least 3 quotes though, ours varied widely in costs and quality of information.

In a house you are about to buy? Dunno, I might be tempted to walk, depends on how much risk you want to shoulder.

Hope this helps in some way,
Matt

king kong

id walk away from it personally .I dont believe there is an insurance company in Australia that will insure you against 'white ant' and i am under the impression too that the pest control people wont give you cover ,even if you get the place sprayed every 12 months but i maybe wrong on that one ,worth checking out if they offer a warranty etc .

wanderingwombat

Seek further information from your pest inspector (I assume you engaged the pest inspector). If you werent at the inspection, the pest inspector should never have spoken to the agent as you are the client. I would have a serious word with the pest company if this was the case.

The issue with pest damage is that you may accept it but when you go sell the next buyer might not. Also be aware that in the event of an insurance claim, the insurance company may use termite damage as an out to not pay.

The only effective long term solution is put a barrier around the house. For some reason spraying doent go through concrete paving etc.....


WW

Lordflasheart

Hi Katie Star,

I've just finished replacing stud walls that these little f*****s destroyed. They basically turn soft woods into the finest powder you've ever seen. Following a bit of research, I found that they have a salivery Ph of 1.1 and have been known to melt through plastic in order to get to the wood that they like.

The area they destroyed was about 3 sq metres and only included pine stud walls. They don't like the jarra floorboard apparently.

It was pretty easy to fix the problem and replace the studs with perma pine which, i've been assured they don't like. I've also been told that if you have "sugar ants" the black sort, then the "white ants" disappear as the black ones feed on the white ones. Far too complicated.

I think the only real way to avoid the bloody things is to buy a steel framed construction house that has been termite proofed from the get go. Trying to retrospectivley keep them out might be a bit futile.

The funny thing is, when I mention "white ants" to Aussies they go very quiet. Almost as though it's a taboo subject that you shouldn't really talk about.

Dave.

chrispy

Normally in Aus you have to do a termite inspection before buying the house, if they find termites then it is the sellers responsibility to treat for them. We have someone who does a major treatment every 5 years and a survey treatment every year, costs about $150 a year i think..

Wol

Spraying's pretty useless. The only way to avoid termite problems is to destroy their breeding cycle.

In Florida there are reputed to be dozens of colonies per acre. Killing a few million ants has no overall effect on the damage they do.

We used a Dow Chemical system: little units every 8' around the house and pool area - about 45 in total IIRC. The trick is that the units only have wooden sticks inside them: the termites can detect poisons and won't touch them, but they will and do eat the wooden bait sticks.

Every month a man came around and checked each bait station, and scanned the bar code for that individual station with a radio scanner linked to a Dow computer in California. If there were significant termites in the tube he replaced the wood with a grooming poison which is inside a solid tube of the same stuff. The only way the things can get out is by eating their way out, so they do. By doing so they ingest the poison but it doesn't kill them: the clever bit is that they now give off a pheromone that tells the rest that the poison is OK to eat so the rest of the colony turns up for dinner. Soon they are all grooming the larvae and queen and afetr a few days the whole colony dies.

Termites are fascinating things if you're into insects (I'm not) but understanding their life cycle is essential for eliminating them and I suspect that moanyof the Australian pest control people haven't a clue and think that poisoning a few million will stop the problem. It wom't.

Loubags

Walk away unless it's the property of your dreams. We bought our house, had termite inspection ( nothing shown up ) and vendors supplied us with 10 yrs of receipts / guarantees of termite barrier treatment. All good until 9 months later.... huge termite nest broke through one of the walls. Must of been there for ages. Obviously a huge wrangle with said company and their guarantees, but they eventually did come and remedy the situation ( exterminate said invaders ). All seemed ok until a few weeks later, we found more. They have polished off bedroom skirting boards and window frames. Absolute pain in the arse ( and pocket if not under guarantee ). Seems they've been around for years and not been picked up.

Yes, I would still have bought the house knowing all this as I love it here ( my dream home ) but if the house isn't the dream one - walk on by. It's a lot of mess, hassle and possible expense.

All the best in whatever you do.

Loubags

By the way - we've been advised ( by professionals ) that spraying is pretty much a waste of time. We are currently looking at major barriers to stop them getting into the fabric of the house.

Great, only several thousands of dollars then

Oh, and don't believe all the companys or so called helpful mates tell you.

Timber Floor Au

Its all bulshit in 99% of cases !! Dependant on where they found termites.

Have you ever seen John Goodman in Arachnophobia?

Tapping beams with back of a screwdriver?

Thats about it !!

Pest fellas, have to justify their existence, and normally always find termites in a post way down the yard !

If termites are in the house, then WALK AWAY !!!

Not worth it !

KatieStar

Thanks very much for all your replies. You have been very helpful

The report from the building and pest inspector has just been sent through to me. They did an infrared scan, which found no sign of termites in the main house. The critters were seen visually in the yard and subfloor.

I guess it could have been a lot worse, so we will seek further advice and take it from there.

Thanks again and I will keep you guys posted. If you are interested hehe
Katie

Thydney

yep theres fillions of the muckers. They leave what are call mud tubes here which are the main signs. Personally I'd walk away, actually I'd run away

KatieStar

LOL I am not a big fan of ants in general The little black ants keep biting me when I am in the back yard. They seem impermeable to the poison that was sprayed a few months ago and are taking over the place. Little horrors

king kong

The thing is the the more ants you have around the place the better they hate ''white ant''who arnt even an ant anyway and are closely related to the cockroach .
White ant are everywhere in aussie and they love that dead timber in your garden or house .