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From the soil to the timber

Termites, the timber pest, and the Queensland house

Termites are a problem for homeowners throughout Queensland, the state’s building commission says. This guide follows them from the ground into the frame: the signs they leave, the barrier a new home is built with, the yearly inspection, the licences, the insurance, and the damp that draws them in.

A guide published by Dotto from the official sources linked on each page: the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC), the Queensland Government’s termite fact sheets, Queensland and federal legislation, and Moneysmart.

A slice of timber, eaten along its rings A drawn cross-section of a timber post. Growth rings circle the centre. Dark hollow channels follow the rings where termites have eaten the softer wood, joined by short cross tunnels, and a beaded mud tube climbs to the slice from below.
A drawing, not a specimen: galleries eaten along the rings of a timber post.
Three slices

Three things to know first

  • Every 12 months

    QBCC recommends a termite inspection at least every 12 months, or more often in high risk areas.

  • Throughout the state

    Species that damage timber in buildings occur throughout Queensland, though the coastal belt and the north are generally regarded as high hazard areas.

  • Not standard cover

    The standard cover the federal regulations set for home buildings insurance excludes “the action of insects or vermin”.

Six questions

Six questions about termites and the house

Each page answers one question from the Queensland agencies and laws that own the answer. Where a rule belongs to Queensland, the page says so.

  1. Signs of termites

    Mud tubes, hollow-sounding timber, discarded wings and frass: what the Queensland pages say to look for, and why to leave it alone once found.

  2. Termite barriers and new homes

    What Queensland’s version of the building code asks of a new house, the systems a builder can use, and what the owner keeps up afterwards.

  3. Termite inspections

    How often, who may do one, what the inspector looks at and with what, and the checks an owner makes in between.

  4. Licensed pest technicians in Queensland

    The pest management licence, the QBCC’s two termite licences, what the law says about working without one, and how to check.

  5. Termites and home insurance

    What the standard cover for home buildings leaves out, what home warranty does not cover, and where to read your own policy.

  6. Living with timber in a subtropical climate

    Damp, decay and borers: why moisture is the thread through all of it, and what a wet season or a flood asks of a timber house.

The edge of the house

Where termites get in

Attacks on buildings usually begin at a nest underground. When termites risk being exposed they build mud galleries, so they can travel over piers or walls to reach the timber, and most infestations occur at the perimeter of the building. That makes the bottom few hundred millimetres of a house the part worth knowing well.

Two ways termites reach a house, drawn in section Left: the edge of a concrete slab under a brick-veneer wall. The slab edge is left exposed for 75 millimetres above the ground and the weep hole sits above it, so a mud tube climbing the slab edge is in plain view. Right: a timber stump under a suspended floor, with a metal ant cap on top. A mud tube climbs the stump and is built out and around the cap, in the open. The ground to the underside of the floor framing is marked 400 millimetres. SLAB ON GROUNDSUSPENDED FLOOR ON STUMPS inside 75 mm 400 mm 123 456
Drawing not to scale. The details are from QBCC’s termite management booklet and the Queensland Government’s fact sheet on termites in buildings.
  1. 1The slab edge. Unless other barriers are installed, the vertical face of a slab’s perimeter should be permanently exposed for at least 75 mm.
  2. 2The weep hole. QBCC recommends at least 75 mm from the bottom of any weep hole to the top of a garden bed, concrete or unit paving.
  3. 3The tube in plain view. An exposed slab edge will not stop termites, but it encourages them out into the open, where they can be noticed.
  4. 4The ant cap. Ant caps on stumps do not stop termites getting in; they are a barrier to concealed entry and encourage termites into the open, where inspections can notice them.
  5. 5Around the cap. Termites can build around physical barriers, but they are more readily detected during routine inspections.
  6. 6The clearance. Under a suspended floor, a clearance of 400 mm between the finished ground and the framing is generally necessary.
The usual way it goes wrong

The most frequent cause of infestation, QBCC says, is a perimeter system that has been bridged or breached. Its examples of how that happens include turf, paving, concrete paths, bark and garden beds placed against the wall, timber stacked or leaning against the house, and unprotected carports, pergolas and fences attached to it. The barriers page walks through the systems and their upkeep.

Before anything else

The notice in the meter box

The building code requires a durable termite management notice in a prominent place on the property, usually the electrical meter box. It is the first thing to read about any house, because it says what is protecting it and what that protection needs.

What the notice must state, as QBCC lists it
  1. The termite protection method or methods used on the building.
  2. The installation date.
  3. If chemicals are used, the life expectancy on the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) label.
  4. How often the installer or manufacturer recommends termite inspections, and what the inspector should check.

For homes, extensions and renovations since about 1980, Timber Queensland’s flood guide says, the notice should be inside the meter box, or else in the cupboard under the kitchen sink. The inspections page explains what the notice sets in motion.

Two habits

Two kinds of termite in a house

Termites that damage houses, furniture and other timber are either subterranean or drywood termites, Business Queensland explains, and the two live very differently.

Subterranean

Usually live in the ground and need contact with the soil or another constant source of moisture. They move above ground inside enclosed mud galleries to reach a building, and are generally 3–7 mm long and pale brown or brown.

Drywood

Need no contact with the ground: the moisture in the timber is enough. They can arrive by flight or inside infested timber or furniture, and their colonies are small, a few hundred individuals. The introduced West Indian drywood termite is established in Maryborough and many Brisbane suburbs.

The signs page sets out what each one leaves behind.