TERMITE INFESTATION NEARLY ATE OUR HOUSE
What a time of it we've had over the past few months. A crack in the plaster of our ceiling which I thought was just cosmetic, turned out to be so much more. On investigation, it was discovered that we had termites which had come up the stumps of our house in two places and those nasty little critters had eaten their way through our family room over what must have been the past year, completely unknown to us of course.
We had to get the whole house treated with Termidor then wait 8 weeks before we got the all clear so that repairs could start. My beautiful tiled floor had to be completely removed so there we were in the middle of winter with a massive hole where the floor used to be.
The builder we engaged did a wonderful job replacing bearers and joists beneath the floor with the damage going further than expected right through under the laundry, bathroom and livingroom. To check the wall beneath where we first noticed the crack in the ceiling, he had to remove the plasterboard and low and behold, the timber in the walls had been eaten out, plus the top plate which has the roof trusses resting on it.....the more he inspected, the more damage he found. A huge 3 metre wide window had to be removed as they'd completely honeycombed the timber below the window, above it and each side.
I thought this would never end but finally our builder, or should I say our magician, worked his magic and got the room looking as good as could be expected after this major surgery. A plasterer came in next to skim the joins in all the new plasterboard and to install new cornice......at last we had the room sealed again so no draughts.
Last weekend, I painted the room, put up new curtains and tomorrow we have carpet being laid to replace the tiles we had to rip up. We're on the home stretch and actually, the room has a new look and it's so nice. I just wish we hadn't had to do it because of termite damage.
What a time of it we've had over the past few months. A crack in the plaster of our ceiling which I thought was just cosmetic, turned out to be so much more. On investigation, it was discovered that we had termites which had come up the stumps of our house in two places and those nasty little critters had eaten their way through our family room over what must have been the past year, completely unknown to us of course.
We had to get the whole house treated with Termidor then wait 8 weeks before we got the all clear so that repairs could start. My beautiful tiled floor had to be completely removed so there we were in the middle of winter with a massive hole where the floor used to be.
The builder we engaged did a wonderful job replacing bearers and joists beneath the floor with the damage going further than expected right through under the laundry, bathroom and livingroom. To check the wall beneath where we first noticed the crack in the ceiling, he had to remove the plasterboard and low and behold, the timber in the walls had been eaten out, plus the top plate which has the roof trusses resting on it.....the more he inspected, the more damage he found. A huge 3 metre wide window had to be removed as they'd completely honeycombed the timber below the window, above it and each side.
Last weekend, I painted the room, put up new curtains and tomorrow we have carpet being laid to replace the tiles we had to rip up. We're on the home stretch and actually, the room has a new look and it's so nice. I just wish we hadn't had to do it because of termite damage.
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