Both scopes in one visit — building to AS 4349.1, timber pest to AS 4349.3. The fuller check, by a registered building contractor. Report within 24 hours.
Coolbellup was built almost entirely by the State Housing Commission as a post-war social-housing experiment, and it was built with a construction detail that makes it unusual in Perth: the 1960s three-bedroom cottages that typify the suburb were given solid timber floors rather than the concrete slabs that became standard elsewhere. The suburb was ‘North Lake’ until 1957, sits on grey Bassendean sands near North Lake, Bibra Lake and the Beeliar Regional Park wetlands, and a building and timber pest inspection here reads for what sixty-plus years of solid timber floors on Bassendean sand near a permanent wetland chain means for the homes that are still standing from that era.
The solid timber floors are the central read. A home on a solid timber floor, as opposed to a slab, has a subfloor that can be read directly, and in Coolbellup that subfloor sits on grey Bassendean sand within the moisture influence of the Beeliar wetland chain. Grey Bassendean sand is highly permeable and drains quickly in normal conditions, but near the lakes and wetlands the water table rises in wet winters, and the subfloor of a 1960s cottage near the lake boundary can experience seasonal moisture from below as well as from the ground surface. We read the subfloor timbers, the stump conditions and the ventilation closely, because a persistently damp subfloor on a timber floor is both a structural and a termite concern.
The broader Coolbellup story is urban renewal. From the late 1990s and through the 2000s the older public-housing stock was progressively sold, demolished and rebuilt, and the suburb now holds the original 1960s cottages alongside newer infill townhouses and LandCorp redevelopments. We read each on its own terms: the older cottages for sixty years of wear and their timber subfloors, the newer infill for the modern read of waterproofing and roof plumbing.
The timber pest side follows the subfloor. Solid timber floors with a damp Bassendean-sand subfloor near a wetland chain are among the higher-risk conditions for termite ingress in the Perth metro. We read the subfloor, the stump bases, the roof void and the perimeter of the home with particular care, because the conditions here are exactly what termites use.
What you get is a plain reading of the Coolbellup home, its timber floor and its wetland-edge ground together, with the report inside 24 hours and the real defects separated clearly from the cosmetic.
We run the same two-scope visit across the area, including nearby Hamilton Hill and Success.
MISSING: phone number · Book online → · Flat $616 inc GST for both scopes, report within 24 hours.
Two things together: the solid timber floors of the original 1960s SHC cottages, and the grey Bassendean sand near the Beeliar wetland chain, which can give those subfloors seasonal moisture from below as well as from the surface.
Unlike a concrete slab, a solid timber floor sits above a readable subfloor. In Coolbellup that subfloor is on Bassendean sand near the wetlands, where the water table rises in wet winters and damp subfloor conditions are a real finding.
The subfloor timbers for moisture damage and rot, the stump conditions for movement or deterioration, and the ventilation for whether air is circulating enough to keep the space dry.
Yes, significantly. Solid timber subfloors on Bassendean sand near a permanent wetland chain are among the higher-risk conditions for termite ingress in the metro. The subfloor and stump read is particularly careful here.
These earn the modern read of waterproofing and roof plumbing. They do not have timber subfloors, but they sit on the same Bassendean sand near the wetlands, so drainage is still part of the read.
It means the suburb holds two distinct construction eras side by side. We read each on its own terms rather than assuming a single standard across the suburb.
A highly permeable sandy soil common in the southern suburbs near the coastal plain's wetland chains. It drains quickly under normal conditions but allows the water table to influence the surface layer in wet winters near lakes.
It is a common finding near the lake and wetland boundary, and less common further back from the water. The location of a block relative to the wetland is part of how we read it.
Yes. The building inspection to AS 4349.1 and the timber pest inspection to AS 4349.3 are done in one visit, with a single report within 24 hours.
A flat $616 inc GST for both scopes, report within 24 hours.
Buying in Coolbellup? A pre-purchase building inspection — building scope only, report within 24 hours — gives you the documented record before exchange.
Pre-purchase inspection →Our office is at Suite 55, 15 Labouchere Road, South Perth WA 6151 — on the Swan River foreshore near the Perth Zoo.
Tell us about the property and what you need. We'll come back to you with a firm quote and a time.
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