Pest Inspection Benowa

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Pre Purchase Pest Inspection Benowa – Includes Termites, Wood Borers and Wood Decay Fungus

Benowa Needing a Pest inspection?

Our Pest Inspection Benowa Technicians can give you peace of mind with a great inspection using state of the art equipment. A Pest Inspection is extremely important but what does it cover? Is it a Termite Inspection? Is it a house hold Pest Inspection? Its formal name is a Timber Pest Inspection which looks for Termites, Wood Borers, and Wood Decay Fungi and will give you a good idea on the state the house is in relating to timber pests.

A Timber Pest Inspection is like the ultimate Termite Inspection.

We can add another detrimental element to a home that our Benowa Timber Pest Inspector looks for and that is moisture. Due to construction design, most houses will have some level of moisture. When it's raised beyond this threshold, that's when you start enticing foraging termites into your home.

Called a "Conducive Environment", this is a neon flashing sign showing termites that there is a favourable area where they can source food. It can be as simple as;

  • Garden up against the house providing a source of food, warm and moisture
  • Air Conditioning drain leaking directly onto the ground next to the house
  • Hot water over flow on older systems can constantly drip providing a water source
  • Trees stumps or tree crowns left in the ground to slowly rot away
  • Poor drainage under the house keeping the subfloor damp

These are just a simple few and I bet you would have at least 3 out of the 5 around your house now. More information about "Conducive Environments" can be found here on our Termite Barrier Page.

Our Benowa Pest Inspector uses a Thermal Camera on every Pest Inspection

A thermal camera gives our Pest Inspection Benowa Teams a deeper insight helping to locate moisture and termite activity.

Termites

With Subterranean Termites being able to tunnel some 50metres underground it's important for the Pest Inspector to look at environmental conditions around your house, including your fence line Over time the weather will break down any soft timber previously coated in a "termite resistant" chemical and it's not uncommon to find a termite sub nest in a timber sleeper retaining wall. This is where experience matters. Our Pest Inspection Benowa Teams understand the characteristics of the different termite species and this gives us a better approach to finding them.

Wood Borers

Wood Borers are also a common find. Preloved furniture is the common culprit on how wood borers eneter your home. Laying their eggs in the timber cracks, most of the time we are finding them attacking timber floor boards. They can be treated with a water based chemical but we find it's best to locate the affected timbers and have them replaced.

The most common wood borers are;

  • Common Furniture Beetle
  • House Longhorn Beetle
  • Powder Post Beetle
  • Some Do-It-Yourselfers recommend wiping the affected areas with diesel. This is something we DEFINITELY do not recommend.

Wood Decay Fungus

Fence lines, decking, cladding, external timber stairs, eaves and ceiling spaces are very common areas to find wood decay in. Several types of fungus eat the damp wood making it rot away like dead skin. Not as damaging as Termites but given the right environment it can posed a threat to timbers in your home. In some areas of the home (low traffic areas like up in your ceiling space) wood decay can do considerable amount of damage over the course of a year. Lignicolous Fungi is responsible for the wood decay. They can be classed as;

  • Brown rot
  • Soft rot and,
  • White rot

The fix is to remove the damaged timber and remove the moisture source. A Pre Purchase Timber Pest Inspection should be part of any due diligence when purchasing a home. Most Timber Pest activity goes undiscovered to the naked eye so it's important to have our Pest Inspection Benowa Experts look over the property. Give us a call and compare our quote. We will save you!