The above photograph is of a termite control notice found in the meter box at a recent building inspection in Brunswick.

Mr Inspector is a fully qualified building inspector in Melbourne and assists home buyers before they purchase a home by carrying out a thorough building inspection on their potential home and supplying a detailed building and pest inspection report.

A termite treatment notice is normally found in the meter box of a home so it’s worthwhile having a peek in the meter box when out inspecting your potential home.  This notice can tell you a lot about the chemicals used to treat the home, when it was completed and when it expires.

You should also look at the paths around the home. If the home is paved or concrete, you can sometimes see drill holes smaller than a 1 cent piece (showing my age) about 150 mm apart and close to the wall.  This is normally a bad sign as this system is normally used to eradicate termites in the home.

It is strongly recommended that a termite inspection be carried out in any home aged 6 months or more as termites can arrive at any time.

Things that attract termites (called conducive conditions) are the following – timber sleepers in the yard, leaks, tan bark, timber stumps, timber debris under the home, firewood and off cuts around the home, downpipes not connected to storm water, hot water overflow dripping, plinth boards in contact with the ground, park lands near buy, creeks near by and gum trees in the yard.

I hope this assists and Im always on the phone if you need to chat.