Pest Inspections in Gonzales, CA

Local Context

A Gonzales Slab House Keeps Its Damage Behind Stucco, So the Inspection Works From Evidence

Most housing in Gonzales went up between 1980 and 2000 on a concrete slab — wood frame, stucco outside. That construction gives an inspector fewer places to look than a raised-floor house does. There is no crawl space to enter, the framing is covered on both faces, and subterranean termites can travel up through a slab crack or a plumbing penetration into a wall without ever showing outside. So the inspection turns on evidence at the edges: the weep screed line, the garage-to-house joint, the water heater and laundry penetrations, baseboards, door jambs, and the attic where framing is exposed.

The older part of town inspects differently. Houses near Alta Street, Fifth Street, and Belden Street date from the early 1900s and sit on raised floors, so we can get underneath and read the sill plate, the joist ends, and the piers directly. Those are also the houses where drywood evidence shows up in original trim and eave framing. Two eras of construction, two inspection routes, one city.

For escrow, Section 1 is usually what the transaction turns on. In Gonzales the common Section 1 findings are subterranean damage at a bottom plate or a door frame and fungus damage where a sprinkler has been hitting stucco for years. Section 2 findings here tend to be earth-to-wood contact at a fence or deck post, a planter bed built up over the weep screed, and irrigation aimed at the foundation. Once the Section 1 items are completed we issue the Notice of Work Completed.