Who to trust? Our home inspector or seller terminate bond company

Question

Hi everyone!

Looking for some opinion here. We are on contract to buy a house right now. We hired a home inspector who told us that there are possible termites and termite damages. (He has a termite license and performed a separate WDO inspection). He estimates anywhere from $10k to $100k of repair. He saw evidence of termites including wood rots on exterior trimmings and sidings and mud tubes. We asked the seller if they are aware of this possibility. So they asked their terminate bond company who told them that there are no live active termites.

Who should I trust? My termite licensed home inspector who can't see behind the walls or the seller's termite bond company who's best interest is to say they did their job in the past and there are no issues.

Thank you!

David Silver · Answer

@Jia Liu I would trust the expertise of your inspector. That’s what you’re paying them for! Don’t pay attention to anyone working for the seller, that’s just noise. I would also get another opinion. 10k-100k is a huge range! As a buyer, once you’ve discovered termites you have the right to cancel the contract and get a full refund. Because of that fact, you have a lot of bargaining power.

In my experience, termite damage is always worse than imagined looking at it from the outside. Because it affects framing, it affects most aspects of the home construction. If you have to reframe a wall, you will have to put up new sheetrock, trim, paint, etc... so the costs escalate quickly. I would expect the damages to be on the higher side of the range.

On a positive note, if you get the house on a discount, you may have a construction budget to rebuild it as you want and improve the value. This could be an opportunity to add a bathroom or bedroom for example!

Marian Smith · Answer

@Jia Liu  How long ago was the activity detected?  what does the original report say?  what treatment was done and in what locations?  Were any repairs made to the damaged areas....because one way of treating termites in walls is to spray a termiticide foam at the top of the wall and let it drizzle down killing what is in the wall.  The studs may or may not be hollowed out or the bottom edge eaten up so nothing is supporting that section of wall...or mostly ok.  Who knows.  Was there leaking water or ground graded towards the house...and that fixed?   How old is this house?  Newer houses have pressure treated sill plates but not so sure about 50 years ago (I have seen 50 year old sill plates completely devoured by termites).  I am not sure how you can estimate damage but I think there are some infrared cameras or some technology that can look in walls...might just look for movement so active termites but might also compare density readings between areas of wall. I don't know about that.  But your inspector is telling you it could be a small amount of damage or the structure of the entire house could be compromised.  And that is true...but it takes a while for termites to eat a house....years, probably a decade.  Not an expert at all.

David Silver · Answer

@Jia Liu Termites are probably the most difficult pest to understand fully in terms of damage. It can be difficult to estimate.

I PM you if you want more information. Good luck!

Theresa Harris · Answer

Look at the wording you used...the bond company said no active termites-that doesn't mean there were no termites.  The damage could be old, but it is still damage.  I'd trust your inspector as he is working for you.  The termite company is working for the seller.  If you still aren't sure, call another termite company to inspect it.  It is a lot of money to risk.

Max T. · Answer

@Jia Liu

If casings are found then there are active termites. Anytime a treatment is done the company should be removing the visible casings.

Marian Smith · Answer

Sounds like your inspector made a misidentification.

Jia Liu · Answer

@Marian Smith @David Silver Thanks for letting me know about pressure-treated sill plates. Didn't know about that. The house was built in 1991. So, hopefully, it has pressure-treated wood?

• The home inspector inspected it about a week ago. He claimed that he saw mud tubes, termite galleries, and wood rot on exterior trims. He just performed visual inspections. We were present, but he didn’t show us in person where the mud tubes and termite galleries were.
• The seller's termite bond company told the seller that they didn't see any live termites.
• So, we hired another pest control company who went out there yesterday for a third opinion. This inspector also said he didn't see any signs of live termites. Just wood rots from water damage and fungi on the exterior trims. He walked around the house inside and out using a stick with a rubber end tapping on any wood members he could reach. Hearing for a solid/hollow sound of the wood members, I suppose. I specifically asked him about the mud tubes and the galleries that the original inspector found. He said he didn't see any of that. This inspector also mentioned that there are the Sentricon tubes all around the house. So that helped prevent termites. Would you guys agree?

So now we have one home inspector (termite inspection licensed) saying there are mud tubes and termite galleries and potential termite damage all around the house. Then we got two pest control inspectors (one from the seller's termite bond company and one from a third party we hired) saying there are no live termites. Just water damage wood rots and wood fungi.

I am leaning towards believing the two pest control inspectors. Maybe our home inspector was just exaggerating the fact to cover his own behind?? What do you guys think?

Thanks!

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Jia Liu · Answer

@David Silver thanks for the reply, David. I am gonna have a third party pest control company inspect it again. Do you know any nondestructive methods to check for termite damage? Without tearing the walls down to check for damages. Thanks!

Jia Liu · Answer

@Theresa Harris That was my thought too. Also thought the home inspector might be bringing up the worst case scenario so that he's covered when we actually find major damages in the future, if we buy.

Who to trust? Our home inspector or seller terminate bond company

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