In the NW, the Home Inspector, assuming they are a Licensed Structural Pest Inspector, had best be on the lookout for ants wandering around the exterior of the building–especially Carpenter Ants. On a recent inspection of a building with EIFS siding (Synthetic Stucco), I noticed Carpenter Ants trailing along the sidewalk. While I could discuss the errors in the EIFS installation, and the fact that the drip screed is not visible at the bottom, this post while possibly related to this omission is about Carpenter Ants. Following the trail I found where they were coming and going from the building at a hole under some door trim. Note the Carpenter Ant at the center of the picture.
This is almost never going to be a good thing and I made a mental note to make sure I checked this area closely both at the interior of the building and in the crawl space. Nothing was apparent at the interior, but when I got to the area in the crawl space that was under this door this is what I found.
Piles of Carpenter Ant Frass–almost entirely made up of foam insulation from the EIFS siding.
This is a really good example of how these ants don’t eat the wood–they merely mine it to create places to store their eggs and have ant parties. If you look closely at this “frass” you can see a dead Carpenter Ant, some wood “sawdust,” little beads of foam and–of course–cobwebs. Carpenter Ants are very opportunistic and will tunnel in wood or foam. Foam is really easy to mine–so why wouldn’ they?
If you are having a property inspected in the NW–make sure that the inspector is a Licensed Structural Pest Inspector–otherwise, they might not even know that the ants they didn’t even notice were Carpenter Ants and that even if they had noticed them they would not be allowed (by state law) to say what they were. You might then be looking at either another inspection–or risk finding out later about them–after much more damage had been done.
By Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle
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Ant party’s? LOL.
Gotta love ant parties 🙂
Charles, seriously now, does your state law prohibit an home inspector from indicating in a home inspection report a statement such as … During the inspection considerable material from insect intrusion was noted. Ants were seen coming and going from a noted opening. This is typical activity to be seen when carpenter ants and other ants that nest in cavities are present. We advise obtaining the services of a licensed pest extermination firm to determine type and extent of activity around the home and deal with this intrusion. Any damage they may have done may only be properly assessed through destructive investigation as the interior of the walls cannot be seen.
Bruce, all I can say is because it does. In order to discuss in a home inspection report the presence of wood destroying insects, one must be a licensed Structural Pest Inspector–a person that has been trained in the identification of wood destroying insects. You would have to understand a bit about the history of our home inspector licensing law to understand how this came to be. It used to be that in order to do home inspections in the State of Washington, you had to be a licensed Structural Pest Inspector. Certain parties found hard to get home inspector out from under the requirements of this law and this was the “compromise” that was arrived at. Far from perfect in my opinion and short-sighted to not required every home inspector to be a licensed structural pest inspector. Ironically most home inspectors in the state do hold both licenses as that is what the real estate community has come to expect.
What is up with these ants loving a little styrofoam box? do they eat this shit or do they just build colonies out of it?