Are you thinking on buying a house? If you are then more than likely you will need termite inspections or WDI report. WDI stands for wood destroying insect report. Even if your mortgage company doesn’t require you to get one, I believe it is very important to invest the money to protect both you and your potentially new investment. I’ve had too many homeowners call me out to spray their house only to find they had termites in some far off corner of the house and no one ever told them about them. This is not very exciting news when you just spend $200k on your dream home.
I’m hired by the buyer to (A) let them know if their potentially new home has termites, (B) has had termites, or (C) has the potential to get termites. A termite inspection is a visual inspection. I will document any and all conducive conditions in and around the house. A conducive condition is any area around the house that could possibility cause termites to appear on or near you house. A few examples could be standing water, high foliage, wood to ground contact, or rotten wood. I also document any obstructed or hidden areas in and around the house that termites could appear. A few examples of these could be soil line over the foundation, hidden plumbing areas, items placed up against the house, or vines growing against the side of the house.
Once I do my visual inspection it’s my job to walk around with the buyer and point out every little thing I marked on the report. As I do this, I’m also explaining why each mark is either good or bad termite wise. Usually this is when I go into my termite speech and explain how and why termites work. I will also check on my report whether I believe a preventative termite treatment is necessary or not.
It is not my job to tell the buy whether they should buy the house or not. I’m just there to explain what I see and give my opinion good or bad. That’s what they hire me for.
Now what I do is not only for the buyer. The seller can benefit from a termite inspector also. I tell all my customers that are putting their house on the market to call me before there is a contract put on their house. I can do a mock inspection with the homeowner and show them what the buyers inspector will probably point out. This will give the seller the chance to change or fix any problem areas. Plus if they do end up having termites, we can solve the problem issue quickly. If your not in the business then you probably won’t notice all the little areas around you house that could be problem area for termites. Usually they are minor and be easily fixed or solved, but if let unattended could result in the loss of a sale. I’ve seen it happen many times.
I hope this helps in educating everyone on what to do when buying a home. I realize there are twenty billion other things buyer has to worry about and if I can help eliminate one then I’m happy. Now I do want you to realize this was just a quick over view of what I do at a termite inspection. There are tons more detailed stuff, but I didn’t want to bore you too much. If you are not sure what to do, please ask your realtor or call your local exterminator and should be able to help you out any way possible.
Hope this helps!!
Scott McGrath
