Termite Solutions technicians are called by dozens of Home owners every year to treat termite infestations in their new or near new homes.
I’m sure most people reading this report will have heard the sad stories of New Homes being seriously damaged shortly after being occupied.
If your Queensland home was built after 2001 there is a good chance that you already have a permanent or replenishable termite management system in place in your building.
Systems such as slab edge exposure, stainless steel mesh, chemically treated physical barriers, or reticutaion pipes which can be recharged with chemical products are the most common. If your home was built during this time, check for your termite management details or ‘durable notice’ inside your kitchen cupboard or the electricity meter box on the outside of your home.
If you have any concerns at all about termites in new homes..
The treatment ‘sticker’
Was required to be installed by the Termite Management company chosen by your builder and was required by the Australian Standard 3660.1 to be installed in a prominent place. This notice should describe the type of Termite Protection installed during construction of your home. If you don’t have a durable notice, then call your builder to ask for the details of your termite protection.
Often these notices are not installed as is required by the Australian Standard 3660.1. It is important for you to obtain this information, as it will be required when you sell the property, as without it, the buyers will most likely try to re-negotiate the selling price, probably by thousands of dollars, for the home to be protected.
For this type of home annual inspections are required to keep your termite protection warranty.
It is your duty to have inspections annually by a licensed inspector, otherwise your builder is not likely to take responsibility for any repairs should termites cause damage. Termite Solutions can carry out these annual inspections for you and provide the required ‘inspection reports’ to show your duty of care in having your inspections done. If termites cause damage to your home, and you can’t provide a recent annual inspection report to the builder, then you have serious problem. Your house and contents insurance does not cover you from Termite Damage.
If you are overdue for your required inspection
Protect your most valuable asset and call our office on 1800 625 499 to arrange an appointment.
If there are no termites or conducive conditions around your new home, we may be able to provide you with a ‘TimberSafe‘ timber replacement warranty for your home for as little as $100 per year plus our annual inspection fee. This means that should termites enter your property during the warranty period, or termite damage is discovered then your TimberSafe Warranty will cover the cost of repairs and remedial treatment. The warranty may be renewed annually by having your property reinspected prior to its renewal date.
See the ‘TimberSafe‘ link for details of the policy.
Consult your builder about the range of Termite Management options available to you. If possible for your situation, consider the ‘Slab Edge’ protection method which requires little maintenance and provides the lowest risk option.
Here’s a relevant article on Termite Protection that I found on the net published by the South Australian Government. You may find it interesting.