Nothing like an unexpected household expense to bust your budget. Recently we discovered a small colony (right word?) of termites had set-up shop in our newly purchased home.
They materialized in a strange way. In my remodeling madness, I decided to remove the chairrail in the kitchen dining area. With my handy crowbar, the moulding came off without a hitch, except it disturbed my friendly termite "swarmers" that lived in my crawlspace.
Thankfully I am obsessed with home improvement projects, or we might never have known the house was infested.
After a termite inspection by the exterminators (that previously treated the house for termites after our initial home inspection), we scheduled a treatment of the entire house. Homeowners be warned: do not (as the previous homeowners did) treat one area of your home for termites and neglect the rest. The home inspection only required them to spray the affected area (the garage) which just incited the termites to move right next door to my kitchen!
Termite treatment isn't cheap. In this part of the country, the Southeast US, it's a part of life. Although not one we had planned for in our April budget.
Termites! : 0
April 17th, 2006 at 05:33 pm
April 17th, 2006 at 05:38 pm 1145295534
Quote: Thankfully I am obsessed with home improvement projects, or we might never have known the house was infested.
(Trust me, you would have known 'eventually'
April 17th, 2006 at 05:45 pm 1145295939
April 17th, 2006 at 06:58 pm 1145300307
And, my kids have told people who visit, not to stand still, or I'll paint them!!!
That is so funny. I'm going to use that line...
November 22nd, 2007 at 11:03 am 1195729380
That is a bit of a worry!
Spot treatments seem to be the usual in USA as is carrying out the inspection for the vendor.
Almost always the vendor will opt for the cheapest, nastiest treatment that will satisfy the banks. Realtors are no better as they choose pest inspectors that dont "create" waves that will hinder a sale.
In Australia the purchaser always arranges the inspection, the realtor has zip to do with it and treatments will usually be to the purchaser's satisfaction (and the bank) if the sale is to proceeed.