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Guide 2 of 5

What a timber pest inspection cannot see, and what limits the report

Queensland’s building regulator (the QBCC) says plainly that any timber pest inspection is limited by the inspector’s competencies and affected by impediments at the time of the inspection.

The impediments it names are deliberate concealment of pest activity, areas or items that cannot be inspected for any reason, the weather, and the quality of what the owner or their representative says.

Two panels. To scale: the house inside the band the inspection covers, its outline offset 30 metres, with a scale bar from 0 at the wall to 30 metres. The house, enlarged and not to scale: the same walls as three plans pulled apart, roof space over rooms over subfloor, with ink on the places a source names to look at, tap or test for moisture, the paper inside the walls hatched and marked not inspected, and the band’s conditions around the walls. The house is not any particular home. To scale the house the band 30 m 0, the wall Ticks every 5 m. The band is the property within 30 metres of the building, as Queensland’s building regulator (QBCC) describes the standard’s inspection. LOOKa visual inspection TAPnon-marking sounding of elements MOISTUREthe moisture content of materials garden beds and mulch against the wall materials stacked against the wall paving that sends water towards the house trees or bush near the building The house, enlarged · not to scale ROOF SPACE roof timbers ROOMS skirting boards, architraves, cornices, the wet rooms SUBFLOOR piers or stumps, ant caps, the slab edge inside the walls: not inspected an open door or window Who may inspect, by stateWho may inspect in QueenslandQLDWho may inspect in New South WalesNSWWho may inspect in the ACTACTWho may inspect in VictoriaVICWho may inspect in Western AustraliaWA What the inspection checks 1 What it cannot see 2 How far it reaches 3 Who may inspect, by state 4 Drywood termites and the roof space 5
The band and the small house in it are to scale; the enlarged house is not, and is no particular home. The 30 metres and the three ways of reading are the QBCC’s account of AS 4349.3.

LOOK visual. TAP non-marking sounding. MOISTURE content of materials. QBCC’s words for the standard.

The house, enlarged

Roof space roof timbers inside the timber: not inspected Rooms skirting boards, architraves, cornices, the wet rooms inside the walls: not inspected Subfloor piers or stumps and ant caps, the slab edge on a slab floor, termites are more likely to go undetected
Who may inspect, by state QLDNSWACTVICWA

The band, 0 to 30 m

0 m, against the wall Garden beds and mulch built up against the wall. Materials stacked against the wall. 30 m, the band’s edge (QBCC) The surrounding property within 30 metres of the building, in QBCC’s account of the standard. Near the building, no stated distance Paving that sends water towards the house. Trees or bush near the building.

What a visual inspection reads

The inspection is visual and non-invasive: it reads surfaces.

Victoria’s building regulator describes termites working in concealed places that often go undetected, destroying timber from the inside and leaving a thin outer layer.

A visual, non-invasive inspection does not see through that layer. What it can do is say where it could not look, and Queensland’s building regulator (the QBCC) lists those limits with the inspection.

The impediments the QBCC’s booklet names

  • Deliberate concealment of pest activity
  • Areas or items that cannot be inspected for any reason
  • Prevailing weather conditions
  • The quality and accuracy of information from the homeowner or their representative

Queensland’s guidance says an infestation is more likely to remain undetected where the floor is slab-on-ground than where it is suspended.

Queensland’s guidance says that where a feature cannot be removed or modified, inspections should give those areas careful attention.

Where the inspection stops, and where the termites do not

Queensland’s guidance lists the routes in: the slab edge, cracks, joints and imperfections in the concrete, and the space around service pipes.

An established barrier does not remove the problem either. Queensland’s advice is that regular inspections exist to check that termites have not bridged it.

In the ACT, a pest inspection report must set out the circumstances in which reliance may be placed on it.

What the limits are

Queensland’s list of what a report should comment on ends with recommendations for further investigation or action, and that is the place a limit can be answered.

The limits are the inspection’s shape: visual, non-invasive, and bounded by what the day and the building allowed.

Victoria’s building regulator: the Victorian Building Authority’s guide to termites advises buyers to engage a properly qualified pest inspector with experience and insurance.