![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Exterior_EastSide_FoundationProjectPhaseII-SMALL_071017.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSomehow I wasn’t expecting The Wandering Monk to need to tear off all the siding off the east wall on that part of the house. Good thing he did, though, as it was the classic good news\/bad news case. <\/p>\n
The siding came off completely intact and both it and the upper walls were in fine shape. A pleasant surprise. The lower walls suffered rot, of course (no surprise at all). And we found termites. But we found them in a place it would have been surprising not<\/em> to find them. With the vertically grooved siding off, we could see exactly where the wall sagged from lack of support. That was helpful.<\/p>\n The Monk said he could hear the termites inside the wall. Sounded like dry leaves rustling together, he said. I couldn’t hear them, but I believe it. Ever since the late and increasingly unlamented Handyman Mike did his botched bathroom remodel, Ava has been interested, sometimes to the point of frenzy, in the corresponding spot on the interior bathroom wall. I had no idea why she was pawing and barking at that wall. I kept going outside looking for furry creatures around or under the house, finding nothing. Turns out Ava’s a termite detector.<\/p>\n The Monk ended up knocking the sill plates off the walls and cutting away the flooring underneath them. We seem to have gotten the termite nest. The variety of those critters that we have here tends (knock wood) not to be invasive once their damp little homestead has been taken away. But it was weird to see the now-bottomless walls.<\/p>\n When I said I was worried that nothing was supporting my walls now, the Monk pointed out that nothing was supporting them before other than “termites holding hands.” Hm. Yeah, got a point there, I suppose.<\/p>\n Toward the end of the day we (mostly the Monk) temporarily wedged a 16′ beam into place, which you see in the above photo and which actually is giving some support despite the bottoms of the wall studs hanging in space.<\/p>\n Tomorrow morning the beam comes back out and I aggressively spray the area for termites, then follow that with two coats of nasty anti-rot\/anti-insect copper slop for longer-term protection. All will be well, although some things will be jury rigged.<\/p>\n Today was rough, though. For me, it was just one of those days. I was too busy multi-tasking to remember to eat, and by noon I was crabby and tired. Merely listening to the sounds of large chunks being sawed and beaten off the house shook me. Although I’d taken vulnerable items off the bathroom walls, the vibration from the reciprocating saw knocked dozens of items off shelves onto the floor.<\/p>\n Then in the afternoon, as we were trying to wedge the beam in place, a shard of wood more than a foot long flew into my face. Fortunately, I was wearing safety glasses, but the pointy thing gave me a pretty good graze across my nose and cheek. Bit too close to a Phineas Gage moment<\/a> for my taste. By the time we called it quits, I was ready to curl up and cry. Instead I watched an episode of Downton Abbey<\/em> and ate tres leches<\/em> cake and Fritos. That helped. <\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n Here’s what I’d rather have been doing …<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n