Bill wrote:
I have a house I'm preparing to sell which has some minor termite damage.
House has been treated & bug free for a decade or more, but several areas
have odd drywall damage wherein the termites actually ate the paper off the
drywall & from underneath the paint. Damnedest thing you ever saw. My
inclination to save time/effort is simply to remove all the loose bits & mud
the whole surface level (we're talking about an area about the size of one
4x8 sheet). I know the consensus on this is probably going to be "replace
the effected sheetrock", but failing that what might be some other options
be? If I go with a re-mud, should I just use regular joint compound, or
might something else be better?

TIA

Bill



Concealing a termite infestation would be less than nice, if there is a
chance it is active. Leave the drywall alone, have a termite inspection
and spend the money to at least treat any that are found. Likely that
the blistered drywall is around door or window, and termites are in
structural wood. They don't come to the surface, as they don't like
daylight. They do the same thing with wood - eat to within the
thickness of paper from the outside of the wood, the point at which
appearance of the wood can change but they haven't come through to the
surface. How long since your last termite inspection? What kind were they?

We have old damage in our condo - inside and out. Drywood termites x2
before we lived here. Found subterranean termites in exterior wood
partition that wasn't in contact with other wood structure - one section
of a 1x12, about a foot long, had nothing left of it but the paint.
Termites don't eat through paint, which is a good hint about prevention.