InterNACHI Wood-Destroying Organism Inspection Student Course Materials InterNACHI free online course is at http://www.nachi.org/wdocourse.htm. Wood-Destroying Organism Inspection The purpose of the course is to define and teach good practice for: 1) conducting a wood-destroying organism inspection of a building; and 2) performing treatment applications for the control of wood-destroying organisms. This course provides information, instruction, and training for the wood-destroying organism inspector and commercial pesticide applicator studying to become certified. The student will learn how to identify and report infestation of wood-destroying organisms that may exist in a building using a visual examination. The student will learn the best practices for treatment applications to control infestation. The course is designed primarily for wood-destroying organism inspectors, building inspection professionals, and commercial treatment applicators. STUDENT VERIFICATION & INTERACTIVITY Student Verification By enrolling in this course, the student hereby attests that he or she is the person completing all course work. He or she understands that having another person complete the course work for him or her is fraudulent and will immediately result in expulsion from the course and being denied completion. The courser provider reserves the right to make contacts as necessary to verify the integrity of any information submitted or communicated by the student. The student agrees not to duplicate or distribute any part of this copyrighted work or provide other parties with the answers or copies of the assessments that are part of this course. Communications on the message board or forum shall be of the person completing all course work. If plagiarism or copyright infringement is proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the student will be notified of such and expelled from the course and/or certification revoked. Interactivity Interactivity between the student and the course provider is made by the opportunity to correspond with the instructor via email. To ask questions at any time prior to, during or after the taking the course, the student can contact the course instructor via email. Students will receive a timely response within 24 hours during the workweek and by close of business on Monday for questions received over a weekend. The student can join in the conversation with other students of this course, by visiting the course’s online forum dedicated to the subject matter of the course at www.nachi.org/forum/f25/wood- Copyright © 2009 Ben Gromicko InterNACHI All Rights Reserved Page 1 of 260 InterNACHI Wood-Destroying Organism Inspection Student Course Materials destroying-organism-inspection-course. Students are free to pose questions and comments there and join in the conversation with other students. The thread will be monitored by the course instructor. Contact Contact InterNACHI’s Director of Education Ben Gromicko via email at [email protected]. PREFACE This course provides information for the wood-destroying organism (WDO) inspector and commercial pesticide applicator studying to become certified. To become a certified inspector or applicator, a candidate typically must pass both a general standards exam and an examination based primarily on the material presented in this course and in the study materials required by the state in which the candidate conducts business. Acknowledgments The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI) and NACHI.TV would like to thank the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Ohio Department of Agriculture, and the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. Their time, effort and expertise are greatly appreciated. Special thanks goes to the Ohio State University Cooperative Extension, the Arkansas State University Cooperative Extension, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, entomologist Dr. John Hopkin, University of Arkansas, and the librarians at the EPA Region 8 Technical Library Services in Denver, Colorado. Information about WDO has been accumulated from direct observations, scientific literature, and anecdotes from others. Information from these sources blurs together quickly and, consequently, unique ideas are rare in society. Credit for sources of information on inspecting and controlling WDOs Copyright © 2009 Ben Gromicko InterNACHI All Rights Reserved Page 2 of 260 InterNACHI Wood-Destroying Organism Inspection Student Course Materials must go to: Members of the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors; Land Grant University Extension and research workers; most entomologists who pioneered this work; those who kept training and research alive during the period when the success of synthetic organic pesticides preempted nearly all but control evaluations from the 1940s to the 1960s, and those who persist today; pest control industry workers who held training sessions nationally, regionally and locally where information was disseminated among the experienced and provided to the inexperienced; Environmental Protection Agency personnel who molded modern training and influenced the need for national uniformity in training requirements; state regulatory personnel who cooperated with universities and industry and who strongly emphasized the importance of training; and the few textbook authors in the United States and England who compiled the reference data in the understandable and usable form that allows urban pest management practitioners to be professionals. Information in this course can also be found in training manuals for commercial WDO applicators developed and publications by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Oklahoma State University; Texas Agricultural Extension Service, the Texas A&M University System; and University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension; and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Also, special thanks go to Dr. Jim T. Criswell, Pesticide Coordinator, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma Cooperative Extensive Service, Dr. Roger E. Gold, professor and Extension entomologist; Harry Howell, assistant research scientist; Dr. Don L. Renchie, Extension assistant professor; Grady J. Glenn, research assistant; all of the Texas A&M University system; and Murray Walton, staff inspector, Texas Structural Pest Control Board, Dr. Clyde L. Ogg, Extension educator, and Larry C. Schulze, Pesticide Education Specialist, University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension. Specific acknowledgments also go to biological illustrators who graphically render pest and beneficial animals where photos fail: A.D. Cushman, Dean of USDA illustrators; A. B. Wright and Joseph Papp, who have created many illustrations on the topic of WDO; and many anonymous illustrators whose work was stripped of identification through the decades of public use. Disclaimer The information given herein is supplied with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors or NACHI.TV is implied. The agri-chemical recommendations herein are consistent with current federal and state pesticide labeling as of the date of publication. Revisions in labels can occur at any time. For your safety, before using any recommended pesticide, always read the product label. • The course author is Benjamin Gromicko, [email protected]. Comments and suggestions are appreciated. Copyright © 2009 Ben Gromicko InterNACHI All Rights Reserved Page 3 of 260 InterNACHI Wood-Destroying Organism Inspection Student Course Materials • For InterNACHI's other online courses, visit http://www.nachi.org/education.htm. • Advanced online training videos can be found at http://www.nachi.org/advancedcourses.htm. • HVAC Training is available online at http://www.nachi.org/hvacclass2008.htm. • Mold Inspection Training is available online at http://www.nachi.org/videomoldcourse.htm. STATE CREDIT If you are intending to take this course to receive credit from your state's Department of Agriculture, contact InterNACHI's Director of Communications Lisa Endza via email at [email protected] or by calling 303.502.6214. For students in Oregon: Please contact InterNACHI's Director of Communications Lisa Endza for assistance in receiving state credit: [email protected] or 303.502.6214. For Nevada Custom Pesticide Applicators: • This training is for educational purposes only (Pesticide Continuing Education Units [CEUs]) and should not be used for examination purposes. • Upon completion of this training, a Pesticide Applicator will earn 2 Law CEUs and 10 General CEUs for a total of 12 CEUs. All Chapters must be completed and a passing grade earned on all quizzes and final exam before CEUs will be earned. • Regarding Chapter 21: Laws Concerning WDI: In this chapter, the Ohio Department of Agriculture is used as an example. So, when Category 10b is referenced, this is actually category C4 in Nevada. Nevada Wood-Destroying Pest inspection Reporting Regulations can be found at in NAC 555.430 (http://www.leg.state.nv.us/ NAC/NAC-555.html#NAC555Sec430) . • Regarding Chapter 22: Training and Licensing Requirements: The information presented greatly differs from Nevada’s licensing requirements. The Nevada Department of Agriculture suggests that you refer to NAC 555.270 through NAC 555.397 (http://www.leg.state.nv.us/ NAC/NAC- 555.html#NAC555Sec270) for Nevada-specific applicator licensing requirements (examinations), business licensing, insurance requirements, license renewal requirements and fees. • Regarding