A house I am interested in buying has termite damage.?
Question:Damage to the hardwood floors and some window sills is apparent. Is it worthwhile or possible to fix this? and if so how and at what cost?
The house is 1800sf, 2 stories, old, has wood floors and a brick exterior.
The list price for the house is only $20k below market value.
Answers:
Don't don't don't. Keep looking. Shake it off. You're only seeing what is visible, not what isn't visible. Believe me, and I hae been there, this is a nightmare deal for you. If you doubt me, take a flashlight and go underneath the crawlspace. Look for mud "tubes" reaching up from the ground and into the foundation of the house. Also take an icepick and try forcing it into the woodwork surrounding the areas you said were infested. If they are soft ("punky") then they're eaten up too. This is a HUGE job.
If you can see that damage....think of the damage you can't see..Like the foundation.Bad buy..You could replace the windows and replace the hard wood floors but think about the foundation..
If the termite damage is the far along, there is probably a design problem. Sometimes houses are built in such a way that they are almost guaranteed to have a problem. Convoluted roof designs are the primary culprit. Stay away.
best thing to do is not buy the house and make your Realtor file necessary papers to have the current owner address this problem before he sells.
Run from this house. If the termites are in the window sills and floors they have already entered the walls and floor structure. Unless you can tear all the drywall/plaster off the walls to see where the damage is then it is not worth it.
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