The Property Damage To This Home In Tennyson Simply Wasn't Redeemable.

 by Gavin Godfrey

29 Mar 2023

Sometimes, a home is simply not suitable to purchase. It might be that the location isn't great, or it may be that it has undergone irredeemable damage that will require expensive repairs that leave the price point unsustainable. When we performed a recent building inspection in Tennyson on a townhouse, we found damage just couldn't be ignored.

When we arrived at this home, we weren't exactly sure what we'd find. The property was over 15 years old, but there was nothing glaringly wrong with the exterior. There is generally a responsibility of body corporate to check for termites every year in both the common areas and the perimeter of the estate, so it should have been unlikely that termites would have been present in this home. Once we began to inspect the property, however, the truth became obvious. Termites had made their way into the subfloor, and they'd evidently been there for quite some time.

We first noticed the damage when we walked on the floor, which began to sag while we moved and offered more flex than you would expect. The bearer of the floor, a section of timber that holds the flooring up, had been attacked by the termites, and we could see extensive damage. Looking at the rest of the bearers, there were other areas of damage throughout the subfloor.

Too often termite inspections are overlooked by body corporate, or the termite inspectors are chosen for external inspections are selected without diligence. With the townhouse, apartment or unit complex, if the exterior is not checked properly, termites are give plenty of opportunity to make their way into properties. Responsibility also rests with the townhouse owner to get internal termite inspections regularly, as would be a good idea with regular pest treatments.

In this instance, there was so much damage that it was not going to be a simple fix. The homeowner would need to call in engineers to inspect the structural integrity of the property, at which point they'd be ready to start the delicate process of removing the termites, tearing out the damaged parts, and replacing them with new materials. For our client, our pre-purchase building inspection in Tennyson was enough to turn them away from a property that would otherwise been costly and disappointing.

However, that doesn't mean the story doesn't have a happy ending. Once our client had selected another property, they called us in to perform another inspection, and they were satisfied with our findings. Last we checked, they're still happy with their purchase. If you need to perform a building inspection in Tennyson or anywhere else in Brisbane, you can contact the team here at Ironside Building, Pest & Pool Inspections on 0416 291 179.