So, you are saying that you damaged that house with that claw hammer.  I am just getting it straight for the depositon.  LOL, just kidding,  I love my imspector he has saved me thousands of dollars.

Dave Woodson

Dave,

In this state, with tough WDO rules, the inspector would be more likely to get in trouble for doing a lousy inspection, than for probing the wood. The WSDA requires it, obviously not in the exposed wood. In fact, here is a list from last month of inspectors who failed to meet WSDA minimum guidelines. They put out regularly the names of people they cite or fine. Getting your name on this list is something you try to avoid. There was only one structural pest inspector at the top of the list, the rest were applicators but WSDA supervises both professions.

As inspectors we like to think we only "break" those things that are already broken

I was told once by a termite person that only old houses have "powder post beetle" problems.  Evidently they leave tiny holes in the wood, sorta like the aged look people try to put on new furniture.  Do you ever see them?  In fact, an old house that I bought had them and I swore never to buy an old house again.

Barbara,

Powder post beetles are different than what I was writing about. The names are often used interchangeably, but should not be. The powderpost is the Lyctid beetle. The anobiid beetle, that we have in WA state, leaves similar looking damage (to the untrained eye) but is a different pest with very different characteristics and biology. The powder post beetle, here in WA, we only see in hardwood, like hardwood flooring, trim picture frames, furniture. We see it inside. The anobiid loves damp coastal areas and crawl space lumber, the softwoods. It takes the pest five years or more years to exit wood, leaving the bb sized holes. Lyctid leaves a smaller hole. So, in theory, you rarely see anobiid exit holes in a home under about ten years of age. But I have seen them in a number of houses that age and older. In fact,  mainly they are in unventilated, damp, older crawl spaces. If a house is 50 plus years, around here,  it is common to see a few such holes, or maybe a lot. I have written a number of blogs on the anobiid or deathwatch beetle. Here is a link to one such article. 

Anobiid beetle link