Termite and termite inspection problems

[hotinhawaii]

A friend of mine just bought a house and settled about a month ago. He just discovered extensive live termites and termite damage. After looking under the house, termite damage, boreholes and dust are plainly visible without looking too hard. He had a termite inspection before he bought the house which indicated no active termites or termite damage. Does he have any recourse with the termite inspection company?

[Tink]

It all depends on when the initial Termite inspection was done, and the amount of damage found. I would recommend having another termite company provide an inspection on how much damage is really there, and approximately how long it would take from the size of the infesting colony to do such damage. If there is an overlap, then consult your realtor ( if he/she did not order the initial report for sale) and possibly legal counsel for remedy. Usually it is negotiated that the past owner pays for all repairs, treatment,lodging costs, perishables replacement etc. if tenting is needed, etc. Best of luck and keep us all posted on the progress for mental support and an educational experience for those that find they are in the same predicament.

Are you a human being, or a human doing?

[hotinhawaii]

The friend had a bad realtor who did nothing to advocate for him during his house purchase. She even allowed an addition to the contract that said that if the inspection finds any termites or termite damage the buyer (in all caps in the contract) would pay for the tenting and repairs!

[Carey]

I am not in any way a real estate expert, so take the following with that in mind (& hopefully one will chime in...esp if this is off base)

But from what I have been lead to believe, if the buyer signed a contract with a clause that they are willing to pay for tenting/repairs ...well, it would seem not even matter if there was damage found, the buyer is agreeing to the damage. (though it may be worthiwhile to read the entire contract, but even if this is a full disclosure contract, it would seem that the seller could fall back on the termite inspection...

[Luke Duke]

Moving forward, consider putting a Termidor shield under the house. We had serious and recurrent termite problems in another house. Termidor solved the problem once and for all. U.S. and Australian studies show that it is 100% effective against 100% of termites within 3 months if applied correctly and under the entire house. Industry websites indicate that exterminators are abandoning Sentricon baiting nationwide.

[Carey]

Have you looked at the Basalt Termite barrier that was developed by UH? It is a non-toxic physical barrier of sieved basalt fines at a certain size that does not allow subterranean termite to move through it (it is sold in bags at HD, if you want to see what it looks like - we used it in all of the slab plumbing perforations on our remodel/
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~entomol/research/r_btb.htm

not sure about the barrier you are looking at, but here we also have drywood termites that do not use ground, so if it is ground treatment, you will also need to plan against the drywoods...

[Luke Duke]

It can't be installed under an existing slab. Termidor, however, can get down there. They trench and then flood the area.

If you are building a new house you could use physical barriers...or just build a wood-free house.

[Tink]

If you have a pier and post, try to inspect the pier/post on all sides every couple of months for "tubes" that look like roots going up the side into the wood. Subterranean termites don't like light, and somehow seem to know the post that holds the girder splice.
Scrape/wire brush away the tube and treat the wood with over the counter termite treatment, being sloppy with the stuff is no matter to me, as it "treats" the "infected" soil area. An environmentalist would probably fit over this, tho.
Check on infected post areas more frequently for re treatment/scraping.
Slab, unfortunately requires drilling holes through the slab in the infected area to apply treatment by the pro's, along with perimeter treatment.
Dry woods attack the rafters down, feces looks like pepper, but actually little round wood pellets. Look above in the framing for their "outhouse" opening. They like to come in through any attic space opening, so caulking the wood framing splices helps, I prefer a tighter mesh screen on all venting into attic space.
Treatment for dry woods can be surface/removal of bad framing, but usually tenting of home is required.
A basic termite inspection is a written observation of tubes present, as I stated, for subterranean termites, and pellet observation for dry wood termites, and recommended treatment/repairs needed for both. Save yourself some money and inspect on your own, and call in the pros for their side of the work.

Community begins with Aloha

[Rob Tucker]

Or you could take out the rotten termite infected posts and replace them will steel and not have that problem anymore.

[Luke Duke]

How much does that cost, Rob?