<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termite" target="blank"><img alt="subterranean-termites.jpg" src="http://www.jimbo.info/weblog/2009/09/23/subterranean-termites.jpg" border="0" align="left" width="187" height="122" vspace="2" hspace="3"></a>My neighbor in the adjoining duplex basement unit has suffered two floods since she moved in a month ago and now has a mold problem. This hosue apparently rests above an underground stream in Shaw, and can be flooded from below during heavy rains. It's part of the reason the unit is so moldy - and moldy wood foundations inevitably attracts <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termite" target="blank">termites</a>.
She says the contractors found signs of termite infestation when they tore down her moldy bathroom wall. It's not a surprise...I've seen little holes in the brick wall that separates me from her living space, and a telltale sign is finding tiny piles of <i><a href="http://www.yourdictionary.com/frass" target="blank">frass</a></i> outside of these holes. Although I had some doubt because I didn't think they could burrow through brick, but apparently they can.
This will be the second rental I've lived in that has termites. Apparently both were inspected, yet both had long-term termite infestation, as in over a decade of residence of these pests. What's up with that, DC inspectors? My last rental was literally about to collapse with major sections of the foundation that had to be replaced. It's a lesson that makes me feel very happy to be a renter, and now I know how to spot the signs and I have some insight on how much of a hassle home ownership can be.
From what I've seen the social fantasy of buying a dump in a gentrifying neighborhood and flipping it can become a total nightmare for the home owner. During the recent real estate boom many of the home owners were only interested in flipping their houses and completely ignored or were unaware of major foundation problems. Judging by the cosmetic fixes to the current place I will soon move out of, the homeowners were only interested in painting a pretty picture and getting rid of a product that was rotten to the core.
But my landlord couldn't flip the house and now he's stuck with a rotten house that needs major foundation repairs, on a sketchy block with a resident noisy drug-dealing gang. It's a case study that the whole home ownership thing is neither a cakewalk nor a fantasy and is rife with peril and cost. Sure, I may own a home some day, but I keep seeing over and over again that when you rush into something like that or only intend to flip such a property it doesn't always work out the way you'd like it to. So think these things through carefully and the next time you hear somebody bragging about how much they made when they flipped this or that in 2007, keep in mind that the ones who didn't do so well tend to be very quiet about such things.
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