The Exterminator Has Been. Who Fixes the Joists?

In North Carolina, termites usually turn up one of two ways: a spring swarm in the house, or a line on the wood-destroying insect report that is a routine part of a home sale. Either way, a pest control company comes out, treats the colony, and hands you a report that may say “damage noted” and recommend repair by a qualified contractor.

Then there is a gap. The exterminator does not repair wood. You are left with treated soil, a damaged floor system, and nobody assigned to the second half of the job. That second half is what we do. We repair termite damage; we do not treat termites.

Treatment First, Always

If the colony is still active, nothing structural should happen yet. New lumber installed around live termites is new food for them. Get the infestation treated by a licensed pest control company, keep the treatment paperwork and any ongoing service agreement, and schedule the repair afterwards. If you are buying the house, that paperwork belongs in your closing file.

Where the Damage Hides

The termites that do structural damage here are subterranean. They live in the soil and come up into the house, so damage starts at the bottom of the structure and works upward. In a crawl space, in roughly the order we find it:

• Sill plates, the boards sitting directly on top of the foundation wall.
• Band or rim joists, running around the outside edge of the floor framing.
• The ends of floor joists where they bear on the sill.
• Girders where they sit on masonry piers.
• Subfloor around plumbing, especially under bathrooms, where a slow leak keeps the wood damp.

Termite damage follows the grain inside a piece of wood. A joist can look sound from below while most of its cross-section is gone. That is why a real assessment means probing and sounding the wood along its length, not looking at it with a flashlight — and why the true extent is sometimes only clear once the crew is under the house with the damaged pieces exposed.

Termite Damage or Rot?

Often both, in the same crawl space and sometimes in the same board. Subterranean termites need moisture as much as they need wood, and so do the fungi that cause rot. The soft subfloor under a shower that you can push a finger into might be termites, rot, or both. The repair is largely the same. The difference is what you fix alongside it: a leaking fixture, a wet crawl space, or both.

How It Is Repaired

• Sistering. A new full-length member is fastened alongside a weakened joist so the pair carries the load. This is the most common repair, and it avoids tearing out the floor above.
• Replacing sill and band sections, with the structure temporarily supported while the damaged pieces come out.
• Replacing or reinforcing girders, and adding supports where a girder has lost bearing.
• Replacing subfloor where it has failed. We repair the structure; the tile or finished flooring above it is usually a separate trade.

Extensive damage to load-bearing members may call for a structural engineer to specify the repair, particularly in the middle of a sale. Because the full extent sometimes only shows once damaged wood is opened up, a good contractor will tell you before the job starts how added work will be handled. Ours goes through a written change order you approve before it is done, never a surprise on the invoice.

Keeping Them From Coming Back

Treatment kills the colony. A dry crawl space removes the reason termites found the house attractive in the first place:

• A sealed vapor barrier over bare soil.
• Downspouts and grading that move rainwater away from the foundation.
• No wood in direct contact with soil, and soil and mulch kept below the siding.
• Plumbing leaks fixed promptly, not when the floor goes soft.
• The pest control service agreement kept current.

Triangle Reconstruction has repaired termite-damaged framing across Wake and Durham counties and every county bordering them since 2012. If the exterminator has been and the floor still needs fixing, call (919) 924-7600.