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It's not just the characters in The Wizard of Oz that must be on the look out for frightening animals - it's also certified home inspectors, and their watchfulness during a real estate inspection should also include insects.
Now it's probably an exaggeration to say that they must watch for animals and insects themselves, but more accurately the signs of their presence, which can point to serious infestation issues in the house. Solid home inspection training will introduce you to a wide range of varmints that can invade a house.
In terms of insect infestation, one of the most notorious offenders is the world-famous termite. There is so much to look at with termites, that we'll devote an entire future blog to the subject of termites, so we can do their mischief justice. For now, however, we'll just look at ants, beetles, bees and wasps.
Ants survive in a home when they find a source of moisture. Unlike termites, they don't eat wood, but often damage the house when building their nests. Little piles of sawdust-like material often point to a nearby nest. Many beetles are a problem too, because their larvae can damage wood; tiny holes in wood are a good indication that beetles are near.
Bees often dig into siding or trim to lay their eggs, whereas yellow jackets build a paper-Mache like nest in the nooks and crannies of the house. The safest way to handle yellow jackets is to spray the nest at night when the colony is dormant.
Homes were meant men, not mice, so inspectors should look for a trail of black droppings, which would indicate mice activity. Rats are a bit more serious because of they are often carriers of disease - rat holes are generally about an inch in diameter. When you become a home inspector you will enter the house like a detective, looking for clues of deficiencies in the house.
Licensed home inspectors must also look for signs of flying creatures, like bats and birds, who may have moved in without the owner's permission. Bats often make themselves at home in attics, and their droppings can create a real mess. Birds are also identified by droppings in the house, and are a more serious problem because of their noise and the possible diseases they bring with them.
When researching home inspection schools, examine their course materials closely and see whether they dedicate a part of the course to helping you find the signs of bats, rats and wasps, oh my!
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