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October 3, 2022

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Damage

Does your home have Meranti timbers around the windows, architraves, skirtings, door jambs?

If so, you better read this post!

Meranti is a timber commonly used inside brick veneer homes to decorate the windows, door frames and skirting boards.

If you do have Meranti in your home, then you need to read this post and make sure that you have your home inspected at least annually.

Not sure what Meranti looks like?  Here are some photos of unpainted Meranti….


Why is this a problem?

You see most of our termite enquiries have discovered termites somewhere in their homes, often in window and door frames, or in skirting boards in the soft pine trims. They are often the lucky ones as they have found early warning signs of termite damage, before termites have done serious damage. We find that home owners with Meranti trimmed homes don’t see the early warning signs, so they tend to have much more damage than those with pine trimmed homes.

Frame Damage in a Meranti home

How do I know if I have Meranti decorative trims?

First check the photos above. Meranti has a distinctive grain unlike pine.

Also Meranti often has a bevelled edge rather than a bull nose edge, though occasionally we find bull nose edge Meranti carpentry.

If your trims are painted, check under the paint line by lifting carpets to look for this dark grade timber.

If you are not sure, and it’s been a while since your last termite inspection, call us to arrange an inspection, and make sure you ask for thermal imaging as you probably won’t find out if you have a problem by just tapping.

How long since your last Termite Inspection?