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I recently was repairing an overflowing gutter on a portion of my Westchester NY home, a fifties ranch. The gutter was at the bottom of part of the roof that overhangs a small porch next to the front door. The door is in an inside corner and the overhanging part of the roof is supported by joists which extend from the interior of the building on each side of the corner and is about 8 feet by three feet. When I removed the gutter, I realized that the fascia board was rotten and a board backing that one up under that was rotten and the whole area was ver wet. I removed those and saw that the outermost joist was infested with small creamy bugs which I take to be dampwood termites.
I removed all the rotten wood and found that the joist (which is made of sistered 2 by 6s) along the edge overhang is about a third eaten, the rest of the wood solid. Yet, the remaining wood seems to be solidly supporting the overhang. (I swung from it with my considerable weight) I dried everything out, treated the wood with preservative, and am rebuilding the fascia with treated wood.
Yet I have the nagging feeling that I am making a mistake by not getting in a termite inspector and a contractor to rip out the damaged joists and replace them which I fear would be a very expensive job given that a lot of interior work would have to be ripped out to do so. Am I making a mistake not doing this?
Replies
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Have a termite inspection. Follow the recommendations for treatment. You will be under no obligation to have the pest-controll do the structural repairs. Do them your self. There are newer localized treatments that don't involve tenting.
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those little bugs may be carpenter ant larvae. carpenter ants are drawn to wet wood only.
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Barry,
Here in Texas, termites are a big deal. Big damage, Big trouble, Big expense, Big headache.
If you have gotten rid of the bugs and the framing members are still sound enough to carry weight, I wouldn't worry about it.
You better find out what kind of bugs you had and be sure you ain't got 'em no more.
Call a bug pro.
Good luck,
Ed. Williams
*Get an inspection (or more than one, the termite people often do free cursory inspections). Confirm what it is you've really got. Termites are ground dwellers. As I understand it they just visit your structure to feed, though they may stay a while on each visit, the colony is outside in the ground. So if they are termites they'd have made their way up from ground, so there may well be damage lower in the structure.Carpeneter ants by contrast live in your house and eat elsewhere. The chewing they do is just a multi-family re-model to their specs. And they are attracted to wet wood, at least initially, some say they will move to dry wood once established. It's quite typical to find damage up high where there have been leaks and not elsewhere in the structure. The scouts will be all over the place looking for more good, moist development sites. The eggs and larvae are white to creamy tan, but they don't have obvious legs and are carried about by the ants.You may well have carpenter ants, but don't assume. Get an inspection. Call Westchester Cooperative Extension and speak with an agent to get more info. Don't know if they do any field inspections. 914-285-4640.
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I recently was repairing an overflowing gutter on a portion of my Westchester NY home, a fifties ranch. The gutter was at the bottom of part of the roof that overhangs a small porch next to the front door. The door is in an inside corner and the overhanging part of the roof is supported by joists which extend from the interior of the building on each side of the corner and is about 8 feet by three feet. When I removed the gutter, I realized that the fascia board was rotten and a board backing that one up under that was rotten and the whole area was ver wet. I removed those and saw that the outermost joist was infested with small creamy bugs which I take to be dampwood termites.
I removed all the rotten wood and found that the joist (which is made of sistered 2 by 6s) along the edge overhang is about a third eaten, the rest of the wood solid. Yet, the remaining wood seems to be solidly supporting the overhang. (I swung from it with my considerable weight) I dried everything out, treated the wood with preservative, and am rebuilding the fascia with treated wood.
Yet I have the nagging feeling that I am making a mistake by not getting in a termite inspector and a contractor to rip out the damaged joists and replace them which I fear would be a very expensive job given that a lot of interior work would have to be ripped out to do so. Am I making a mistake not doing this?