Why not use the equipment on every part of the house?

Because it would take a full day and tell you very little. These are targeted tools. Pointing a radar unit at every square metre of a house produces a mountain of readings and no useful conclusion. The visual inspection tells Northern Rock’s technicians where to look, and the equipment is what we use when we get there.

Related Questions

Does Northern Rock charge extra for the Termatrac or the borescope?

No. At Northern Rock Pest Control, the Termatrac and the borescope are included in every termite inspection and used wherever the property gives us a reason to use them. Thermal imaging is the exception: it’s a separate service, priced separately, because it’s a full scan of the property rather than a check on a specific area.

What is a Termatrac?

A Termatrac is a hand-held unit Northern Rock’s technicians use on termite inspections. Ours is a Termatrac iTraker, which combines a radar and a moisture meter in one unit. The radar reads through a wall surface without touching or marking it and reports movement on the other side, and the moisture meter measures the moisture content of the wall or timber at the same point.

Can a Termatrac see termites through a wall?

It detects movement behind the surface, which is not quite the same thing. A Termatrac won’t tell you the species or show you a picture. What it does is tell a Northern Rock technician whether something is active behind that particular section of wall, which is usually the question the owner actually wants answered.

Does a Termatrac damage the wall?

No. The Termatrac is held against the surface and moved slowly across it. Nothing is drilled, cut or marked.

What is a borescope used for in a termite inspection?

A borescope is a small camera on a flexible cable. Northern Rock uses one to see inside a wall cavity, a sub-floor void or a hollow section of timber, through an existing access point or a small hole where the owner has agreed to one. It’s the only tool we carry that actually looks inside the wall rather than reading through it: where the radar tells us something is moving, a borescope can show us what.

Will you need to drill a hole for the borescope?

Often not. Existing access points, service holes and sub-floor openings are usually enough. Where a hole genuinely is the only way to answer a question, Northern Rock asks the owner first and gets it in writing. We don’t drill, cut or dismantle anything without written consent.