One of the Many Joys of Home-Ownership

As anyone who owns a home knows, there is always something that needs to be fixed or updated or replaced. And it never seems to end!  But I suppose that's a small price to pay to get to live in a cozy home that's all yours.  

Recently, Adam and I got to experience one of the scarier parts of home-ownership: termites!  It all started when Adam noticed a tiny hole in our dining room wall.  It looked like a nail hole, but Adam and I couldn't remember hanging anything up in that spot.  We don't have any of the paint we used in the room leftover, so we are very cautious to put any holes in the wall that might need refilling and painting over. So we were a bit perplexed about why there was a random nail hole in our dining room wall.  We decided to ignore it after scratching our heads. 

 

A few weeks later, Adam randomly asked me if I remembered the termite company that we had come to the house after our inspection prior to buying the house.  The house inspectors found a dormant termite tube in the garage and the previous homeowners paid to have it spot treated as part of our negotiations. As it turns out, Adam found some new termite tubes in the garage.  If you are wondering what a termite tube looks like, it's like a little raised line and looks kinda like a vein.  Here's a shot of one of the lovely termite tubes in our garage.  

Adam also noticed some spots on the garage wall that had paint peeling away with little dots underneath. Apparently this is also a sign that termites are around.  

Of course I started to worry at this point.  Have termites infested our house?  Were they gnawing on all the support beams as we speak?  Will the house cave in on itself any moment?  Then I started to worry about how you even treat termites.  Will they have to rip down the drywall?  Spray toxic chemicals all over our house?  Adam told me to knock it off and that he didn't think it was a big deal after doing a little research online.  He said it seemed like we caught it before the termites could do any real damage.  

Adam made an appointment right away to have a termite and pest control company come and scope out the situation.  After looking around the inside and outside of our house, they didn't notice any other problem areas besides the garage and the dining room wall, which happens to back up to the garage.  So it's a good thing Adam notices these random things!  I sure wouldn't have known to look for termite tubes in the garage or what they even look like.

It turns out that it is fairly simple to get rid of termites.  The termite and pest control company is going to come out and install a termite bait system.  Apparently, small cylinders filled with something termites love are placed in the ground around the perimeter of our house.  They couldn't reveal to us what the bait is made of, but assured us it was safe for pets and humans.  Of course it cost a chunk of change ($750!), but we can now rest assured that our house will remain standing.  Here's what the bait cylinders will look like once they are installed.  

Now go check your garages for termite tubes!  Happy Home-ownership!