Home › Inspections › How often should a house be inspected?

How often should a house be inspected for termites?

By · Updated

Annually is the baseline across Australia. Where it should be more often, and what happens to your barrier if you skip it, is the part that gets missed.

The standard answer, and who gives it

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission puts it directly: hire a licensed pest controller to inspect and report on your property every year, or more often in high hazard areas. That twelve-month baseline is consistent across state advice and across the industry, and it is not a sales figure. It reflects how fast a colony can go from first entry to structural damage in a warm climate.

An annual professional inspection does not replace looking yourself. It replaces relying on looking yourself, which is a different thing. The places termites are found most often (the subfloor, the roof void, inside the cavity) are the places a homeowner rarely goes.

When twelve months is not enough

Six-monthly is the usual step up, and the triggers are worth knowing:

  • High-hazard regions. Northern Queensland and other tropical areas carry both more pressure and more aggressive species. QBCC notes North Queensland specifically as needing heightened protection.
  • A history of activity on the property, treated or not.
  • Active termites next door, or bushland, large trees or old stumps on or beside the block.
  • A house with known conducive conditions that have not been fixed: a closed-in subfloor, persistent damp, garden beds over the slab edge.
  • A property under an active baiting or monitoring program, where the visits are part of the treatment and follow the technician's schedule rather than an annual cycle.

The part people do not expect: the barrier depends on it

This is the argument that changes minds. A termite management system installed to AS 3660 comes with an inspection regime attached, and that regime is a condition of the system continuing to do its job. And often of any warranty on it remaining valid.

QBCC explains the mechanism. The Building Code requires a durable termite management notice to be installed in a prominent place, usually inside the electrical meter box. It records the method used, when it was installed, the expected life of any chemical component, and the recommended inspection schedule. That notice is the house telling you what it needs.

Two things follow. First, if you have never looked in your meter box, look now. It is the fastest way to find out what your house was built with. Second, a barrier that has not been inspected on schedule is, for practical purposes, of unknown condition. It may be intact, or it may have been bridged years ago by a garden bed.

What you should be doing between inspections

Not a substitute: a supplement, and it takes fifteen minutes:

  • Walk the perimeter and look at the slab edge, the weep holes and anywhere soil, mulch or paving is built up against the wall.
  • Tap skirtings and door jambs in wet areas and along external walls.
  • Look for mud tubes on piers, stumps, fences and retaining walls.
  • Check that nothing is leaking against a footing: a tap, a downpipe, a hot water relief line, an air conditioner drain.
  • After summer storms, check windowsills for shed wings.

If you find something, the rule is the same as everywhere on this site: leave it exactly as it is and get it looked at. Do not break the tube, do not open the timber, do not spray it.

Frequently asked questions

Is annual inspection really necessary if I have a barrier?

It is more necessary, not less. A barrier is designed to prevent concealed entry, which means it forces termites to build a visible tube around it. And that tube only helps you if somebody is looking for it.

Where do I find out what system my house has?

Check the electrical meter box. The Building Code requires a durable termite management notice in a prominent location recording the method, the date and the inspection recommendations.

Can I inspect the house myself instead?

You can and should walk the property between inspections, but it does not replace a professional one. The subfloor, the roof void and the wall cavities are where activity is usually found, and they need access, instruments and experience.

Sources

What this page explains is based on these official sources. If you check one and it does not match what you read here, send it to us and the article gets corrected.

Keep reading