Recent posts here covered an August home inspection checklist, radon testing, and how technology shows up in a modern report. This month stays on wood destroying insects, because a buyer can pass a general walk through and still close on a house with active termites or old damage that nobody named in writing.
Checkmark Plus, Inc. performs residential and commercial inspections in New Jersey and New York, including termite inspections, radon testing, drone roof work, and thermal imaging. This article is a staging list for buyers and owners before closing. It is not a promise about any loan, seller credit, or treatment result.
A termite inspection is not the same job as a full residential inspection. The residential visit looks at structure, roof, electrical, heating, cooling, and plumbing. The termite visit looks for wood destroying insects, conditions that invite them, and signs of past treatment. Many New Jersey contracts and lenders treat those as two documents. Ask which reports you will actually receive, and who pays for each one, before the inspector arrives.
Start outside at the soil line. Subterranean termites live in the ground and need moisture. Wood that sits in soil, mulch piled against siding, a porch post with no clearance, and firewood stacked against the house are all invitations. Walk the perimeter with the inspector when you can. Point to the spots you already worry about. A photo of a pretty garden bed is not a finding. Wood touching soil is.
The inspector should look at the entire interior and exterior that can be reached safely, with extra time where wood meets soil. Crawl spaces, unfinished basements, sill plates, porch undersides, and garage framing are the usual work. A report that only says the living room looked fine is not a termite report. Ask what was inaccessible. A locked crawl hatch, stored boxes against a foundation, and a dog that will not let anyone into a yard all belong in writing.
Checkmark Plus publishes a dedicated page for termite inspections that describes a computer generated report covering findings, visible damage, and signs of past treatment. Use that page as the service description. Use the actual report as the decision file. If the PDF is missing photos of the soil line, the crawl, and any mud tubes, ask for those photos before you waive anything.
Learn the public signs so you are not surprised on site. The EPA termite identification and control page explains how termites hide in soil and mud tubes, how swarms get confused with ants, and why dry soil grading, open vents, and no wood debris against the house matter. That page is consumer guidance. It is not a substitute for a licensed inspection on the house you are buying.
Moisture is the other half of the story. A slow plumbing leak, a clogged gutter, and a grade that dumps rain toward the foundation keep wood wet. Wet wood is easier to eat. If the inspection notes moisture at a sill or a stain under a bath, do not treat that as a paint issue. It may be the reason insects are there. In Northern New Jersey, a licensed plumber can repair the leak. Bergen HVAC publishes plumbing installation work for that kind of follow up. The inspector finds the condition. The plumber repairs the water. Do not ask one license to do the other job.
Past treatment is useful only if someone can show what was done. A bait station in the yard, a sticker in a crawl, or a seller story about a company from years ago is not a warranty you can take to a lender. Ask for the company name, the date, and whether the plan is still in force. If nobody has paper, write that down. A new owner who assumes a live contract often finds out the contract died with the last owner.
The full residential home inspection still belongs in the same week. Roof leaks, grading, and HVAC condensate can feed the same moisture that insects use. A buyer who orders only the termite form to save a day often comes back to the same house for the rest of the systems. Put both visits on the calendar. Read both reports together. A clean termite page next to a wet basement page is not a clean house.
Lenders and attorneys will ask for a form, not a hallway conversation. Keep the report, the photos, and any NPMA style paperwork in one folder. If the contract has a deadline, put the inspection date early enough that a second visit can happen. A termite finding on the last allowed day is how buyers waive items they do not understand.
Owners who are not in a contract still have a reason to look once a year, which is the interval Checkmark Plus notes on the termite service page. Spring swarms and late summer moisture are both common times to notice a problem. An annual look is cheaper than a surprise at listing. If you already had a treatment, the annual visit is how you confirm the stations still make sense and the wood still looks solid.
Do not confuse carpenter ants, powder post beetles, and termites in a text to your agent. The report should name what was seen. If the inspector writes wood destroying insects without a species, ask what that means for treatment. Different insects need different follow up. Guessing from a phone photo of a wing on a windowsill is how families hire the wrong company.
Inaccessible areas are not a pass. They are a limit. If the crawl is too tight, the inspector should say so. If insulation covers the sill, the inspector should say so. Your attorney can then ask the seller for access, a limited reopen, or a credit that matches the unknown. A buyer who treats inaccessible as fine is buying a blind corner.
Bring a punch list when you schedule an inspection. Include the town, the contract dates, whether the lender asked for a wood destroying insect form, and any seller disclosure about prior treatment. Also note pets, locked gates, and a crawl hatch that needs a key. That list turns a generic appointment into a visit that matches the house.
After the report arrives, sit down with the photos before you talk numbers. Circle active signs, old damage, moisture, and wood soil contact. Decide what must be treated before closing, what can be monitored, and what is simply ugly wood. A seller who offers a one year bait contract is offering a service, not a rebuilt sill. Read the difference out loud so nobody confuses them.
New construction is not automatically clear. Fresh lumber, grade that has not settled, and mulch installed on listing day can hide the same soil contact. Ask whether a pretreatment was done, and keep that paper with the report. If nobody has a pretreatment record, treat the house like any other wood building on soil.
Commercial buyers have longer runs of framing, more slab edge, and tenants who store cardboard against walls. The idea is the same. See the soil line. See the moisture. Get the findings in a report with photos. Do not rely on a maintenance person who has never looked under the dock.
If treatment is needed, hire a firm that is licensed for that work in the state. The EPA page is clear that many termiticide jobs belong with trained pest professionals, and that labels matter. Checkmark Plus inspects. It does not replace a treatment company. Keep those invoices next to the inspection PDF so a later buyer or lender can see the chain.
A swarm on a warm evening is a reason to inspect, not a reason to panic buy a drum of chemical at a hardware store. Identify whether you saw termites or ants. Then book the visit. Store bought sprays that only kill insects on contact do not protect the structure, which is a point the EPA page makes for consumers who want a product that claims to kill termites without protecting the building.
Write the date on the report folder when you finish reading it. Next year you will want to know whether this was a clean year or a treatment year. Buyers who close without that folder spend the first winter guessing. Owners who keep it can hand it to the next inspector and save an hour of history talk.
If you are buying in New Jersey or New York and you need the wood destroying insect file in the same week as the rest of the house, bring the contract dates and the access notes. The useful visit is the one that happens early enough to act on what the report actually shows.
