Would I be insane to attempt this?

[monty]

Here's the deal. I was doing some work on my utility room. Pulled off some drywall and not only did I discover live termites (I've called the exterminator already) but it looks as if the lower plate is ruined along with extensive damage to, at least, two of the studs. this is a load bearing (exterior) wall on top of a slab (one story house).

We plan to sell this house in a couple of years but the wife is telling me it'll be pointless to fix it (?!?) for that reason (cost being the issue). However, I don't want to pass this problem on to any future owner and, on top of that, I'm afraid that it will severly hamper our ability to sell (at least at the price we want).

I'm seriously entertaining the idea of trying to fix this myself (once the bugs are taken care of). Am I crazy? All comments or advice welcome.

[Mr T]

First, have the entire house inspected if you havent already, let the inspector/exterminator know that you have already found a nest and damage inside.

Next check your insurance policy. I dont think they cover bug damage but i'm not sure.

Then you need to expose the entire are that needs repaired Go several feet in each direction from it. From there if it looks like something you can repair go for it. Post pics if in doubt at all and do not hestitate to get a professional opinion. Load bearing walls arent that much harder to replace, but common sense needs to be used for supporting the weight of the house while doing this.

[monty]

Thank you for the response Mr T.

Exterminator has been called, an inspection has been made and a date for extermination has been set. Turns out I was mistaken about the type of wall. The wall that was most affected turned out not to be a load bearing wall after all. Thank goodness. My dad also came up and took a look at it. He has quite a bit of home repair experience and he does good (as in, will pass an engineers inspection) work. (works cheap too :wink: ). He said it'll be a piece of cake once the termites are under control.

Again, thanks for the reply.

[JeffeVerde]

FYI - definitely don't want to band-aid and hide something like this because you plan on selling soon. It's just asking to be sued for failure to disclose a known problem.