WATCH: Coast homes destroyed by termites

IF you thought the Buderim home declared uninhabitable because of termite damage was an isolated incident - you would be wrong.

EATEN: Termite damage in another Sunshine Coast home.

IF YOU thought the revelation this week a Buderim home was declared uninhabitable because of termite damage was an isolated incident - you would be wrong.

Sunshine Coast pest inspector Ben Herbert, from Expect the Best termite experts, said he was called out all the time.

"Once, every couple of months, a home on the Sunshine Coast is declared uninhabitable," Mr Herbert said.

Most, thankfully, can be rescued without knocking the entire home down, but it comes at a considerable cost.

Mr Herbert sent through a video of a pest inspection in a roof cavity. At first glance it looked perfectly normal.

But a gentle tap from Mr Herbert and the wooden truss holding the roof up crumbled like a piece of dry bread.

"It's been a very long season this year, mostly because it has been so warm," Mr Herbert said.

"When I talk to other pest controllers on the Sunshine Coast, they are also very busy."

Mr Herbert said most people - as in the case of the 12 Raintrees Ct, Buderim home owners - are blissfully unaware their most valuable asset is being destroyed bite by bite.

"In less than 5% of cases there is evidence of termite activity where they will come out into open views," he said.

"Mostly it happens underground. That is why brick veneer homes on a concrete slab are so vulnerable. You can't go underneath and see what is going on."

And if you can hear them, you know you are in deep trouble.

"Occasionally can hear them, when they have built up in large numbers the soldiers in it bang their heads on the side of units and that makes a rattle."

Mr Herbert said it only happened "once every year or couple of years" that he saw a home that had to be demolished.

This week along he has had three "active" termite calls.