Termites ate my house

There was a termite infestation in a house in north Devon some time ago. Apparently they were introduced in the soil of an imported potted plant. See

No experience, but major issue here. Do a search on

termite damage site:au

for more

A termite walks into a pub and asks..... Where is the bar tender?

(sorry!)

Not sure I have any advice, but it looks like he is on the case. Surprising the amount of damage they can do!

In lots of parts of the world, but very few cases in the UK.

Whilst I've been in California, I have occasionally seen a whole house wrapped in a giant ballon, inside which all the termites are being gassed.

That's exactly what was done 3 years ago on this house, unfortunately the damage must have already happened. The cocoon was left in place for a few weeks.

-- Phil

This being in America, can't he sue someone for not spotting the damage? When I bought a house in France, a termite damage survey was a mandatory part of the process.

Colin Bignell

At least in California, you have to declare all salient structural things of which you are aware, when selling. Termite damage would certainly be one.

When I sold up there my house was tented too. The gas they pump in is quite toxic (to all living things), so after that at least there'll be no termites, rats, or (in my case) racoon in the crawl space.

As the gas is that toxic someone has to be there all the while the gas is there (24 hours typically), they usually bring a caravan.

Hey - there's an employment opportunity for some people.

I think they have the usual surveyors get-out clause, that it wasn't visible without removing stuff, worth a double check though.

Photos of the house with and without the gassing tent

-- Phil

That can't be 100% airtight - how does it work? Do they keep feeding gas allowing for some escaping?

Good question but I have no idea, I was 3000 miles away over here.

That's the best way to treat Hollywood types.

American 'surveyors' have wonderful get-out clauses that mean they are not actually responsible if they miss anything. And they are careful not to call themselves 'surveyors', they just look the place over and try to justify their charge, by finding something wrong.

Spot-on! This lot declared that the car-port was painted with lead based paint so our son had to get that remediated before he could get the mortgage.

In France, general house surveys are fairly rare, but this had to be done by a specialist in spotting termite damage, who came equipped with lots of equipment for looking (and photographing) into otherwise inaccessible areas. The resulting report was a thick document, complete with pictures of just about all the woodwork in the building.

Colin Bignell

Indeed; when we bought our place in the US they found a couple of things with the electrics - but "missed" a whole bunch of blindingly obvious stuff (which of course I'd seen from having looked around the place myself, and so factored in to a decision about purchase)

cheers

Jules

I think it was more of a wander round poking a screwdriver in now and again :(