By William Rodarmor

When we value something, we keep an eye on it, and that goes double for our homes. Because Bay Area is also home to wood-destroying fungus, termites, and beetles, it’s smart to call in a structural pest control inspector on a regular basis—not just when you’re buying or selling. And let’s be clear: when we say “inspection,” we’re not talking about a quick walk-through while spraying for ants. Too many people think that will take care of all their pest problems, when in fact it’s really just a superficial treatment. By contrast, a “structural” inspection is called that because the inspector checks for threats to your home’s structural integrity.

In our part of the Bay Area, subterranean termites and powder-post beetles can do a tremendous amount of unsuspected damage, so watching for them is wise preventive maintenance. “It’s like doing a periodic inspection of your car,” says pest control specialist Charles Mayer, “with the difference that the car starts losing value the minute you buy it, and the house doesn’t.”

Mayer, whose company has done pest-control work in the East Bay for decades, thinks you should call an inspector every two or three years. Inspecting more often than that is redundant unless you’ve had an ongoing problem, he says. Inspecting less often may miss potential problems.

John McDonald, the chief inspector for Mitts Termite Control in Albany, agrees—and suggests more frequent inspections for a certain kind of home. “Berkeley and Oakland have a lot of flat-roof, stucco houses with front parapets, and they’re very susceptible to problems,” he says. “Those flat roofs tend to leak, and that causes dry rot inside the walls and at the corners.”

McDonald’s company charges what he says is the market rate for a structural pest inspection: $250 for a single-family house, $290 for a duplex, and $320 for a triplex. Inspecting a single-family house takes from an hour to an hour and a half.

Such an investment can pay for itself many times over. Mayer recently inspected a house in El Cerrito and found that a garage added in the 1990s had suffered $18,000 worth of damage. “It leaked, there wasn’t any ventilation, and it had termites,” he says. “Just one inspection would have caught the problems.” The owners could have added vents and made some other minor corrections, Mayer says, and saved themselves a lot of money. (The garage addition had been done with a permit, yet the building inspectors hadn’t noticed the ventilation problem.)

Ironically, lack of ventilation is more of a problem with newer houses than older ones. Building codes were changed in the 1980s to make homes tighter and better insulated, mainly to save energy. But the result is often smaller crawl spaces and less airflow under houses, which leads to moisture buildup.

“If under-floor insulation is added, it can reduce the amount of air volume under the house by 20 to 30 percent,” Mayer says. When floors get damp, the insulation acts like a sponge. “It sucks up the moisture and transfers it to the wood framing members,” he says. “The result can be an enormous amount of damage in brand-new homes.” In addition to a creating a larger crawl space, he recommends installing fans or ductwork to move air under the house. But the key is eliminating damp places everywhere. Says Mayer: “The most important advice I give people is, “Don’t live with a leak.’”

The main problem caused by moisture is a fungus that causes what people commonly call “dry rot.” That’s a term Mayer dislikes. “There’s no such thing as ‘dry rot,’” he says. “Calling it that makes it sound inanimate, and fungus isn’t inanimate. It’s an organism.” If you’re going to call it anything, he says, call it “wood-destroying fungus” or “wood cancer.” (This also distinguishes fungus from other spore-based organisms such as mold and mildew.)

Fungus doesn’t rot the wood, says Mayer; it eats it, breaking down the cellulose fibers into starches and sugars. And its appetite is vast. When fungus attacks a beam or a joist, it leaves only a hollow shell behind. “It’s like a wooden pencil without the wood,” he says. “The paint is all that’s holding the shell together, and when you push on it with your finger, it collapses.” Homeowners can spot evidence of fungus if they pay attention. The wood in frames around doors and windows starts to look shrunken; members may no longer be quite vertical. Probing the wood with a knifepoint may give you bad news, but at least you’ll be warned.

Peter Damm, one of the owners of Berkeley Hills Realty, learned firsthand how fast fungus can act. “I remember noticing a soft spot at the corner of a large wood window frame in my living room, but I didn’t do anything about it,” he says. “By the time I thought to check it again, nearly the entire length of the frame—five feet—had rotted to the point where I could stick my finger through it, and in just a matter of months!”

The big problem with fungus is that it never sleeps. Unlike most plants, the fungus doesn’t die when it dries up; it goes dormant. As a result, the fungus thrives in our climate of intermittent rain. “It lives and eats in the rainy season, then dries out and goes dormant,” says Mayer. “Then, when it gets wet, the process starts all over again.” And unlike termites and beetles, which come and go when foraging, fungus stays put. “It doesn’t go anywhere,” says Mayer. “It just keeps eating away every time it gets damp. This is why it’s so important for people to not let this kind of thing happen.”

“When troubles come,” said Hamlet’s murderous stepfather, “they come not in single spies, but in battalions.” Was Claudius talking about bugs? We don’t know if Elsinore Castle had termites, but Northern California, with its mild climate and wooded areas, certainly does: subterranean, damp-wood, and dry-wood species.

As their name suggests, subterranean termites live in the earth or inside tubes they build, and send workers out to forage. Their calling card is a thin tube made of dirt or debris. You will sometimes see a tube sticking out of a door or a piece of wood trim, and if you scrape it off, you may see the termites inside. John McDonald views subterranean termites as a major threat to East Bay homes, and says that even concrete foundations don’t always stop them. “If there’s an infestation, they will build mud tubes right over the foundation to get to the wood,” he says. “To have a chance at keeping them out, the foundation must have at least six to eight inches of concrete showing on the outside.”

Damp-wood termites are usually found in retaining walls and logs lying on the ground, but they will move indoors if they find moisture. However, if you eliminate the moisture, you also eliminate them. Those termites can’t live in dry wood, so they either leave or die—which is another reason to find and fix leaks.

Finally, dry-wood termites generally prefer the southern part of the Bay Area. “You find them mainly in Hayward, Fremont, and Union City,” says McDonald. “They like the warmer weather there.” These termites can live on wood with as little as 2 percent moisture; they have even been found in the wood frame of an antique car. Dry-wood termites were once primarily a Southern California pest, but they have migrated north, probably in shipped landscaping materials or furniture. If you suspect dry-wood termites, look for piles of tiny pellets that look like sesame seeds. If you sweep them up, but see more pellets the next day, beware: you probably have company. Treating for dry-wood termites is much more serious and expensive than other kinds. “We do get them once in a while,” McDonald says, “and then you have to put a tarp over the whole house and fumigate it.”

In addition to termites, the East Bay is home to several kinds of wood-boring beetles. One species has a name a heavy metal band might envy: the California deathwatch beetle, which mainly eats softer woods like the fir and pine used in framing. But McDonald says its voracious colleague, the powder-post beetle, is the bigger danger. These beetles are long-term residents; you may only become aware of them if you notice the little holes they bore when they emerge. The bugs may been chewing away in your walls for two to five years before emerging, so you can have an infestation long before you know about it.

Pest-control specialists are the best people to spot and identify infestations, but homeowners can take action to keep fungus and bugs at bay. Aside from stopping leaks, the most useful thing you can do is to take a careful look around, and watch for warning signs. Do you see holes in your walls or floorboards, or small piles of sawdust? What about little tubes of dirt? Have the frames of your doors or windows shrunk? Really look at your house, and see what you notice—and if you feel suspicious, call for help.

William Rodarmor is a writer, editor, and French translator in Berkeley, California.

Need help with remodeling decisions? Feel free to call us at Berkeley Hills Realty, 510-524-9888. We’ll be happy to share our opinions and wisdom on your remodeling project.

 

1. Check for water stains around tubs and toilets, and promptly fix any leaks in roof, faucets, and pipes.

2. Clean your gutters and downspouts. Be sure rainwater runs away from your walls and foundation.

3. Rake accumulated dirt and debris away from foundations.

4. Don’t store lumber or firewood against your house, underneath it, or on a deck or porch. If you must store any wood under the house, put it on concrete piers or suspend it from joists.

5. Watch out for subterranean termite tubes and dry-wood termite pellets (they look like sesame seeds).

6. When building a wooden deck, leave about a 1/4-inch space between the deck boards, to ensure proper ventilation and avoid rot. Clean out any debris that accumulates between the boards.

7. In stucco houses, especially those with flat roofs, watch for leaks at corners and under parapet roofs, which can cause a lot of undetected damage.

8. Seal any cracks in the concrete on stairs leading to a front porch. If the wood framing supporting the stairs rots, replacement may be expensive.