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Hi all,
During a recent visit to a friends house to help hang Christmas lights & move some items in the garage. I discovered a very discolored piece of ply wood in a shed which is attached to the garage. Being me I couldn't help but to investigate. Upon closer inspection it appears that the roof over the shed has been leaking for some time. There is major dry rot from the edge of the roof inwards to 2'6". All done right? simple, tear the back wall out and replace the roof. Maybe it's just my luck but things are never this simple. I poked around to see how bad the dry rot was and to my surprise, wood colored powder was falling out of the ply wood on the wall. The next part of this story is much like a cartoon, so I won't be offended if anyone gets a chuckle out of it. After finding the powder, and realizing that all that was left of 4' by 3' by 1/2" sheet of plywood was about a 1/16" of an inch on the surface I let out a "you've got to be kidding me" took a step back and the heel of my work boot went through the ply wood on the floor.
In a matter of 3 hours I went from hanging lights, to moving kayaks, to finding dry rot and a heck of an infestation of what I've now determined to be Powder post beetles (thank you internet resources).
I proceeded to tear out the plywood on the one wall and found various fun items behind the plywood. Old drop ceiling tiles, still damp from the last rain, chain saw blades, a belt, parts to an old piece of exercise equipment, thats only the start but I'll spare you the rest.
Now that I've vented, thank you to all who have read this far, what do I do? I am planning on repairing the wall this weekend before we get our first snow of the year. The shed is about 6' X 8', three walls open to the interior of the garage. Beetle damage is 50% of the back wall & 20% of the floor. I've found no signs of the beetles in any other part of the garage. 99% of the wood in the rest of the garage is painted, therefore from what I've read I don't have to worry about the beetles spreading there. I should mention during this whole fiasco I didn't see any beetles, nor larvae.
At this point I have to ask, what came first, dry rot or powder post beetles? It' seems too much of a coincidence that they are/were both present in the same area. I didn't see any beetle damage in the ply wood which comprised the roof, so I'm thinking the beetles didn't cause the roof to leak. Would a powder post beetle look at a nice damp piece of ply wood like a 5 year old would Disney land?
My conclusion at this point, and please if you have an opinion do share, is that the beetles were there first, had a party for a few years and then the roof started to leak dry rotting the wood. At first the beetles were happy that they didn't have to chew so hard to get through the wood, however the leak got worse and the constant moisture killed the beetles.
Well thanks for reading - and if you don't have an idea to help, but want to add something that might keep me from turning the hammer on myself by the end of this project feel free to do so.
Thanks again,
-mrunfixit-
During a recent visit to a friends house to help hang Christmas lights & move some items in the garage. I discovered a very discolored piece of ply wood in a shed which is attached to the garage. Being me I couldn't help but to investigate. Upon closer inspection it appears that the roof over the shed has been leaking for some time. There is major dry rot from the edge of the roof inwards to 2'6". All done right? simple, tear the back wall out and replace the roof. Maybe it's just my luck but things are never this simple. I poked around to see how bad the dry rot was and to my surprise, wood colored powder was falling out of the ply wood on the wall. The next part of this story is much like a cartoon, so I won't be offended if anyone gets a chuckle out of it. After finding the powder, and realizing that all that was left of 4' by 3' by 1/2" sheet of plywood was about a 1/16" of an inch on the surface I let out a "you've got to be kidding me" took a step back and the heel of my work boot went through the ply wood on the floor.
In a matter of 3 hours I went from hanging lights, to moving kayaks, to finding dry rot and a heck of an infestation of what I've now determined to be Powder post beetles (thank you internet resources).
I proceeded to tear out the plywood on the one wall and found various fun items behind the plywood. Old drop ceiling tiles, still damp from the last rain, chain saw blades, a belt, parts to an old piece of exercise equipment, thats only the start but I'll spare you the rest.
Now that I've vented, thank you to all who have read this far, what do I do? I am planning on repairing the wall this weekend before we get our first snow of the year. The shed is about 6' X 8', three walls open to the interior of the garage. Beetle damage is 50% of the back wall & 20% of the floor. I've found no signs of the beetles in any other part of the garage. 99% of the wood in the rest of the garage is painted, therefore from what I've read I don't have to worry about the beetles spreading there. I should mention during this whole fiasco I didn't see any beetles, nor larvae.
At this point I have to ask, what came first, dry rot or powder post beetles? It' seems too much of a coincidence that they are/were both present in the same area. I didn't see any beetle damage in the ply wood which comprised the roof, so I'm thinking the beetles didn't cause the roof to leak. Would a powder post beetle look at a nice damp piece of ply wood like a 5 year old would Disney land?
My conclusion at this point, and please if you have an opinion do share, is that the beetles were there first, had a party for a few years and then the roof started to leak dry rotting the wood. At first the beetles were happy that they didn't have to chew so hard to get through the wood, however the leak got worse and the constant moisture killed the beetles.
Well thanks for reading - and if you don't have an idea to help, but want to add something that might keep me from turning the hammer on myself by the end of this project feel free to do so.
Thanks again,
-mrunfixit-