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Folsom Termite Home Inspection - Folsom Termite Home Inspector
Don't Be a Victim to Folsom Termites!
More than 365,000 homes in the United States are involved in a fire each year. More than 600,000 U. S. homes suffer termite damage totaling over $1.5 billion annually. That is more damage than is caused by all fires, storms and earthquakes combined.
In excess of 2 million homes require termite treatment each year. Home owners insurance can help recover losses from fires, storms and earthquakes, but it is almost impossible to carry insurance against termite infestation. Finding out that your home has termites instills a since of fear among most home owners. Typically termites can’t be seen or heard and often only a trained inspector can find signs of infestation. Treatment by the home owner for the control of termites is virtually impossible. Specialized equipment is used and the Collins Home Inspections experts have the knowledge necessary to plan control strategies.
Termites feed on wood and may also destroy paper products such as books, cardboard boxes, furniture and various other items. Even buildings with steel framing and masonry walls are targets because of wooden doors, window frames, wooden support beams (often hidden), cabinets or shelving within them.
Folsom Termite Home Inspection
Drywood termites are secretive insects and are difficult to detect, but not by the Scott Collins Home Inspection team!. They live deep inside wood and, except during periods when they swarm or when repair work is being done on infested homes, they are seldom seen. Colonies are small (usually fewer than 1,000 individuals), can be widely dispersed, and take years to mature. While a homeowner may initially detect the presence of termites when they swarm or if fecal pellets are discovered, inspecting for drywood termites and determining the extent of an infestation require experience.
The minimum requirement by California state law for drywood termite inspections includes visual searches of accessible areas. However, detection of difficult-to-find infestations may require removal of walls, paneling, and stucco as well as the use of ladders and scaffolds.
During a visual inspection for drywood termites, inspectors look for feeding damage, shed wings, termite fecal pellets, and kickout holes, which are small holes the size of BB shot through which termites push fecal pellets out of the wood. Fecal pellets, hexagonal in shape, are diagnostic for drywood termites. However, whether the infestation is currently active or what the extent of the infestation is cannot be determined from pellets alone. Cleaning up the fecal pellets around a kickout hole and checking a few days later to see if new pellets have appeared can help to determine if an infestation is active. (Building vibrations/movements may cause some pellets to appear.) If an active infestation of drywood termites is found in your structure, you should have it treated.
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