Opening up a Wall - United Exterminating Company

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This is what can happen when you open a wall!

The homeowner opened up a wall to change the window to the right, and discovered this (old) termite damage. Originally treated by us, any activity was long-gone.

Surprisingly enough, the damage was minimal, and the builder had no repairs to do, and buttoned it back up.

This is the view at the bottom. Looks terrible, eh? All of what you can see is only surface damage, no structural damage.

Water and Termites

Here's another house, where water incursions have contributed to the termite and carpenter ant problems that were discovered upon removal of the siding. Amazingly, the original builder used ordinary wallboard as sheathing, which is definitely not a smart thing to do. The fireplace offers many minute and available areas for water leaks and intruder invasions. There was no flashing behind original siding, allowing water to seep into the wallboard. More below....

More....

This is the wallboard removed, exposing (old, inactive) termite evidence. Termites tend to follow moisture paths, and with no flashing and the wallboard absorbing moisture, the termites were SURE to come. Fortunately, there was no structural damage that could not be easily fixed, but the wallboard must be replaced with proper sheathing.

This is a close up of the above photo, showing the dirt that termites have brought up from the ground.

After the termites were eliminated, the water was still there, of course, so then the carpenter ants took over the area.

More....

Completely opened up now, you can see the termite trails along the rafter and the studs. Only surface damage, and the only items replaced were damaged by water, not termites.

Repaired and finished, ready for painting.

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