Near coastal living has many benefits, however it does also provide for a near ocean house or shack a challenging environment with high maintenance issues. Structural hot dipped Galvanised steel products are the bare minimum that can survive within a high salt air environment within 500m of the coast and stainless steel is recommended if your property is situated on the sea front. These requirements are for structural, sheeting and fastening materials.
Colorbond Ultra is the only Colorbond steel wall sheeting product that can be used between 500m to 1km away from the waters edge, or if closer, stainless steel roofing and wall sheeting is your only choice. If your looking at buying standard Colorbond sheeting, you will need to be at least a kilometre away from the surf for the sheeting to survive. The same guide lines will apply to fencing products too.
Termites and Asbestos related problems are an expensive issue, that cannot be ignored when looking at a shack to purchase. Termites can make your shack unsaleable and the repair costs can be extreme. Your insurance company will generally classify termite damage as preventable and therefor a maintenance issue, hence no cover. Asbestos containing older houses and shacks built prior to 1984-1985 have the added issue of requiring specialised removal and dumping requirements if any maintenance or renovation work is done to the eaves or wet areas of the dwelling. Considering most houses are likely over time to renovate the bathrooms, this is another expense that needs to be thought of. 
If you require further information to the suitability of steel cladding and the environmental implications of near coastal living, I recommend you contact the manufacturers of these products prior to obtaining quotes for building work. The cheapest quote for work, probably does not include the correct recommended sheeting or fasteners.
My web page below has important warnings regarding handling asbestos areas.
 https://www.integrityhouseinspections.com/useful-links-and-asbestos-related-articles.html

As a pest inspector, I have the qualifications and experience to locate issues within the house that is being inspected.
My pest training was completed in 2018, consisting of the training courses CPPPMT3008 Inspect for and report on timber pest and CPPPMT3010 Control timber pests.
I have been trained and certified to operate my Termatrac radar unit, that is used to locate termite movement in walls. This is an expensive piece of equipment, that is carried to every house inspection.
This unit is calibrated yearly, to ensure its efficiency.
Pest inspections are best done while doing the building inspection, as every part of the house is accessed that can be. 
The photo above, is of a termite damaged wall that has already been replaced by a builder, however termites have returned and are still attacking the window and wall framing.
I am not Pest Management qualified, as I do not wish to spray or treat termites, my only interest is to advise a home purchaser of issues such as shown above.
If you choose to purchase the house after termites or termite damage has been found it is your choice, as is how the situation is to be managed. It can be baiting, spraying, trench soaking, foams or powder poison treatment.
I will often recommend in my reports that an invasive inspection be done, to the purchaser. This consists of further inspections done by removal of sections of the wall or ceiling, however the home owner must give permission.
This may be done by the Vendor at his cost, as he may want to show that the termite issue is minor for the sale to go ahead with you. Or you may simply pull out of the sale at this point during your cooling off period.
I do not perform invasive inspections, as termites should be treated immediately once discovered, if immediate treatment is not done, the termites may retreat back into the ground and move to a new location within the house.
The choice of paying and additional $150 for a pest inspection is money well spent.

Termites are often found in CCA treated timber sleeper walling, that is found in most properties on the market.
CCA (copper-chromium-arsenate) Treated timber sleepers are treated to H4 level for in ground use and should last up to 40 years and often longer once installed. H4 treatment has been used as a timber treatment for about 70 years and is suitable for in ground and above ground use, in direct weather. Other treatment levels are available upon request, such as H5 for fresh water positions and H6 for salt water conditions. H4 is not intended to be used in water although often is.
The treatment type used is classified as envelope treated, meaning it was treated to a minimum of between 2mm to 10mm deep. The centre of the timber is not treated, so care must be taken if cutting.
The issue with termites occurs after the timber has been cut, exposing the heart wood and then used in ground. Such as for pergola posts, and specifically retaining walls.
Buying a spray on or brush able treatment to treat cut ends will assist to maintain the protection, although this is rarely done.
The retaining wall that is built by most house owners, if under 1000mm high requires no council development approval and therefore no engineering in most cases.
Most are built without the required treatment to cut ends and unfortunately are quite expensive to repair.
This can however usually be identified by a building and pest inspector prior to you purchasing the property, if you have it inspected.

​Poor installation of insulation is a common problem seen during house inspections.
Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon sight, as the free insulation offer provided by the Government, provided the opportunity for many trades people to enter the insulation market.
The photos shown here are however from a new build that I inspected recently and demonstrate a sub standard installation that is not up to the regulations.
House insulation must be installed to Australian standards AS 3999-2015. The batts should be snugly placed between the joists or between the trusses. Gaps of 50mm from flues or vents is recommended.
Where recessed lighting is installed in an accessible roof space, a permanent and legible warning sign must be installed in the roof space adjacent to the access panel in a position that is visible to a person entering the space. 
The sign must comply to AS 1319, Safety signs for the occupational environment, and contain the words shown  as on the photo above.
Installation of batts require that you leave a clearance of 50mm from the body of heat emitting fixtures such as downlights and flues.
A hole should be cut in the batt to suit the location of the fixture. The transformer should be placed above the insulation.
Importantly, do not use small pieces of batts to form part of the barrier around a fixture as these pieces could dislodge and cover the fixture
potentially overheating/faulting the device (as determined by AS 3999 appendix B)

High moisture readings are an indication of several possible things that could be wrong. Take this first photo for example, this is a bedroom wall opposing a shower.
Firstly there could simply be an issue with the shower tap body not being adequately sealed to the wall sheeting or brickwork, or from leaking plumbing. This allows for moisture to enter the cavity. However the tap body area was dry when tested.
The tiled floor of the bathroom, outside the shower alcove had a very high reading, suggesting that moisture is present under the tiled floors and the timber floor in the adjoining bedroom  also had a extremely high reading.
The flooring in the shower recess was showing signs of grout wear, as the grout had washed away from the tile edges and was exposing the tile spacers. This means that the grout is no longer waterproof and is allowing the moisture to pass through the grout. Tile adhesive and floor screed are not waterproof, so once moisture is present under a floor tile, it can freely move everywhere and be absorbed into concrete flooring , brickwork and timber frames.
Due to the age of the house, it is safe to assume that either the water proofing had failed, or it was poorly applied. Either way the only way to rectify a bathroom with issues like this is a full bathroom renovation.
Wood rot can be seen on the door frame and I could push my finger into the damp wood, resulting in a dent 5mm deep. The timber was so wet, I can only assume that the timber wall frame behind the door frame must be saturated.
Wet timber is attractive to termites, as well as being an issue with mycotoxins (black mold). I recommended if the purchasers really wanted this house to have an invasive inspection done, as my Termatrac unit had picked up movement inside the wall cavity. Invasive inspections are performed with the home owners permission, where access is gained by drilling into the house walls or floor and using a borescope. This is often done after the initial inspection, once an issue had been raised with the selling agent and home owner.
​The borescope image provided by the invasive inspection, clearly showed mud tracking on timberwork under the bedroom area, caused by termite activity.
​

​
​

Living in a coastal environment can have more issues than just the obviously seen rust. I often find pergola structures that simply require removal as they are no longer structurally sound.
Most coastal environments also have high wind velocity issues, as there is a lack of protection from nearby buildings often on more than just one side of the property. 
Rain driven by the wind can cause issues of wood rot to windows, balustrade hand rails, timber decking and even the houses timber window frames. The external features of the house are damaged the most, especially the outdoor entertaining area. Pergolas are often an add on to a house, to provide an outside entertaining area and can be free standing or attached.
Attached pergolas can however increase your risk of the house roof gutters over flowing if the storm water is directed back towards your roof gutters which is quite common.
The most common damage to pergolas in a coastal environment, is due to wood rot. Unprotected beams, purlins and posts, near the top and at the base or just rusted post shoes.
The timber used in pergolas was primarily Oregon timber in the pre 1980's, this is the most susceptible timber to wood rot. More modern timbers used are CCA, these were used from the early 1980's and still used today. Newer timber treatments such as LOSP have become very popular as the timber used is often laminated from short offcuts. This gives a very strong timber, without wood knots, however any ends cut by the user must be re treated to prevent future wood rot. Wood rot in houses only a 10 years old can be seen if you look at the corners of the house fascia, this is unfortunately very common as the LOSP treatment is solvent based and needs to be painted over or it turns back to untreated pine over time.
The connection point to the house is critical to stop dynamic movement of the structure, that can cause weakening to the whole pergola. Uplift from strong wind can easily remove roof sheeting, especially polycarbonate sheeting that relies on a small dome head Neoprene washer as a connection point, to clamp the sheeting to the timber purlins. These dome head washers perish over time and can crumble away, resulting in sheet lift during high wind.
Free standing pergolas, rely on the roofing as the main diagonal brace, to stop flexing and require knee bracing to the posts or double Tornado type post shoes on each post.
The other alternative is cross bracing or slat walling to reduce movement and brace the structure.
So if your at your next open inspection, give that pergola post a shake, look at the post and beams for signs of wood rot or rusted post shoes. Then think of the expense of removing or replacing the structure. 

When decks are built with no ground clearance, termites can easily attack the decking sub structure.
Consideration must be given to air flow around the joists and bearers. A cross flow of air must also be allowed for in the decking sub floor design, to allow wet soil to dry out. 
Houses are built allowing for a minimum of 150mm under the lowest structural member if it is treated timber or 400mm if untreated, but both these conditions are with the inclusion of ant caps.
A deck should be built with treated stumps, however a low level deck in any form should never be at ground level. It is simply is a termite problem waiting to happen.
I have seen so many decks ruined by termites, that are generally are DIY structures. here to edit.

The reasons you pay for an inspection is easy to understand, you pay for what you get with everything in life, you know that, or you should do by now as an adult.
If you google cheap building and pest inspections Adelaide, you will get all sorts of offers. Some starting from $329 for a building report or $295 from another business.
There is a reason that things are cheap, what you actually want is something reasonably priced.
My prices also start at a reasonable base figure of $350 and do so for a good reason and the price quoted is the price, none of this call and book, then to find out that that price was for a 2 bedroom unit.
My $350 price is for a 4 bedroom house in metro Adelaide. If for a two storey home I add an additional $100 and that is stated at the start of the conversation. If you want a Pest Report written up, sure that's an additional $150
Sure if you want me to check out a two bedroom unit, it still takes 90 mins even for a small unit. It's the set up for wet areas, then crawling through a roof space and a ladder to inspect the roof top. The bed rooms are the easy part and take the least amount of time. What is covered in an inspection is written in another blog if you want to know more, have click and read away.
So most jobs are $500 for both building and pest, but it's your call. I am happy to do just the building and only advise on the pest issues.
I am trained to operate and bring to every job a certified, calibrated Termatrac Termite detector. This offers you peace of mind.
I carry and use a Flir thermal camera and tramex moisture meter at every job.
I bring laser measuring and leveling tools to each job, to check for levels of bathroom floors for water flow issues.
I even have a gas leakage meter, electricity voltage detector that gets used on most jobs.
All my tools carried and used is also on a different blog, so if you want to know, have a click and read away.
So it comes down to what do you want for your money, if its just a report written on a few pages, go cheap and cheerful and try your luck with budget building inspectors.
All my work comes from word of mouth, not click bait, paid google ads or paid advertising, as all these costs are what makes the other inspectors charge more
Call Steve 0499611528 and lets get it done with Integrity.