In the Pacific Northwest, the damage to your home from the elements and pests cannot be underestimated. This Milwaukie, Oregon home had extensive damage from Wood Boring beetles, Carpenter Ants, and Dry Rot — this trifecta caused extensive home exterior damage. Bragg Construction arrived on the scene to completely reconstruct one entire end of the house after it had dropped approximately 2 inches due to the hollowed floor joists.
Removal of damaged home exterior material from Milwaukie, Oregon home with damage from Wood Boring Beetles, Carpenter Ants, and Dry Rot by Bragg Construction
Inspection, Damage Assessment, and Identification of the Villains:
The home was a one-level ranch house with a brick facade with faulty drip flashing. To understand more about the downward spiral of water damage please read this previous blog post. Encouraged by the intrusion of water, some villainous insects had clearly caused damage. Research was done to determine the presence of both Carpenter Ants and Wood Boring Beetles. To learn more about Wood Boring Beetles please check out the OSU insect identification page.
A view of the home exterior damage caused by failed flashing between the home siding and brick facade and faulty roofing allowed water to enter the home’s frame
Navigating the crawl space and inspecting the floor framing, we determined at least 6 floor joist were nearly completely hollowed. A pocket-knife went through a 2 inch thick timber, wood powder came raining down, and it was time to remove the exterior siding to get started with the replacement of the floor timbers!
Home exterior view of damage caused by dry rot, Carpenter Ants, and Wood Boring Beetles
Jacking the house up
Notice the 3 wall jacks that were neaded to lift the hosue 2 inches
Removing the joists
Bragg Construction jacked the house up in order to remove the joists. Again, the Boring Beetles had done extensive damage, notice all of the holes in the joists.
Close-up of wood with Wood Boring Beetles exist holes in fir floor joist.
The core of the wood was hollow. The exterminator came in prior to Bragg Construction coming in to do the repairs.
Wood Boring Beetle Damage to Floor Joists
Shreds and powder are all that remains of this floor joist removed due to Wood Boring Beetle damage.
New sill plate and Joists
Bragg Construction inserted 4 full length 12′ floor joists.
View of the 4 new 12′ lumber floor joists.
Straight on view of the new sill plate and floor joists
Rim Band Put in Place For Completion
Rim band goes into place to complete the repair.