Termite Tuesday

October 10

Remember in a previous post of before pictures, the bed in the spare bedroom was going downhill? Let’s take a look at why.

Ladies and Gents, I present to you, termite damage! This was not a surprise. We already knew about this. The question was always “how bad is the damage beneath the floor?” The wall was somewhat shaky, when you pressed around the floor area and it had started to separate away from the floor. 

Abbie’s answer to home repair was duct tape. If you enlarge the pic, you can see her handiwork.  

Let’s skip away from the damage for a second and get a little background. I’ll do the quick version. 

There was no evidence of live bugs of any kind in the house or beneath in the seals and joists, when renovation started. The damage was done some time in the past and over time, the results are what you will see, over the next several posts. 

My grandma had dementia and no matter how hard we tried to explain it, she would not allow us to touch the house. She absolutely refused to even entertain the notion of getting the floors fixed. Would they have been so bad, had she allowed us to do it? I don’t know. I’m not an expert, but I am glad we didn’t do anything to the house. There is no way she would have been able to move out or have her world turned upside down, for repairs. It would have been more harmful for her mental state than it is to my wallet, to do this renovation. I’m not rich by any means, but it doesn’t set me off into a state of confused agitation like repair work would have done, to her in the condition she was in.

Let’s take a look at the joists and seals. Oh, that’s not good!

Say what? Powderpost Beetles? (Chad correct me if I’m wrong on this.) Basically, they make a meal of wood, reducing it down to pretty much powder & then bore their little holes and escape, once they’ve gorged themselves. So not only did we have termite damage, but we also had these beetle things eating the house. 

More bore holes

It’s only day 2 and all these guys have for me is bad news. Just keep smiling. It’s ok. They haven’t said they can’t fix it. Steve hasn’t called and quit. (That’s later! He “quits” on an almost daily basis & I always respond with “See you tomorrow!”)

Ok, so the joists are in bad shape. It’s ok! The rest of the foundation can’t be that bad. The house is still standing. 

The seals to the joists, “hold my splinter…”

Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal.