A couple of months ago, we started working on our living room. I was going to prime and paint the wood paneling, patch some screw holes, remove the old carpet and lay down new flooring, that’s it. But, like with most home renovation work, things didn’t go according to plan.
We found massive, disgusting termite damage behind the wood paneling. The insects had eaten through the drywall paper, the insulation paper and the wood. I have been told that 25% of homes in Texas have termites. Termite damage costs homeowners in this state around 500 million dollars annually. The only upside was that we didn’t find any live termites. The house had been treated 10 years ago and the termite nests were dried out and inactive. Well, we came up with a new strategy, got into work mode and spent the next 4 weeks ripping everything out and building our living room back.
We removed all the wood trim, paneling, ceiling beams and crown molding, piece by piece. Then we pulled off all the drywall. This part was messy because the termites had eaten the paper on both sides of the gypsum, so it crumbled into dust as we removed it. While most of the drywall was completely damaged and unsalvageable, the area on the other side of our fireplace was in surprisingly good condition. The termites had consumed the drywall and wood paneling and ignored most of the studs. We replaced the wood under our sliding door, some of the studs also the blocking, but we decided to leave the rest as is.
It was time to build the walls back. We used R15 Rockwool Comfortbatt insulation that friction fits into the stud bays. Over the next couple of weeks, we hung new drywall, and sanded, textured, and painted it.
Some people might say that we stripped the space of all character. Removing the wood paneling, the trim and the beams made it look clinical. I was hoping to preserve the character and paint the paneling, but the termite damage was so repulsive, I had no desire to scrape the wood and put it back up. I would rather have clean drywall than disgusting damaged paneling for the sake of appearances. In a way, I’m glad this home wasn’t flipped because others might have ignored the termite issue, spray painted everything and hiked up the price.
I reused the trim and the crown molding because they weren’t damaged. We also removed our filthy, dusty carpet that was soaked in drywall mud and replaced it with luxury vinyl plank flooring. We managed to complete all the work by Christmas.
Prevention
- Termite Prevention Systems: They are not a full-proof solution, but they reduce the likelihood of termites in your home. The first and easiest thing to do is to install termite bait stations around the perimeter of your home. I made a video on this last year.
- Remove wood near perimeter: Planks are an easy source of food for termites and will attract them to your foundation.
- Liquid termiticide: pumped into the soil around your home. A tell-tale sign of this treatment is concrete plugs every 12 inches.
- Inspection: When you’re buying an older home, look out for small holes, mud or dirt piles or even loose paneling that flexes.
Conclusion
A while back, I made a video on why we should avoid painting bathtubs. I remember calling that experience “hell week”. Well, dealing with the termite damage was “hell month”. I’ve learnt a lot from renovating houses and the hands-on experience has been invaluable. However, if you are buying a fixer upper, just know that it’s not all rainbows and unicorns. You will face many unforeseen issues and setbacks. Luckily, there are forums and social media outlets like YouTube to help you deal with issues and learn from other people’s mistakes. One thing’s for sure, I am never going to say an old home has “good bones” ever again.
