Recent content by ClaudiaH

I am seeing that I've been overthinking this, and will take a step back. The exterminator did a great job today and will be back soon, and I'm sure the ants will be gone in short order. Thanks again, everyone!

Thanks for the ideas, everyone! jack stand, your idea about the level on the header is particularly interesting to me - I'll probably do that. And yes, it makes sense that sometimes everything looks fine externally but there is a lot of damage. jkuro, I live in the Pacific Northwest, which is...

Thanks! Well, the leftmost stud definitely goes all the way to the roof, and the other two support the garage door header, which itself supports multiple studs that go to the roof. MASSIVE gently sloping roof with no post supports inside the 25' x 25' garage, just support around the...

Thanks for your feedback, everyone! Sometimes it just takes fresh eyes and brains to figure out the obvious, lol....

LOL, stickshift - exactly! Unfortunately, the exterminator inspector who visited yesterday was a substitute guy - perhaps not as conversant with pharaoh ants as my usual guy, who was sick. The tech who is coming tomorrow should know more. I still need to consider how to deal with the gaps, I...

I'm thinking my screwdriver may be running into the nails that go into the plate. Hmmm....

I'm trying to reconcile all the sawdust and the presence of pharaoh ants with possible wood damage. If they just pop under existing gaps and tunnel in the wood, at least there aren't new gaps - but existing gaps are still a problem, as is tunneling damage... I appreciate all the replies, this...

The Cobbler, I agree! But I'm seeing evidence that the cuts don't go all the way through when I probe with the screwdriver. I've been puzzled, too. It may be that the presence of the ants are revealing a problem that existed before. Stranger things have happened to me!

gahrajmahal, an infrared camera will show the tunneling in the wood? Sounds like a very useful tool....

The plate is pressure-treated wood, and the ants seem entirely uninterested in it.

stickshift, I live in a partially woody area. Lots of ants and termites around. I have a good relationship with an excellent exterminator. It's hard to completely avoid these critters here. The treatment that the exterminator will apply tomorrow should prevent a re-infestation. I didn't...

Photos. These are three immediately adjacent studs to the left of the garage door. I can't get a good pic of all three at once because the garage track (on left in first pic) is in the way. The two rightmost studs have the most lost wood at the bottom. The ants were working diligently at the...

Studs are 20 feet long because the garage has a ceiling that is up over 20 feet. Stud is one piece except for two of the studs in the photos I'm about to share, which extend up to the header of the garage door.

Unfortunately, the gaps don't extend all the way through the stud, and there were the ants and a LOT of sawdust there. The gaps I'm talking about are perhaps 1/16-1/8 inch. Agreed that there may be too much damage from the tunneling, I need to look into that more. The outside of the wood...

I may be able to do the cut the stud and add a section of plate trick. Interesting idea, PCustoms! Probably better than shimming.