OT/Misery loves company

Nancy Howell · Jul 11, 2014

Last December I started "sprucing" up the house in Dallas. Seems like its two steps forward and one step back. About the time I think there"s a light at the end of this tunnel, the rug gets pulled out from under me.

Week of July 4, I started refinishing and old hutch we had in the dining room. We put the hutch in when we bought the place 23 yrs ago, but never re-finished it.

When I got the cabinet doors out of the garage, they fell apart in my hands.

TERMITES!!

Gonna cost me $900 to treat the house.

Looking on the bright side, if I hadn"t decided to work on the hutch, no telling when I would have discovered them.

Oh well.

Wile E · Jul 11, 2014

What is the standard treatment for Termites?
I have heard that it can get real expensive.
I cant imagine living in the old days without the good insecticides of today.

I have had Carpenter ants, and I have a chemical that works very well in killing them, but...I apply it once per month.

CenTex Farmall · Jul 11, 2014

How irritating. That's the problem with a wood house, sooner or later it either burns, rots or bugs eat it.

That said, I live in a wood house too.
It had caught fire once long before we bought it. Also had wood ants try and move in one time.

Termites have eaten on the pole barn and at the time we bought it, carpenter bees had made a kind of "bee resort" in there.

Traditional Farmer · Jul 11, 2014

In the old more sensible times people had chickens,guineas and such running loose they tore up the nests of things like termites and the ones that hatched got eaten quickly.Now days people mulch right up besides their houses and give termites a habitat they love to launch an assault on the house.

JD Seller · Jul 11, 2014

Nancy just be glad you found it before any major damage to the house. I bought a house 10 years ago for a rental. One entire wall was destroyed by termites. It was a major project to repair the wall and then treat/kill the termites.

It sure is nice to own your own home at times!!! (sarcasm alert!!!) LOL

Wile E · Jul 11, 2014

I would think too that 100 years ago people might pour a little kerosene around the perimeter of the house to kill bugs, too many people fear that they might harm the environment if they do this.
I remember when guys used to pour waste oil along the fence line to kill weeds. (cant do that anymore)

Adirondack case guy · Jul 11, 2014

Words from the real world there.
Loren, the Acg.

john in la · Jul 11, 2014

Do not mean to be the bearer of bad news or upset/worry you BUT...............

If you have termites in wood inside a structure I fear you already have major damage. I sure hope and pray not but the structure is the first thing they attack. It is how they gain access to the inside especially if this structure has a concrete floor such as a garage.

I also hope these are regular termites and not the dreaded Formosan termites that have been confirmed in Dallas county since 1998.
If they are Formosan you can control them where you can keep them out of structures; but you will never really get rid of them off your property.

ShadetreeRet · Jul 11, 2014

Some of the earlier posters commented about people keeping poultry to control unwanted insects, and other means. I have no proof, but I have always felt that a lot of termite and other insect problem were eliminated by the fact that a hundred years ago houses and other buildings were assembled from lumber cut from virgin timber, not second and third growth. This lumber was much more durable as attested to by the number of barns and houses still standing. Many of which never experienced the stroke of a paint brush. They were also heated with wood, or dry heat, and they were open enough to eliminate dampness from accumulating. JMHO.

OT/Misery loves company

Nancy Howell

Well-known Member

Wile E

Well-known Member

CenTex Farmall

Well-known Member

Traditional Farmer

Well-known Member

JD Seller

Well-known Member

Wile E

Well-known Member

Adirondack case guy

Well-known Member

john in la

Well-known Member

ShadetreeRet

Well-known Member

Similar threads