Home Inspections

An Interview with Ken Perry, the Termite Hunter of Albuquerque

January 30, 2016 by The Sugar Team

The Sugar Team recently had the opportunity to interview termite inspector Ken Perry of Perry’s Termite to talk about the different termite species in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho, what to look for, and of course, how to eliminate them.

The Sugar Team: How did you get into the termite business?

Ken Perry: I was doing construction when I was about twenty-two years old, right after high school, framing and home repair for an apartment complex, and playing softball at the time in my spare time. One of my buddies was working at Terminex. We got into talking about how much he made, how much I made, and he was making twice as much as I was…killing bugs! So, I stopped framing and stopped doing what I was doing in home repair and went over to Terminex where he was. So, I actually started in 1986 with Terminex here in Albuquerque, and worked with Terminex for maybe five years. I transferred with Terminex to Tempe, Arizona. I then went to Truly Nolan and got more experience with Truly Nolan in both Phoenix and down in Tucson. They’re very big in termites down in Tucson. So, later I managed a couple of branches for Truly Nolan in both Green Valley which is a little retirement community South of Tucson and also in Tempe. It all started with two big companies for me back in 1986 with Terminex and Truly Nolan. And I spent a short time with Superior Pest Control here in Albuquerque which was a very good family-owned company. Then I started my own business: Ken’s Termite in Albuquerque. Oh goodness…18 years ago! So, it all started back when I was only twenty-two years old. This year it will be my 29th year doing termites!

ST: Congratulations! That’s a long time! How many people presently are on your staff?

KP: My wife and I own it. She runs the office. She’s the most important person. I think I would be lost without her. I wouldn’t be able to stay on top of everything..scheduling, timing, supplies and materials, billing and collecting. There’s just no way to do it without a strong office person. I don’t know how anyone (small business) can do it without a person: someone like Diana. So, it’s just her and I, and then I’ve got three full-time guys that help me with termite and dry-rot repair. And then two others that are part-time. So, five: three full-time and two that are part-time when needed.

ST: Focusing on Albuquerque, New Mexico, are there even termites here?

KP: Yes! A lot of times people don’t believe we have them. Of course, it also depends on the part of town. The Westside of albuquerque-real-estate-termite-damage Albuquerque and Rio Rancho are probably the worst, I think because of the soft, sandy soil. I believe—depending on who you talk to—in many cases there’s four feet or more of sand on top of the lava rock. On the Westside for instance—Taylor Ranch, North of there…Paradise Hills area, Rio Rancho—it’s real soft soil on the Westside in comparison to granite up in the Heights. We get them in the Heights as well, but not as often as you see them on the Westside of town primarily. Generally speaking, it’s not a very aggressive termite compared to other places I’ve experienced termites: Phoenix, Tempe… Actually, they have very aggressive species in Arizona and even in California. So, we do have them, but they don’t do very much damage. They’ll chew up some dry wall a lot of times, and you can often look inside of a wall. They may nibble on a stud here and there, but they don’t do a whole lot of damage which probably leads to why people believe that we really don’t have termites. It’s because they’re not as aggressive.

ST: How serious is it if a house has termites?

KP: Well, generally it’s not very serious. Let’s say for instance, one of the worst areas for termites is Corrales Heights in Rio Rancho if you’re familiar with that area. That little community is probably one of the worst areas in Rio Rancho. You can look into almost any one of those houses and check the walls, and it’s not uncommon to find termite evidence in more than one room. In multiple rooms! Probably in many cases in most of the rooms in those homes. But one thing I’ve discovered is although you’ll have termite evidence in all these rooms on the dry wall, you’ll open the walls to the studs and you’ll find that the studs are in decent shape. They’re still structural sound. So, I think that’s one of the reasons why I always tell people not to worry too much about termites if it’s diagnosed from a termite inspector. If there’s a concern you can look in the dry wall, but I just don’t do a lot of repair work here. I may change out a bottom plate once in a while, or a stud, or a piece of blocking, but usually it’s just dry wall damage. So, it’s probably due to the weak species that we have, that arid desert species. The colonies are smaller, and they don’t require as much moisture as other species. Our elevation—5,000 foot elevation—and a lot of factors come into play on why this species just isn’t as aggressive.

ST: How do they find their way into a house?

KP: Well, they forage through the soil randomly. They’re blind first off. Termites are blind. So, they’ll just forage around, and what they’re looking for are shadows. They can sense shadows which are temperature changes. For instance, if they’re foraging out in the yard somewhere the temperature above them is a certain degree. When they start foraging and find their way under the foundation of a house that temperature changes ten, fifteen degrees. So, their natural instinct is to go up and to explore. And that’s how they find houses.

Their food…they’ll continue eating wood unless it’s a cedar picket fence which they try to avoid generally. They prefer the more softer woods like pines and Douglas firs. They’re looking for woods with lots of cellulose.

So, they’ll attack dog houses, they’ll come up around tree stumps unless it’s a living tree. They won’t touch a living tree, for instance. The moisture content in the root system is too high. So, if it’s a tree that’s stressed out they attack the root system, and they start killing the tree. So, whether it’s tree stumps, or fences…they’ll even try to work their way around foundations of block walls—obviously there’s no cellulose there—until eventually they find a house. When they find a house they try to work their way up through plumbing penetrations. Cold water lines will sweat (condensate), so even the slightest amount of condensation from a cold water line is enough to attract termites to a house. Basically, they accidentally find houses unless an owner has a water leak that goes undetected or bad grading issues where the water is draining against the foundation of a house. Then, you may attract a termite problem quicker.

ST: When you discover that a house has termites, what is the typical solution to eliminate them?

Subterranean Termite

KP: It depends on what type of termite. We have three species of termites that we deal with. Subterranean’s the most common. Drywood termite which we have, but not as common. We even have Damp Woods along the river which is very, very rare. But usually if you’re going to have a Damp Wood termite problem it’s in a crawlspace that has no ventilation, and the wood has to have a high amount of moisture in it. I’ve only had one case of Damp Woods in Albuquerque. I came across Damp Wood termites a lot in San Francisco, California, but not here in New Mexico. Only once.

So, it depends on what is found. Let’s assume Subterranean termites (the most common).

Drywood Termite

They’re a few things you can do. Localized treatment is actually an option, depending upon the situation. If it’s isolated to one area you do have the option of doing a localized treatment. It’s not the primary recommendation, but more of a secondary. The primary recommendation would be to treat the entire house. You can do that one of two ways: 1) conventional, chemical soil application where the exterior perimeter of a house is trenched. The folks will trench down about six inches or more and about six inches out, and inject chemical into the soil. They will also drill the perimeter of Ken-Perry-termite-drilling-albuquerque-real-estate the slabs that abut the structure half-inch diameter holes about one-foot apart. Same thing: treat the area underneath the slab, patch the holes. They may go inside, pull carpet back on some foundations, although interior drilling is starting to go away because of the labels of the chemicals which allow for perimeter-only. Localized on the inside—combined with a full perimeter treatment on the outside. Second reason, a lot of these newer homes are constructed with Pex. You’re getting into a lot of the high tech plumbing, plastics, polybutylene in Rio Rancho, Pex tubing. So, a lot of the construction now is getting away from copper. The reason I’m mentioning that is our drills are designed with a kill box or stop box. When it hits grounded copper it shuts it off, so it doesn’t drill and penetrate the copper line. Well, there’s no protection when you’re drilling plastic; you’re going to go right through it. You have no idea, so you don’t want to flood a house. So, the treatments nowadays primarily are mostly exterior barriers and plumbing penetrations. If you’re dealing with dry wood termites there’s no full-perimeter treatment on dry wood. That is strictly localized treatment with dry wood termites.

ST: What is the worst case of termites you’ve ever seen?

KP: One was pretty scary! It was actually in San Francisco in the Bay Area. Daly City, a Ken-Perry-termite-trenching-albuquerque-real-estate place just South of San Francisco. This house had all three species of termites! Subterranean, Dry Wood and Damp Wood! Significant damage to the floor (there was a crawl space). It was on the side of a hills so, it had issues with water run off. There was rot as well to some of the rim joists in the crawl space. So, that one was a challenge for me and a little bit scary in that I was concerned that I may not be able to stop all of these termites and rot, because it had all three. That was an interesting one for me! And I didn’t have the crew in California like I have here now. So, doing a lot of it on my own was a challenge. There was major damage to the rim joists, the floor joists, the sub floor, and the support posts. I was having to shore up a lot of the girders in the crawl space, just so the home didn’t collapse on me in certain sections because the termite damage was so bad. That was in Daly City- I’ll never forget Daly City.

ST: Is there anything that the Homeowner can do on a regular basis to prevent termites from entering their home? Is there anything they should look for that may signal termites?

KP: Yes, one thing they should look for first off is peeling paint. A lot of homeowners when I’ve discovered termites knew they had something; they just didn’t know what it was. A lot of times it was the peeling, blistering paint and what looked like little specs of mud behind that. So, I would say to a homeowner, “If you have a house with dry wall, and you notice the exterior wall, the dry wall that is on the outer wall, or the dry wall that’s on the backside of plumbing. If you ever notice that start to peel back, always have someone check that out.” Dry wall doesn’t generally just start peeling on its own. There’s always a reason for it. So, I would say, look for peeling paint first off. The other two things would be grading issues and moisture leaks. If you notice any drain leaks under a sink or a bathroom or excessive water around a toilet or say, a shower curtain that doesn’t close tightly or a door that might be leaking down the side in a bathroom even something as simple as taking a shower and having water run outside that tub down onto the baseboard is a bad idea So, I would say keep on top of moisture leaks (plumbing leaks). Grading on the outside: make sure that the run off—snow melt or rain water—doesn’t collect against the foundation. You’re just asking for a problem if you have grading issues on a house. You want it sloped away from the foundation as best you can. It’s always related to water with termites, because they’re everywhere. They’ll find your house. It’s whether or not they decide to stay at your house. Sometimes you can help direct them away by keeping your water issues to a minimum.

However, having experienced termites in New Mexico, Arizona and California I would say if you’re a homeowner, buyer or seller and you have a diagnosis of termites by a termite inspector, I would say, “Don’t panic!” In New Mexico termites don’t do much damage. Don’t panic. Don’t run. If you like the house, don’t freak out because of termites. They are a weak species. Get a couple of opinions. And dry wall is easy! If you find an area and you’re worried there’s stud damage it can’t be any more than a $100 bill to have someone come in, open a little bit of dry wall, and just look at the studs. And more often than not, you’ll find that the studs are fine. It’s just a little bit of cosmetic repair needed to some dry wall.

ST: How does Perry’s Termite differentiate themselves from their competitors here in Albuquerque?

KP: One of the differences, I think, in my company compared to most companies in New Mexico: I will warranty my termite inspection reports for real estate for one year—even hidden termites. I don’t know if anyone else is offering that yet. Hidden termites are excluded in most other company’s warranties. For instance, if I perform a termite inspection for you today on a house and if it checks out fine (no signs of termites), and later during a remodel you open up a wall and find termites. All you need to do is call me and I’ll take care of it because it’s under warranty. That’s probably the main difference between me and everyone else: the warranty on real estate termite inspection reports.

We surely are impressed by Ken’s knowledge and experience! Twenty-nine years of experience is definitely nothing to sneeze about. When he does inspections for us his love for his job completely shines through (we tease him by telling him that his enthusiasm reminds us of the “Crocodile Hunter”).

So, if you find suspected termite evidence in your home, whatever you do, don’t panic! 🙂

Sincerely,

Sutter & Linda Sugar

(505) 850-9977

Home@TheSugarTeam.com

The Albuquerque Duct Whisperer: Interview with Caleb Koke, Owner of Professional Radon and Sewer Scoping Services

February 26, 2015 by The Sugar Team

Sutter Sugar of The Sugar Team recently set down with the Owner/Operator of Professional Radon and Sewer Scoping Services Caleb Koke to talk about in-floor ducts, duct problems and their remedies in homes.

Caleb’s company has over four years of experience in this line of work. A sharp entrepreneur all on his own, he has owned multiple businesses and decided to go into a line of work with a strong need for professional inspections and top-notch remedies. We had the opportunity to probe (pun intended) into this integral component of the housing industry.

The Sugar Team: Based on your experience, when do you think a home should have a duct inspection?

Professional Radon and Sewer Scoping Services: As soon as possible. As soon as you know you have in-slab ducts I would recommend you do a duct inspection.

ST: How do you do a duct inspection?

PRSS: The only way is with a visual camera inspection. It is a fiber-optic camera. We have the best equipment on the market. It’s a self-leveling, color, full, high-definition picture camera. It gives you the best imagery that you can get from a remote distance. Because the ducts are in a location that’s inaccessible, you have to have some sort of a camera. All of our cameras are 200 feet, so you can really get in wherever you need to, permitting the system allows us. Different configurations don’t let us get to everything, but our intention for the inspection is to see the duct system as best as we can to get the best picture of what we can see. Imagine a flexible push-rod with a camera attached at the end. The inspector removes all the duct registers and then feeds the camera through. There’s a pattern where the inspector’s taking notes as he’s going through the inspection to accurately represent the system. However, there’s a common misconception with good airflow. Just because you have air flow doesn’t guarantee that a duct is in good condition. There have been ducts that we have gone into that could be completely rusted, collapsed in one area, full of dirt, but there’s still some air getting through. You would assume everything’s fine, but you have no idea until you actually see it.

ST: What does a duct inspection cost?

PRSS: We charge $179 for a duct inspection all by itself. We also offer a combo-package, where we can inspect both the in-floor ducts and the sewer line.

ST: I’d imagine upon reviewing the duct inspections you see a lot of funny things… What are some of the strangest things you’ve found inside of a duct?

PRSS: We have found anything from drugs to toy cars. Mostly we find toys, because little kids will drop or put their toys into the registers. One time we found a remote-controlled car with a string tied to it that got just out of reach of the little kid to see how far he could drive it into the duct.

ST: That’s funny! I have a funny anecdote about the home my wife and I bought. We had a duct inspection done as well. I’m from the US and my wife is Venezuelan. Inside the duct they found one shiny quarter side-by-side with a Bolivar, the currency from Venezuela. What are the chances!? It was impossible for my wife and I not to think it was fate that we should buy our home.

ST: Now, what is the problem with in-floor ducts? What is the cause of these problems?

PRSS: It has to do with how the duct was actually built. That’s what causes them to have problems: the installation of the duct. It’s not particular to certain geographical areas. We’ve inspected different homes in the same subdivision, side-by-side, with the same builder, but different subcontractors. With one home the duct system was done right. With the other home the duct system was done wrong. It was how it was built. One had the duct system completely encased in concrete, and the other one didn’t. It goes back to the subcontractor. Who installed it? It could be the same person doing the installation in High Desert or Four Hills or Rio Rancho, and if they were doing it wrong, they were doing it wrong. You’re going to have the same issues in all three of those homes in terms of who did it and why they did it wrong. That said, we’ve seen neighborhoods that predominately have in-slab ducts during certain time periods. Like Tanoan or homes in the Academy Corridor. These are areas that used in-slab ducts during certain periods of time, and we still see in-slab ducts being built now. High Desert is one of the newer developments here in Albuquerque where there are in-slab ducts and we’ve seen issues for in-slab ducts in homes only 10-15 years old just like 30-40 year old homes in Tanoan.

ST: So, if one duct system is not fully encased in concrete, what is it encased in?

PRSS: It’s going to be partially encased in concrete. There are pockets where this is the situation. We have done inspections in the Valley and Big Sky and other places where the ducts were just encased in dirt or soil. There was no concrete…anywhere!

ST: In other words, if the duct system is completely encased in concrete, like it should be, there won’t be a problem?

PRSS: 99% of the time there won’t be a problem.

ST: So, when you have dirt touching the duct that can be a problem?

PRSS: When you have a duct–whether it’s Sonotube or galvanized metal–that has contact with soil, that exposes the duct to potential moisture. Now, the soil itself probably has a little bit of moisture, but if the soil absorbs any moisture–whether if it’s from rain fall or irrigation (landscaping), lawns, the soil’s going to absorb the moisture and once that comes into contact with the duct that can start the deterioration process with Sonotube or the rusting process in the case with galvanized. Once you have rust that penetrated through the galvanized coating, it’s just oxidation and it’s just going to continue on its own. Unless you do something to block it or reinforce it or stop it by applying Duct Armor™—that’s our special coating—it could continue rusting until it rusts through. If the duct is completely rusted through and has lost all shape then you have no choice, but to rip into the floor or install new ducts over-head. So, there’s an opportune time to restore them where we can coat them and restore them if we can still salvage the shape of that duct. This is the case if it still has shape, because when Duct Armor™ hardens it really, really hardens. That’s a big difference between our product and some of the other products in the marketplace. If you look at the marketplace there are two different products. They have a base-primer and they have a white top-coat. If you were to see any of them in real life you would notice a big difference between the products that we use—with which we have an exclusive license in the state of New Mexico—and what else out there that is being used. We can coat it and provide a protective layer without breaking up the floor.

ST: What is Sonotubing?

PRSS: It’s a reinforced cardboard with a mylar coating.

ST: You can coat Sonotubing with your product to reinforce it?

PRSS: Absolutely!

ST: What is the range of problems you’ve seen with in-slab ducts?

PRSS: At the beginning of the spectrum we may see basic minor deterioration. Using Sonotubing as an example, we see basic deterioration where it’s just aging and the actual shape of the duct (or tube) is in good condition, but maybe the silver coating (the mylar coating) has lost its adhesion. It’s forty years old and the glue’s losing it and it’s peeling off. The actual shape of the duct is good. This takes a trained eye and this is what we look for in our inspections, especially when we’re doing estimates, because it seemed to the untrained eye that it looks totally fine, and it’s not or vice versa. The mylar coating might be coming off, but the duct is actually okay. It’s just aesthetic; it’s just topical. There may be a minor case where the mylar coating is peeling, or maybe there may be some dust or specs–like in galvanized which is just aesthetic–but in the worst case you may find a duct completely collapsed and full of dirt. It’s completely rusted through and caved in. This is because it wasn’t properly encased. We’ve been in homes where we’ve pulled out hundreds and hundreds of gallons of dirt out of the ducts.

ST: In that range you’re talking about, what would be the cure for the duct where the mylar coating is peeling off and the duct maintains its shape versus a completely collapsed duct?

PRSS: We have a scale for everything leading up to the point of needing restoration. First, we recommend basic monitoring. If it were just minor peeling or little things like that, we would not recommend doing anything. On the other end of the spectrum–where it is completely deteriorated–if the duct is completely full of dirt, this can be a very tedious process as far as restoring it. Because first of all, we have to clear it out. Sometimes when a duct is completely full of dirt, we don’t even know what’s going on, because we can’t see anything! So, it almost is like an exploration of where we have to clean for four, five, six hours just to see what’s behind or underneath the dirt.

ST: I’d imagine in some situations you would have to jackhammer?

PRSS: Absolutely! And then we would have to put brand new ducts down. The unique thing about our restoration process is many times we can restore the system without having to rip up the floor, but sometimes if the duct’s completely collapsed or if it’s completely encased in dirt, sometimes we’ll have to open up the floor.

ST: What are some health concerns associated with duct problems?

PRSS: From our experience we’ve had several homes where the tenant may have some sort of allergies. There is one home I can think of off the top of my head where the homeowner couldn’t be in her home for an extended period of time without suffering from respiratory issues. She spent a lot of time coughing, and she had no idea what was going on. We did a duct inspection and we found that she had Sonotubing that was significantly deteriorated. They had a flood a year before. Water with cardboard-it’s going to have some issues. It’s going to start to deteriorate, creating a potential for bacterial growth. We got in there, and even though we didn’t see anything that appeared to be any sort of bacterial growth, we ended up doing a thorough cleaning and then an entire restoration where we coated the entire house, top to bottom, and all of the ducts possible. After completing the entire duct restoration, she’s now living back in the house. She can breathe just fine! This is a situation where she had already replaced the carpet, and had repainted the entire house. She had done everything physically from what she could see. It’s just what she couldn’t see in the ducts that in her own words, was “killing” her.

ST: What does duct restoration cost?

PRSS: It can vary. The size of the system is going to be a huge part. We have a minimum charge of $3,000 and it can go all the way up—depending on the size of the home—to $45,000. It depends on the condition, the size and access. There’s a handful of factors, but I would say on average a typical 2,000 square foot house in the Albuquerque metro area with average deterioration or average-to-significant rusting with no collapses probably would cost between $6,000 and $9,000. However, there’s times we’ll go into a 2,000 square foot home where only half the ducts need restoration. In that case you might not even be at $6,000, but rather $3,000. It just depends.

ST: Tell me about the process of restoring the ducts.

PRSS: With our typical process we start with the duct inspection. After the duct inspection has identified issues–and the client has expressed an interest that they want to get an estimate–we usually can get them an estimate within 24 to 72 hours. After we get the estimate out, and they’ve made the decision to move forward, and once we’ve received a signed proposal on that estimate, we typically can schedule them within two to four weeks. Once they’re scheduled, it’s a two-step process where we go in on day-one. We do a full duct-cleaning, we do all the prep-work needed–whether that’s extra concrete, rebuilding the boots or rebuilding the duct(s) with sheet-metal. Once we’ve prepped the entire system then we apply our coating called “Duct Armor™” to the system. Once the first step has been completed, typically it will take anywhere from 7-14 days to properly cure, depending on weather conditions and airflow. There needs to be airflow moving through the ducts for three days after the first step. Fourteen days later after the first coating has been applied we will come back. We will review the entire system and apply a second coating. The same process happens where we apply a second coating on top of the first coating of Duct Armor™. We want to make sure that any areas that may need extra coating or areas that may have been spotted during the first process be covered. Our goal during the second coating is to make sure the system is completely coated as we were contracted to do. From that period forward, again, another 72 hours of airflow moving over it, and the system is restored. We provide a complimentary follow-up video inspection seven days afterwards to show the client this is the work that has been done. We offer a 15-year warranty that is transferrable and stays with the house.

Caleb sure knows his stuff! Even though The Sugar Team doesn’t have any affiliation with Caleb or Professional Radon and Sewer Scoping Services we chose them to do the duct restoration in our own home. We are happy to report two years later the ducts are in the same excellent condition from the day they were resealed. Thanks Caleb!