Conditions Conducive to Rot or Infestation

Some years back, in Washington state, the Washington State Department of Agriculture began using the term "conducive condition." It is not a term that, right out of the box, makes sense to people.  However, it makes perfect sense once you get the point. A conducive condition is any concern or issue that is likely to lead to rot or infestation by wood destroying insects.

Over the years, clients and homeowners, have asked me for a list of things they can do to make it less likely that their homes will rot or be inhabited by carpenter ants, anobiid beetles, termites and other wood destroying insects.

The fact of the matter is that just about anything that goes wrong, and involves moisture, can be a conducive condition. I am sure that there are hundreds of conducive conditions out there that I cannot even predict or wrap my mind around. However, for the most part, we inspectors tend to see the same ones over and over again.

I have prepared the short video below, as an overview, to give clients an idea of those home maintenance issues that should be continually monitored. For the sake of the house, if problems such as these are seen, repairs or corrections are in order.