Termites a Deal Killer?
We are close to signing a contract on a two-family on the Bed Stuy-Bushwick border. The inspector found evidence of termite damage. He easily poked through part of the main beam, which was rotted at the back of the house, and saw empty termite channels there with his infrared tool. He said he didn’t think…
We are close to signing a contract on a two-family on the Bed Stuy-Bushwick border. The inspector found evidence of termite damage. He easily poked through part of the main beam, which was rotted at the back of the house, and saw empty termite channels there with his infrared tool. He said he didn’t think the infestation was active. He recommended replacing one quarter of the beam and said it might turn out we have to sister a cross beam too. That was all.
The house is a wood frame with an unfinished stone cellar. It is covered in vinyl siding.
Question: Should we do our own termite inspection before we proceed further? Will they be able to discover how extensive the damage is?
I am assuming the damage could range anywhere from just the quarter of the beam to practically the whole house being eaten up. Am I right? (The house seems sound, nothing is crooked.)
I have googled this topic extensively and find advice runs the spectrum, from “don’t worry, inspectors always give you the worst-case scenerio” to “the whole house could be a pile of sawdust, and you can never get rid of termites.”
Anyone have advice or experience with this? Thank you.
P.S. Bessie we love the house. It’s at the Halsey stop. I agree, the area around the Myrtle JMZ is so pretty.
vanburenproud, it’s exactly this “worst-case scenerio” that scares me. I’m so sorry this happened to you. Did you have to replace the entire first two floors from front to back, or just the back?
Our inspector is independent, he’s certified for termite control and inspection, he used the infrared thing, but like you say he can’t see through walls or ceilings.
He said the damage is likely to be localized because the floors feel solid, there is no sign of movement in the house, the back wall appears stable, there are no cracks, everything is aligned and straight.
Did your floors feel spongy when you walked on them? Did everything seem to be straight?
I forgot to mention: Someone tried to hide the beam damage with glue, paint, and dirt. Also, oddly, the gutters on the roof are tarpapered over so they are one with the tarpaper on the roof. I hope that’s an accident and not an attempt to prevent us from looking at the join of the gutter and the roof.
This is what happened to my house. It could cost a lot of money to properly fix inactive termite/water damage.
Worst case scenario: It kinda looks structurally OK to the inspector, but he doesn’t have x-ray vision. When you start digging around it becomes obvious that you have to gut the lower two floors of your house, replace multiple joists, etc.
Not the end of the world, but could cost like $100K unless you are *extremely* handy and have about five years of evenings and weekends…
…and even then it will cost you $45K to put everything back and turn it into a house again.
OK, just had an extensive discussion with the inspector, and he clarified a lot. Basically he said you never know until you open everything up, but the damage appears to be limited to the lower back of the house, the infestion should be assumed to be active, and it needs to be treated. Thank you so much everybody, greatly appreciate your input.
I would trust the inspector on structural issues. Less so on whether there is more damage or infestation elsewhere. I would trust the terminte inspector to be a little bit more attuned to clues or their absence as to whether there are additional problems the inspector cannot see. But if the damage already seen by the inspector is the only issue, I would get a contractor’s estimate to repair the damage and use that in negotiation, especially in this market (I know, I know, I’ve just invited you know who into the thread).
Hi, Mopar:
I believe you had said earlier that the house seemed like a really good deal and that you liked it very much, right? I agee with the above posters about having a termite company that you higher fully access the extent of the damage.
I’ve seen houses with varying degrees of termite damage. One that I bought had damage on only one window sill. Another that I didn’t buy had such extensive damamge that you din’t even have to jump on the floor to feel the sponginess.
Once you know the full extent of the damage and can hang a ball park price tag on it you should be able to make a balanced judgement.
Is the place near the Myrtle Ave. stop on the JMZ? I always found there’s a nice feel around there, both on the Bushwick and Bed Stuy sides but more on Bed Stuy. Something to do with the smallish old manufacturing buildings and to openness of the sky….
We hired our own inspector, and as part of the regular full-on house inspection, he also checked for termites. He didn’t say the termite damage is limited only to that one beam. If he had, we would believe him and we would buy the house.
We don’t know how extensive the termite damage is, and we don’t know if it is active.
As others have said, if the colony is not active, the damage is limited. There may be more damage hidden (behind vinyl siding, for instance), but if its not ongoing it should be manageable. If all of the basement beams and joists are exposed, any inspector should be able to give you an assessment. As slopefarm just said, don’t run away because of this – but get a more comprehensive termite inspection.
(DON’T ask some pest control company to inspect – get an engineer to other expert who assess a) if there is an active infestation, and b) what the extent of the structural damage is.)
The termite inspector is not qualified to give a structural opinion typically. Any good contractor can assess the damage done to any supporting foundation beams. If you don’t believe him you go up in expertise to an engineer.
But a termite inspector is just that. He’s not qualified beyond telling you how to solve the termite problem.
Mopar….why don’t you trust what the inspector is telling you??????