Termites and Tentings

If you live in Florida, you’ll eventually fight a battle with termites! And this old house certainly has had its share of those battles………our WDO inspection prior to closing revealed no present infestation but clear evidence of previous infestation(s).

When the previous owners took possession of the house in the late 1980’s, the house was in bad shape….like most of the other farmhouses of the area. On our first walk-through, they showed us before and after photos of the work they had done over their 11 years of ownership…..and they talked of sleeping under the stars that peeked through the ceiling of the upstairs bedrooms on their first night here. The living room floor was so badly termite damaged when they moved in that they tore out the worst of it, replaced what they could and then put plywood and carpeting down. But they had not done the same thing in the attic and in the eaves…..and this was what caught the eye of the WDO inspector.


David and I drove down on the day of the tenting to get some photographs….it is a scary site to see….the crows in the trees about the house didn’t like it all…they were “yelling” at us as if we were responsible…well, I guess in a way we were. Although you can't tell in these photos, the camellia bushes were in full bloom along the side of the house….this was our first view of them in bloom….each year now, I find myself looking for the buds just after New Years Day!

We’ve done some patching in the eaves and attic in our four years here…basically though, we’ve just made it structurally sound…you can still see where those little pests have eaten away at the hundred year old wood…..eventually, we’ll replace the floor boards in the eaves where needed and add some Antique Restore to the wood that can remain……downstairs, we’ve put in a new wooden floor instead of the carpeting that used to be there…...this place will last another 100 years with the right care and love and protection against those nasty termites!


This photo was taken in January 2008 by our friend John Binkley....he just started snapping as we all tried to pose for the shot....you can just see the Camillia blooms behind us!

Here's the final shot....only thing missing is Dallas who was in Georgia attending his senior year of college....