Something Unexpected -- Termite Damage

Well, I forgot to take my camera today. I had Eddie and Kelly with me and I was thinking about showing them around more than the camera. The big item today was a bit unexpected. Remember how the window in the kitchen, over the sink, had gotten so it did not open easily? It was a real struggle. Well, when Brad removed the interior walls of the kitchen he talked again about how that window didn't open smoothly and said the house must have settled some.

Well, it turns out there was some old termite damage that had caused the wall to settle a bit. Years ago, a freezer in the storeroom had leaked. You may recall that the floor under the freezer had rotted through and there was actually a hole there, covered by a piece of plywood. Apparently at the time the wood was wet from the leak, the termites found the wood pleasing to feast upon. And probably, once we stopped using the freezer and the wood dried thoroughly, the termites lost interest. At any rate, the builders had to replace a long support beam that had been damaged. You can see a bit of the damage on the right in photos of the new back steps. Not a huge deal, and we had already scheduled a termite treatment anyway, as part of the renovation.