HELP!!!! My husband and I have decided to remodel our bathroom. When we started removing the wallpaper we found several large areas of old termite damage. They had eaten some of the sheetrock. We do not have the funds to rip out the walls and start fresh. Is it possible to tape/bed over these areas?

 

Are you sure its termites?
If you don't remove the rock how can you be sure the damage has not reached the studs? A few studs and a couple sheets of rock now is less expensive than ripping out a newly remodled bathroom.

 

We're sure it is termites. I turned on the bathroom heater last winter and they came flying out. You can imagine how excited I was when that happened. Plus, we've seen termite damage before and there is no doubt that this is what it is. To be honest, if I planned on retiring here I would find the money to pull off the sheetrock and put new up. But, I only plan on living her for a couple of more years and don't know if I want to put that kind of money into it. Plus, once we pull the rock off there is no telling what kind of money/problems we could run into. I know the termites are gone because we have had the entire house treated. The best way financially for me to do this is to just tape/bed over the damage. Do you know if this can even be done?

 

As far as I know termites don't eat gypsum BUT I lived/worked in fla long enough to see where termites had damaged drywall. Drywall isn't overly expensive or all that hard to work with. You need to bite the bullet and do what needs doing. It may not be as bad as you think.

One point to ponder - when you sell a home with undisclosed damage, the buyer can sue you for repairs if he can prove you knew about it and said nothing.

 

I had not even considered the legal disclosure obligation...something to remember. You should cut away a peice of drywall and look at your studs. Once your in there you can determine if the damage is extensive or non- existent. Even if the studs have been chewed on poping in a few more is relatively easy and studs are cheap! Replacing the drywall is not hard. Pros can do it faster than you can but you can still do it. The whole job won't cost more than $50 in materials (borrowing dad's tools).
When your done you will either fiendishly search out new drywall projects in your home...or swear off home improvement forever

 

I have had an area where termites damaged sheet rock... it was only the paper though. It is just easier for them to eat the paper than the wood.

I have to agree about the leagal issue though. Now that you know you will need to disclose it when you sell... even if you fix it. Rember, CYA! The little bit of damage that we had has been fixed but when we sell it will be disclosed as "No active infestation. Previous known damage has been repaired."

Also being that they were in your ceiling fan you may want to open up the wall to see just how much damage they did. If you have a contract with an exterminator your damages may be covered by your contract.

 

Dont forget the root cause,
Lets say you pull back the sheetrock, and rplace a bunch of wood...its all for nothing unless you treat for the termites.
If they swarmed into a lighted room...you have them, and you have them bad.

Right now as you read this, they are eating your house.

If the problem isnt taken care of now, when you go to sell your house, it will fail a termite inspection, then you will have to treat and fix the damage, or nobody will buy your house.

 

If she didn't tear the sheet rock off, she wouldn't know of structual damages behind the drywall and therefore would not be obligated to disclose anything other than maybe having repaired the surface and maybe the fact that there had been termites in the home. In the South, almost every home has had a few termites though. I had my home treated for termites after having the same thing happen to a 6 ft X 6 foot section of wall in my home. I am in process of "bedding" over the area with joint compound. I was able to tightly re-screw into the studs and so assume they are not structually damaged. The termites did chew (actually melt) holes through the gypsum. Gypsum is the second softest known mineral. Whether they consumed it or just carried it away I don't know. Except for a few exit holes, the termites left the paint intact. I realized there was a problem when I noticed the uneven quality of the paint surface. I think they were mostly interested in eating the paper coating though because it is softer than wood and probably moreso on the heated side of the wall. When I flaked off all the loose paint, the gypsum surface looked like one of those ant farm things. They also ate the paper coating off fiberglass insulation I had between floor joists in crawl space of that area.

Speaking of ants, about 10 yrs ago I had an infestation of carpenter ants in different area under a roof leak into the wall area. In that case, I needed to repair the studs and sill plate. Used treated lumber for that. Also had to replace the drywall in that area. Carpenter ants need water damaged wood to consume as oposed to termites that usually carry water from underground up into the structure.