It does not matter what the circumstances are, the news of termite damage is never favourable, even if you caught it before any severe damage occurred and even if you have already repaired it. This is because it proves that your house is in danger of another attack.
This is very bad news indeed if you are trying to sell your home, because the estate agent’s examination of your property will expose the truth and that will scare a lot of potential buyers. When termites are found by the estate agent and the vendor did not even know, it is normal practice for the vendor to offer to exterminate the termites and repair the damage.
However, this is frequently not sufficient to save either the sale of the property or its original selling price. You may have to take a hefty reduction in the selling price. This is because the pest controllers can give a report that the termites have been eradicated and the estate agent can give a report that the visible damage has been repaired, but who is going to give such a report on the overall structure of the house?
Structural damage is not always visible to the naked eye and some termites are even subterranean. Some termites will even eat concrete! If there is structural damage, the costs can easily run into tens of thousands of dollars.
Forty or fifty thousand is not an exaggeration. Therefore, the only way to assuage a prospective purchaser, or indeed, yourself, that your house is structurally sound, is to call in a structural engineer.
Do not worry yet, that does not inevitably have to cost a lot. It depends on what the engineer finds and what he has to uncover to satisfy himself that the structure is sound. You can help lessen the costs by clearing out some or all of your rooms and making certain that appliances can be moved if necessary.
If you have an attic or and a basement, now is a very good time for a clean-out. The garage too. Completely empty the attic, basement and garage so that the engineer can see what is going on and make certain that there is ample strong lighting for him to see by. If he has to bring in personnel to do all this essential work for you, your bill will go up considerably.
Likewise, if he says that the footings have to be uncovered, offer to do the excavating yourself. Better still, have some friends and family on hand to do it there and then if possible so that he does not have to come back again. They charge by the hour and by the visit and you pay for travelling time.
Lastly, whether you are buying, selling or staying, get depositions and warranties for all the work carried out and keep those reports with the other vital papers relating to your home.
A potential purchaser will definitely be more impressed by these depositions and guarantees and so will your insurance company. Just remember that, you would not like to live where there is serious termite damage and neither does anyone else.
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is at present concerned with Termidor termite treatment – a termite killer. If you are interested in this or if you are wondering: What Does A Termite Look Like?. Please go to our web site now for further details.
