Termites

[Lanne]

Having just finished redecorating the living room, and perfecting and finishing a few other areas around our home.. i cleaned it to within an inch of its life... called a skip... and spent this morning creating a garage that could be in a magazine...

Basking in my proud moment of home perfection.. i swept out the garage and noticed a small weird mark on the wall.. almost like a tissue paper or wet mark.. i put my finger on it to make sure it wasn't damp.. and my hand went through the wall.. and out came the termites..

ugh.

We don't own the house, we are renting and called the owner and real estate immediately and the appropriate tradies will be coming..

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this. I work from home. I run my business from one side of our house. It is a new home, we are the first tennants.. it is a HUGE house and my office and media room back onto the double garage.. so are possibly affected.

Does anyone know how long it will take to treat and what the steps are? I dread packing or moving a thing now I just got it perfect but obviously this is likely and just a frustration... it will interupt me having clients etc...
So I am wondering how long it usually takes to resolve? The garage wall (at least one) will have to be replaced...

least it is clean and practically empty LOL.

again... ugh.

Any help or advice gratefully received!

[jennymbutler]

First thing to do is thank God you don't own the house! Termites are a very expensive exercise.

We had termites about 18 months ago and honestly it was a nightmare. Ours did very minor damage, only eating one wall and part of a truss.

First thing, is your house on a slab or on stumps? On stumps is a relatively easy exercise, a trench is dug around the house and poison is poured in the trench. Takes about a day and has limited disruption to your house.

On a slab, it depends who you go though as there are a handful of methods. For ours they drilled holes about 10cm apart around the whole exterior and interior of the house and pump in poison that way. We had to move all our furniture about a meter away from all external walls, it took about a day and we ended up with a lot of poison still on our walls even though they had washed our walls.

Another option is baiting but as you've disrupted the termites this probably wont be appropriate. As soon as termites see day light or have the wood they've eaten through is broken they then sprint for a new place to eat. Bating cost about half as much as poison treatment but it's also not as effective, they place some little poison baits where the termites are found and hopefully the termites find the poison and spread it amongst the colony.

For our 2 bedroom unit, termite treatment on a slab cost $4k and it is based on house size. The rebuilding cost about $3k for one wall to be replaced, re-plastered and a new truss and roof work. As I said, thank God you don't own.

Time wise, termite treatment is about a day plus packing and unpacking the house. Rebuilding an re-plastering took about a week and made so soo much dust. Be sure to check near by furniture where you found them for any sign of termites too.

Good luck!!!

[Lanne]

Jenny,

THANK YOU. for the update...

This is my fear... we are a lowset slab. very few internal walls (all exterior ..i have STUFF.. I am minimalist but I have stuff against walls. I do NOT want to move it in.. We have 4 bedrooms, 3 living areas plus my home office with sep. entry and the media room spaces.. not a quick and easy move.

Our last house we had some MINOR paint touch ups and a ceiling crack repaired.. the dust from plaster got into EVERYTHING... took me literally about 50 hours of cleaning.. it will be like moving house (without movers) to accommodate 10cm drilling!

and literally the house JUST got perfected. Whole thing makes me want to cry.

Owner will no doubt have comeback on builder/termimesh folks as the house is only 18 months old and supposed to be safe.

Something tells me I wont be compensated as much as $5 for the mess, loss of work time/ability to have clients in and the massive inconvenience.

If they are confined the garage we will be fine. There are literally about 7 boxes and a bookcase.. no biggie at all.. Any mess fuss or drama in my house is another story LOL. Hopefully we got them early and they will be satisfied with baiting.

*fingers crossed*

[Lanne]

The update:

Termites are in the garage but haven't entered from there..further exploration is required to find out where they came from.

Quote is about $5K and that is for the full inspection and the poisoning...

The company that came will poison everything outside the house... no drilling INSIDE which is a relief but they are talking about putting over 800 litres of poison into the ground and house via the drill holes. Not very thrilled about that!! Will need to move our son out as he has many allergies etc and we dont want to risk a reaction.

it is all better than expected in some ways and worse in others.... and will be another 2 weeks before we know for sure.

[Julie-Ann]

Hi Lanne

I'm glad there is not going to be any drilling inside. That would have been a huge hassle for you.
How long do you think you will need to keep your son away from the house? Did the pest control company give you any idea on how long it remains in the air?
I don't know if it is the same in the eastern states as here in Perth but most insurance companies don't cover termites. So the owners of your property could have to pay that $5000 out of their own pocket:eek:.
Not pleasant for anyone.

[Lanne]

New update LOL

The fun never ends... Termimesh came out today (one of their head guys apparently) as it is a problem that the house is sooo new and has termites AND termimesh...

The are doing another formal and rather full on inspection on Friday ..
I have to move all the furniture away from any walls. They have to have complete access to all walls.

this is HUGE.. not unlike packing house to move really... very very unimpressed. No one can tell me if poisoning in this method will occur internally... but they are talking about a dusting so I assume so..

They will then be doing a monthly inspection from now on. INTERNALLY and externally for termites. REALLY? hardly seems reasonable to interupt us every month! Terribly unimpressed and can hear my husband househunting again already..

The difference. It will cost the landlord about $500.. guess which option he is picking..I feel really bad for the owner but this house is anything but cheap.. and the inconvience sounds as though it will very much be ongoing.

[Julie-Ann]

Oh Lanne that is terrible and such a huge hassle. I am with your husband- I would be looking for something else. Better to have to move once than have to do this every month for who knows how long. The only other alternative is to negotiate a rent decrease. It might ease the pain a little.

[Lanne]

A quick termite update. After the initial poisoning and inspection... we have been waiting weeks for them to replace/repair the wall in the garage.

More termites were found in the front wall and they were poisoned initially. It bothered me that at the end of a 2 hour inspection - i pointed out the termites.. the guy didn't find them. They were easily visible walking up the brick work and the first inspector had shown them to me.

Yesterday a second inspection was carried out. Gardens were removed.. more termite entrance were found in the front of the house. Three entry points in total.... all at the front of the house.

Just when we thought it couldn't be much worse... Lochie found them in the laundry (side of the house)... and they have broken through the wall.

It seems we are riddled. We now have them in my office, Lochies bedroom, the bathroom, laundry, toilet, entrance, media room, study and garage... and we are waiting to find them elsewhere..

COMPLETE NIGHTMARE!

[Julie-Ann]

Lanne that is terrible- I'm so sorry for your family.
Will you stay there or are you thinking of moving out?

[Lanne]

Julie-Ann

With 9/10 rooms affected (and possibly more).. it will be about 4 months? they are suggesting but no guarentees. Our lease expires in 4 months..

We are obligated to stay. we have a lease and we are not allowed to break it. If we break it, we would pay the rent until a new tenant took over. something tells me they wont take it with holes in the walls and a bathroom missing. Which will mean we will be paying the rent here.. as well as our new home.

Our landlord is a lovely couple, but they are not obligated to give us any compensation, cover any expenses we incur, let us out of the lease etc.We have to pay full rent without any deductions etc for the time of the renovation. It seems dreadfully unfair but... renting rarely falls on the side of the tenant. More and more it seems tenants are considered an income, not a family or person. I find these guys are better as they have numerous rentals .. but your standard mum and dad second homeowner renting out the first is a pretty tough deal in my experience.

At best.. we might be able to put all of our belongings in one room, seal them, and move out for the renovations..We will have to pay the cost of the rent plus our additional accommodation and wont have the net, foxtel, etc etc

My office is an entry point, and my media room is the only room we think is unaffected. Meaning i will struggle to even work for the next few months. ..

It hasn't been a fun week!

[Julie-Ann]

So even though the house is riddled with termites which now could even eat your own furniture you can't break the lease? I would have thought that would entitle you to break the lease legally. Thank goodness you only have 4 months left on the lease. But it still seems very unfair:(

[Lanne]

Yes.. even though.

Our last house was put up for sale days after they had us resign (at a significant rent increase mind you).. We were then told it needed to be renovated for sale. Including full painting, inside and out.. and walls repaired and replaced. They even had the cheek to ask us to cover the cost of removing a tree spanning the entire back yard (as we were the tennants). House was built around the tree but the neighbours complained about it and owner agreed to remove it.. but tried to bill us (ridiculous and certainly did not happen).

We had to live for 6 months with whatever renovations they wanted to perform, as well as 2 house inspections/open houses a week. One at 5:30 - 6:30 on a thursday night, and one between 10 and 12:30 every saturday.
When we ate meals (children do eat).. they had the hide to phone us and threaten to sue us because we were making people uncomfortable and they weren't buying the house. Again,.. ridiculous and not a leg to stand on on their part.

Despite complaints, calling the rental tennancy authority etc.. they are within their rights.. and no compensation is required.

We are so over it all. We have decided to buy/build. We just can't keep going through this. Every time we rent we go for a nice house, in a nice area at top dollar rent.. assuming it will all be fine.. but again, you are just an income and are treated as such. We have no say, just pay and deal with it.

Finding a block is hard here as the SE of qld is sprawling but we think we might find something in our current estate in the next 12 months.

[Julie-Ann]

Wow it seems incredibly unfair. I am so glad to hear that you are going to build mostly because we can all enjoy the process with you. And as I often have said it is so much fun spending other people's money:D. But I also hate the idea that you are paying off someone else's mortgage. Sometimes we have to rent for various reasons but it is great to buy.
Keep us informed and keep the Mortein handy:(

[Lanne]

Quick Update.. the termite seemed to have died? or so they kept telling us.
No one seemed in any rush to do the required repair work..

Our lease expired on oct 9 and we didnt resign straight away. We asked them for a termite clause (ie.. if the termites came back - that we could leave and break the lease without penalty). They agreed and we were due to hand in the new lease on the Monday.

We found more termites! Munch munch crunch crunch..

They were coming through in two more places in the garage. The owners STILL havent been out to inspect..neither has the real estate..2 weeks after we reported them.

We have moved out!

We assumed they would now access and do the repairs.. but no.. they have put the house up for lease again without doing anything!!

We are horrified. They are listing it as a brand new home .. and no mention of the free creepy crawlies that come with it. I guess whoever moves in will now suffer the renovations whilst the landlord collects the rent throughout the process! NICE!

[Julie-Ann]

I think that is very poor by the real estate agent and the owners. I don't know if it is illegal in any way but a quick call to your state Real Estate Institute should let you know. I would report them as I wouldn't want any family to go through the hassles that you have had to put up with.:(

[Lanne]

We are hoping that our bond inspection is tuesday afternoon. Once we have confirmation our bond is back we have every intention of reporting them. The open for inspection isnt until wednesday evening so .. hopefully we can scrape in.

I wanted to report them right away but am concerned I wont get my bond back if i do. The move has cost us several thousand and I dont want to be out any more because of the termites!

[Julie-Ann]

By all means wait until the bond is in your hands. You can't go risking that amount of money.

[rachel]

Oh Lanne that is absolutely ridiculous, how awful for you! I'm glad you've moved out.

We had termites too and our options were somewhat limited (the termite removal people discouraged the poisons due to my pregnancy, I would have had to have moved out) but luckily baiting the entire perimeter of the house, as well as the affected area, seems to have worked. We hope.

Oddly some people are quite blaze about termites. We told our neighbours when we found ours, and our next door neighbour paid for an inspection. Turned out he had them too in the front of his house...but he hasn't done anything about it! I think he has relied on our baits which run between our houses.