I’m looking at buying a 20 year old house. It has many issues, the most distressing is the ground floor master bathroom. The wall that separates the stool from the shower stall and tub has paint that is slightly blistered in many places. The raised area is easily peeled up and reveals a granular brown dust, about he consistency of fine sand. It looks like the drywall is completely gone in these areas. In addition . . . the door stop molding looks wrinkled and shrunken. Poking a hole in it revealed that there was barely any wood left . . . just more of the sandy substance, but a bit coarser. There’s note much in the way of tunnels, just compacted dust/sand. I’ve never seen water damage like this, so I’m assuming this is the work of termites.
Anyone know what the source of the damage might be? Does the dust between the paint and drywall make any sense? I live in Houston.
Thanks,
Mike
Replies
Hire your own termite company to do an inspection and possibly the termite letter. It's cheaper than being stuck with a house you don't want to afford to fix. It sounds like termites to me and if you don't see any tunnels on the outside and no dirt piled up to the sill plates, it's a much bigger problem since the assumption is that they're coming in form beneath the house though a crack or hole.
I didn't find any termite tunnels on the outside of the house, so I'd agree, they are probably coming up through the water/sewer lines in the foundation.
I don't think you can sell a house here without a termite inspection. It is certainly money well spent.
>coming up through the water/sewer lines in the foundation.<
Never seen them take thru-water route but who knows. Usually it's a crack in the slab under a wall, taking the express route up the middle of a block wall, or around the plumbing penetraitons. Each case demonstrates that there was no treat prior the slab being poured or the treat is no longer effective. To fix the the termite co will be drilling wholes in your slab every 12 inches to pour their chems into. Then you fix the termite damage then you have a house that will be flagged forever has having termites when you try to sell it.
If you do go forward with buying this place after you've done all your homework I'd try to drive the price way down due to the termites and the unknowns on the extent of the damage.