You're Not the Crowd We Like to Host

Don't get us wrong, we like to host friends and family.  But vermin, ain't welcome here no-mo.  In a house completely made of wood from top to bottom, I had expected to find termite damage.  Surprisingly, this is....or was....the extent of if as far as we can tell.      

Minor damage extended to studs.  They were still solid behind the surface damage.

The old dining room, probably an old back porch in the original plan, saw quite a bit of wear and tear in its lifetime from the leaky freezer, or ice box, that rotted the flooring, to the possible roof leak that rotted out a ceiling joist and ceiling board, and now this....termite damage.

Bottom plate under a window in the dining room was mostly eaten through.  

Removing and replacing wasn't that bad of a task with the help of a pry bar and a sawzall.  The plate actually was dry and busted out easily.  I trimmed the studs to fit a new bottom plate and a standard 2x4 block to reinforce the wall, window and door frame.  

Replaced bottom plate after trimming out from under the window studs.  

Only had one little oops when trimming out the studs with the sawzall.  If you would've been standing outside on the back porch while I was cutting you would know what I am talking about!  Nothing a little bead of caulk wont fix.  It'll be our little secret.

Janna here:  In addition to bugs in the walls, we also aren't crazy about folks fishing in our pond without permission.  Though ours has been mixed up with the pay pond down the road we are more concerned about this guy and his mama.

I haven't had the pleasure of seeing either of them yet (and normally try to steer clear of gators of all kinds), but Brett saw the baby while fishing from the bank.  I'll stick to tending to the pets we have on purpose - the chickens and the DAWG - and hope these guys find a new swamp come time to move in.