The Termites found in this home were the “Coptotermes Acinaciformis” Subterranean species of which there are 2 main ones in Perth these here are the most ferocious of eaters and the most aggressive.
The whole garage ceiling collapsed with one small pull.
The Termites like complete darkness and will also try to keep their mud tubes out of site hidden and in the dark therefore sometimes very hard to find.They build the mud tubes to travel in – formed from soil, their poo & regurgitated liquid wood, this also keeps the temperature controlled to which they like and must have along with complete darkness.
Main entry and return to nest point up the back of the single brick pillar
The Colony to which the Termites will travel back and forth to under the ground some where several times a day will probably be under the garage concrete slab and given the Perth building process and practice many garage slab areas are not sprayed prior to laying!
Or if there are damp & old tree areas around especially Gum trees the Colony can also be out within the site of the home which can quite often contain 1 million of them the Queen the Workers and the Soldiers. They travel back and forth to feed the Queen & Colony regurgitating the liquefied timber it has eaten.
Exploratory mud tube through garage brick pillar closest to the personal door into the home the only visual sign of termite presence prior to the ceiling issue
Main Mud tube area concentrated at the top of the pillar showing that the termites were coming up behind and between the single outer skin and the pillar tied with brick tie.
Ceiling joists completely hollowed and eaten out
In this case the most effective eradication process will be to get my preferred poisons and pest control person to dust the areas with an arsenic type powder and leave untouched for two weeks as we must not disturb the area until enough poison has been taken back to the colony.
I would then complete a final check with the TermaTrac prior and also confirm the simplest and safest structural repair without causing any internal ceiling damage to the main home area. Then we can rebuild and remove accordingly so as to ensure the minimal replacement cost given that these sort of issues are not covered by the Insurance companies.
Soldier termite in my hand very aggressive.
Soldier termite not a worker in this photo
Termatrac Machine found main areas of ongoing activity.
Hanger beam over foyer ceiling area we will place a new beam to the side and leave this in-situ so as to not ruin the ceiling area within the home and incur more costs.
Completely personalized, and even though the owners were not obligated to find the minor issues sighted, was good for our own maintenance plans.
So quick and easy to deal with, and a great price. Would gladly use again."