Termites from building/pest inspection

Discussion in 'The Buying & Selling Process' started by mangopancake, 4th Jul, 2021.

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  1. mangopancake

    mangopancake Member

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    Hello, just after some thoughts on next steps as I am a bit indecisive...
    Made an offer on a brick veneer house that was accepted subject to finance and building/pest report. Report comes back with evidence of termite damage to a skirting board. Apparently owner has done some treatment including a chemical barrier and baits(?) that involved drilling into the concrete slab in April this year.
    The visual inspection showed no active termites in the house, but found some in the garden with some old firewood (which they are removing).
    I'm concerned about extent of damage as this is an unknown.

    I'm thinking that my options are:
    1. Bail completely and look for another one
    2. Try to negotiate an invasive inspection to understand extent of damage and costs to fix
    3. Completely lowball it and offer a bit above land value

    Are there any options I'm missing? Should I be thinking about something else?
     
    mangopancake, 4th Jul, 2021
    #1
  2. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    Why not ask for the report that led to the installation of the chemical barrier, baits and drilling into the slab.

    Damage to a skirting board could be as far as the little blighters got before being discovered and despatched to the great termite nest in the sky. Or there could be further damage, not visible.

    We had our house checked last week, and in the old days there was a lot of tapping of the skirting boards, architraves etc with a little knocker, but these days our guy uses an infrared camera thingy. He placed his hand on our plaster wall for about a second, removed it, pointed his camera at it and I could see his handprint very clearly. Anything (alive) within the walls will show up if you find someone with this equipment.

    That will not show you damage behind walls though. If you can get a builder into the roof and under the house, you will see if they have used the timber behind the plasterboard to get up into the timber in the ceiling. That still doesn't have to mean an expensive fix. You need someone who knows what they are looking for to get into roof and under the floors.
     
    wylie, 4th Jul, 2021
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  3. mangopancake

    mangopancake Member

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    Great idea - I've asked for it today, but they've only got the report to say that they've installed the barrier. I'll be giving the pest people a call tomorrow to find out if they have more information.

    I've double checked with our inspector and they didn't see a need to use the infrared way as there were no active termites evident (presumably as a result of the barrier).

    I'm concerned about the damage behind the walls. Not sure if I should be concerned about under the house as it's on a concrete slab though. No signs of termite damage in the roof but the truss (?) where the wall meets the roof was inaccessible due to insulation
     
    mangopancake, 5th Jul, 2021
    #3
  4. Rich2011

    Rich2011 Well-Known Member

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    How do they know there are no active termites inside the walls, did they remove the sheeting?!

    I had a chemical barrier done THREE times before we killed active termites inside a property I purchased. The report will have a disclaimer about what the inspector cannot see.

    Where is the house located?
     
    Rich2011, 5th Jul, 2021
    #4
  5. The Y-man

    The Y-man Moderator Staff Member

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    What was the wording of the condition?
    What if the vendor does not agree that it is not a show stopper?

    The Y-man
     
    The Y-man, 5th Jul, 2021
    #5
  6. mangopancake

    mangopancake Member

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    Oops didn't get to check back here...
    Just an update on this - it's in Regional Vic, and we've called the people who put in the termite barrier. They didn't seem too worried and said that the wall is not a load-bearing wall anyway. We've decided to go ahead based on that.
     
    mangopancake, 29th Jul, 2021
    #6
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