Thirty Years of Dirt Is a Lot of Dirt

Nasty discovery today. We took the paneling down in the living room and office and discovered extensive termite damage.

Before we bought the place, we had a wood destroying insect inspection and the inspector noted in the report that there was damage, but there was no evidence that the bugs were still active. So, somewhere along the road, termites were eating the house, they were discovered and euthanized. Unfortunately, the damage was not repaired. It was hidden by that hideous paneling. Above is a picture of what the gypsum board behind the paneling looks like. It's going to have to be torn down. Also the bottoms of all of the window frames (in that room) are all eaten away and have to be replaced.

Also, after removing the baseboards, I was sweeping and vacuuming up the endless supply of dead bug carcasses that were behind the baseboards. I noticed that in one spot, I'd vacuum up a pile of sand and more would replace it. I spent a very long time vacuuming us sand that was falling out of the wall. It was pouring out as quickly as the vacuum could suck it up. I gave up after filling three vacuum cleaner bags. I'm sure there is more. I think that at one time, the house was infested with ants and they built the mother of all ant hills in the wall. Who knows how long it has been there...or how long it will remain.