While they were cutting out the floor and building the new staircase we taped up some black plastic tarps to block off the construction zone openings from the rest of the house. When they had to demolish our old concrete bathroom floor the entire house got covered in concrete dust. This time we didn’t want to take any chances, so we put the black plastic sheets up a few days in advance (last time they were a day early, so I didn’t get to put the sheets up).

Taping up the black plastic worked well and kept most of the dust out. I would recommend it to most people if you need to keep living in the house, and / or if you want to keep the rest of the house clean.

The biggest problem that we had is that the bathroom is on the other side of the black plastic. This made for some rather uncomfortable mornings, and a lot of trips out for lunch so that we could use the bathroom at the mall or the restaurant.

In the evenings we would peal back the tape and plastic a bit so that we could squeeze through for the bathroom. Not ideal, but it worked …

The amalgamation of Townsville and Thuringowa has led to delays in approval for various building projects around the city. Even with simple projects, right now it can take months for approval to of the plans to occur.

This delay was one of the reasons we chose not to replace our entire driveway. I reckon that it could also be slowing down other, small projects around the city.

Given the current wait time on finding trades people in Townsville it probably impacting larger building and renovation projects too much.

The people most affected by these approval delays are probably the owner builders and home handymen working on their own, small projects.

After writing my article about if I should get a yearly termite inspection I have been reading more about termite protection on our house. One of the things that I have read about a bit are “Termite Bonds“.

A termite bond is very similar to a termite warranty that we have with our termite treatment. It is provided by the company that treats the house for termites and protects the home owner from future termite infestations.

There are generally two different types of Termite Bonds: a retreatment bond and a repair bond.

1. Retreatment Termite Bond:
   The retreatment termite bond requires the company to retreat the house and property if a termite infestation is discovered in the treated areas.
2. Repair Termite Bond:
   The repair termite bond not only requires retreatment of the site if termite infestation is found, but also requires the company to repair any damage caused by the termite infestation. The amount of repair covered will depend on what is written up in the original bond. Some bonds also require high deductibles on any repairs that are required, or any materials needed during the repair of the termite damage.

Like the warranty on our termite treatment, many termite bonds require annual inspections, and some may even require a top up of the treatment used. It is very tempting at those times to skip the inspection and let the bond expire (as we debated when our annual termite inspection came around), but if your house came with a bond, it is probably best to keep up with it.

Here in Australia the average repair bill for a house with termite damage is about $7000. Given that most termite bond inspections only cost about $200, it is well worth it if you live in an area that has termite infestation problems (like most of Australia from what I understand).

Last week we had our yearly termite inspection on our house and property. When we had the house lifted and restumped, and the new slab poured, we had an anti-termite application installed called “Kordon”.

Kordon is a “chemical barrier sandwiched between a moisture membrane that is typically installed under concrete slabs and can replace the moisture membrane”. The company that did the Kordon termite barrier was Amalgamated Pest Control, as part of there “Termaforce” termite solution.

The Kordon termite application includes a 10-year warranty against termites, if we get it inspected by an authorised termite inspector every year for those 10-years. The inspection costs about $200 a year, so about $2000 for the life of the warranty.

Because termites are such a huge problem in Townsville and Tropical Australia the warranty is pretty important to our piece of mind. We have had the termite inspection for the last two years since we had the Kordon installed around the stumps and the slab when they were built.

It is reported that “there are an estimated 130,000 termite attacks in Australia per annum with a repair bill of $910 million and costing an average of $7,000 each to rectify” (source)., With an average of $7000 per repair, the $2000 over 10-years seems quite reasonable.

I reckon that despite the prevalence of termites in Townsville and North Queensland I would probably not get annual termite inspections if we did not want to maintain the warranty. If you know what to look for and keep an eye on your property you should be able to avoid termites, or at least detect them early on.

So what do you reckon? Should an professional termite inspection be a part of your yearly maintenance plan for your house? Or do you think you can keep an eye on things yourself be avoid termites devouring your home …