September 19, 2004
more about what the termites did
We’ve been finding that the termites did more damage than we originally thought.
At the beginning of the summer, we found that we had live termites and old damage to contend with. The damage seems confined to the downstairs front-right corner of the house, the corner shown in that little picture in the upper corner of the site. My friend Jim Y. came over today and we poked and pulled until we had a more clear idea of the extent of the damage and a plan for fixing it.
The way the house is built, each individual stud runs all the way to the roofline. These are seriously long pieces of wood. Three of the studs in this corner are eaten enough to have to be at least partially replaced/repaired, along with an angled crossbrace.
As bad as that is, it gets worse… The studs sit on a piece of wood that sits on the brick foundation. (I can’t find my book right now that has all the names for these parts. Sorry.) In a small area at the corner, two pieces of this bottom wood need to be replaced. To get to these, we’ll be pulling up the floorboards in that area — we’ll be able to temporarily access the otherwise inaccessible ‘crawl’ space.
To fix all of this is going to take more skill and knowledge that I alone have. Jim Y. has volunteered to help out, though, and he knows this stuff. Tentatively, some weekend in the next 3-6 weeks we’ll tackle this nasty corner. We’ll have to lift and support and brace and cut the actual load-bearing structure of the house in a big way. I’m more than a little freaked out and also excited to see this happen.
Inside the termite infested corner.
The 3 ruined studs and 2 areas of bad base plate.
Sounds like a great learning experience… we’ve got a little bit of that same stuff going on under our house, except I think it’s mostly water damage instead of termites. Maybe Andrew and I’ll volunteer to help you so we can figure out how to do ours!
Came across this site today from the Love My Old House webring. Your termite stories are freaking me out about the 1902 Victorian we are closing on next week. The house is in wonderful condition on the surface, but what’s UNDER those surfaces? Guess we’ll find out soon enough!
I’ve enjoyed reading all the trials and triumphs you’ve experienced so far in your remodeling. Love the feral cats, too … we have two indoor cats, and they’re going to wear their noses out sniffing every square inch of the new house.
Kristin
You are not alone! This happens to old houses often. I was going to suggest you tackle the sill plate from the outside so you don’t need to pull up the floor boards- but it is neat to get into those tight crawlspaces from the topside! Never know what you might find down there. Make sure you replace your sill plate with pressure treated lumber!
thanks for posting, y’all. More than anything so far, this has stressed us out.
I forgot to mention that one area of the sill plate that we have to deal with is behind and just under the front porch. Getting in from the outside would be crazy difficult, which is why we decided to pull the floorboards. And, unfortunately, I’ve found minor damage to one of our floor joists.