Who does what
It is worth being plain about roles. C’ville Termite Removal Experts is a pest control company, not a framing crew. We do not bid on carpentry, which means the size of the damage we report is not influenced by a repair we stand to be paid for. What we provide is the part a carpenter cannot: a survey of every affected member, proof that the infestation is finished, and a written scope that a licensed contractor can price from without crawling the whole house again.
If you do not have a contractor, we can name local ones who do structural repair in crawl spaces regularly and who have worked from our reports before.
The order matters: treat, then repair
- Confirm the cause. Rot, carpenter ants and powderpost beetles all leave weak wood. Each has a different fix, and replacing timber without identifying what ruined it invites a repeat.
- Stop the termites. New lumber bolted beside an active gallery is simply fresh food. Treatment comes first, and we wait long enough afterward to see that activity has ended.
- Map the damage. Every joist, sill, band board, girder and stud we can reach is probed and marked. Members are graded as surface damage, partial loss or failed.
- Write the scope. A numbered list tied to photographs and a simple plan of the framing, so that three contractors pricing the job are pricing the same work.
- Repair, then recheck. Once the carpentry is complete we look at the new work before insulation or flooring hides it, and treat any bare replacement wood that needs it.
What repairs usually involve in local houses
| Damaged member | Typical repair | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Floor joist, partly eaten | A full-length new joist fastened alongside the old one, known as sistering | The most common repair we see specified |
| Sill plate on a brick or stone foundation | The floor is jacked a fraction, the bad section cut out and pressure-treated timber slid in | Slow, careful work on pre-war houses in Belmont and Woolen Mills |
| Band board behind a porch or deck | Ledger removed, band replaced and flashed, ledger refastened | Often found where a porch was built tight to the house |
| Subfloor and finished flooring | Cut back to sound material and patched | Old heart pine can frequently be matched from salvage |
| Wall studs and door frames | Opened from one side, replaced, closed and refinished | Usually limited to a few feet above the sill |
Structural repairs may need a building permit from the city or the county, and where a girder or load-bearing wall is involved a contractor may want an engineer’s letter. Your contractor handles that; our report gives them the starting information.
Cosmetic damage or structural?
Most termite damage found in Charlottesville is caught while it is still modest. Galleries along the bottom edge of a few joists look alarming when opened up, yet the member may have lost very little of its strength. On the other hand, a sill that crushes under a screwdriver for six feet is carrying a wall on very little. We say which is which in the report, in plain words, so you can decide what has to be done now and what can wait for a planned renovation.
Buying or selling a house with old damage
Damage noted on a wood destroying insect report does not have to end a sale. Lenders and buyers generally want three things: evidence the infestation was treated, a description of the damage from someone independent, and either a completed repair or a firm price for one. Our survey supplies the first two, and the scope lets the parties obtain the third quickly.
Do not expect insurance to pay. Homeowner policies almost always exclude termite damage. A treatment agreement that includes a repair guarantee is different, so read what yours covers before work begins.
Once the framing is sound again, a monitoring system or an annual termite inspection keeps the same thing from happening quietly a second time.