First, we got the bad news about the seawall possibly needing to be replaced (with quotes running $19K – $42K now). We got lots of good advice from our awesome readers last week and we’ll be hiring an engineer to come in. That person should be able o give us a true assessment of the situation before we hire someone to do something that possibly doesn’t need to be done, or someone who’s proposing far too much for a small job.
Now, we have termites! After we bought this house, we discovered old termite damage in the sunroom wall. The owners submitted paperwork swearing they’d never had termites. Shortly after we moved here, we noticed termite poop on several windowsills one day, and called Orkin. They pointed out all the tiny holes in the walls where the house had been treated for termites over the years. The damage to the back wall of the sunroom was so extensive that, last year, we had the entire wall demolished and rebuilt.
Well, they’re baaaaaack! So, I just called Orkin again. Everytime we turn around, something big is needing to be done around here. I can’t recall having this many homeowner problems when we lived in Maine. But, we do very much prefer the climate in Florida, termites and all! 😉
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THIS WEEK’S MASONISM
“When I grow up, I want to be a weapons tester!”
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
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Linda, the previous owners lied about the roof not leaking (it did – badly!), about the age of the air conditioner, about the termites, and much more. They moved because the husband had more than one type of cancer and they wanted to live out their last days with their children up north. Maybe I’m a sucker but I couldn’t bring myself to sue a man in his 70’s with cancer.
Hi again,
Well, my Mom’s house had termites too but not a big infestation, but the bugs wre there when I went to sell it after she passed on. She had a treatment contract and the company swore there were no termites – not the case – because they never bothered to do the treatment. The company ( maybe Orkin too) had to come out and treat the house again and do a check before the sale with no charge. It cost me one contract to sell, but I got another one not long after ( I had to get a new real estate agent as well at the same time, as the first one skipped town suddenly and went on the lam from the real estate company. My sense and that of the company was that he was an illegal and had Immigration chasing him for something bad) .
You might check with your lawyer re the sale and check the closing documents and see if there are any that the former owner submitted guaranteeing no termites were ever in the house at the closing. You might get help to pay for repairing the damage.
It does seem that it never rains, but pours, doesn’t it? Still, eventually, the sun does come out again. It will for you too. At least you don’t have a blizzard to contend with
Best,
Linda