carpenter ants: Bellingham Home Inspection (King of the House) -- The Care And Feeding Of Wood Destroying Organisms - 03/10/08 03:26 PM

As a working home inspector, and a Washington State licensed structural pest inspector, I find numerous wood destroying organisms sharing residences with the mortgage paying, tax paying homeowners. The various wood destroying organisms are not helping pay the mortgage or the taxes but they are having a significant impact on the property. … (0 comments)

carpenter ants: Bellingham Home Inspection (King of the House): Carpenter Ant Infestation - 02/29/08 04:25 PM

I was up in Point Roberts, WA. Interesting place, trees all around and many vacation homes. Because of the wooded landscape, it is common to find carpenter ants. Carpenter ants often have nests in nearby trees or old stumps or even old wood below grade so if a person lives near … (10 comments)

carpenter ants: Whatcom County Home Inspection (King of the House): Pest Inspector Methodology - 02/22/08 03:13 PM
 When performing a structural pest inspection, an inspector is likely to "sound the wood." The basic idea is two fold. One possibility is that the wood will, hence the name, "sound" different if it is damaged, hollow, soft. This is a technique that works quite well on exterior logs on log … (5 comments)

carpenter ants: Bellingham Home Inspector (King of the House): Analysis Of An Invasion -- Carpenter Ants - 01/27/08 03:23 PM
A pest that we see often in the wooded Pacific Northwest is the carpenter ant. Carpenter ants are not all exactly the same size or color.  In fact there are many different species but they get their name, as a group, because of the way the ants categorized as carpenter ants chew the wood … (3 comments)

carpenter ants: Bellingham Home Inspection Photos (King of the House): Carpenter Ants - 12/09/07 12:08 AM
I went hunting in a crawl space the other day and made a rather dramatic find. If you look at the top photo, this is evidence that a competent structural pest inspector will be on the lookout for. That is classic carpenter ant frass. Look above the sill plate. Now, honestly, sometimes an inspector wonders … (5 comments)

carpenter ants: Home Inspection Bellingham WA (King of the House Inc): Carpenter Ants - 08/22/07 04:20 PM
 The state of Washington WSDA considers the carpenter ant to be the most "important" insect pest in the state. I kind of question the word "important" and think it might be better to just say the most "significant" insect pest. The carpenter ant is much misunderstood by the average person. For … (3 comments)

carpenter ants: Bellingham Property Inspection (King of the House, Inc): Carpenter Ants and Wood Destroying Organisms - 07/25/07 08:53 AM
 Those of us who are home inspectors get used to our own lingo. And the realtors who have been in the business for some time understand most of it. Today, I had a reminder, in speaking to a realtor, that all the technical words we inspectors think are common might not … (10 comments)

carpenter ants: Crawl space ventilation and Washington Law - 07/20/07 01:28 AM
There have been a number of blogs, among us home inspector types, discussing crawl space ventilation and lack of same. Some inspectors in other parts of the country are recommending that crawl space vents be closed. As I have pointed out, in this state the rules on this go beyond mere … (2 comments)

carpenter ants: Anobiid Beetles -- Smaller than a grain of rice yet they destroyed this home! - 06/22/07 11:53 PM

Yesterday I had the unpleasant job of letting a realtor and my client know that a home that was other wise not too bad, had been destroyed underneath by a secretive and very destructive wood destroying organism. I am speaking of the dreaded anobiid beetle. I have heard people say, "ah, don't worry about … (9 comments)

carpenter ants: Bellingham WA home inspections (King of the House): Carpenter ants - 05/12/07 11:15 AM
The shavings, in the first photo below, are typical of what an inspector might see inside the home. And it is not caused by a lousy housekeeper. Although I suppose one could argue that a good housekeeper would keep a step ahead of the ants. Carpenter ants are one of the … (1 comments)

 
Inspector: Steven L. Smith, Bellingham, Wa. Home Inspector (King of the House Home Inspection)
Steven L. Smith, Bellingham, Wa. Home Inspector
Bellingham, WA
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King of the House Home Inspection

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