phaeton wrote:

Here in the Wisconsin tundra the ground freezes solid for half the
year, so termites aren't often a problem. The basement looks solid so
far that I can tell, but it's painted over stone and concrete. The
paint isn't brand-spanking new- it doesn't look like anyone's trying to
hide anything to sell it, and there's been a little shoring up of the
first floor with some timbers but of all the wood i can see in the
house, most of it has been already replaced in the near past or the
really really old stuff still seems rather solid.

Gosh.. if the basement started to crumble, could that even be fixed?
Stickframe houses can be jacked up or even set aside while a new
foundation gets poured, but if this thing is 16" of concrete or stone
all the way up to the top of the second floor, would it be too heavy to
work with or too brittle to lift?

Now i'm all paranoid.. uh..heh...

So yeah.. .it's the nasty surprises that i'm trying to avoid, and i'm
not qualified to look for this stuff.

If it's 100 now and hasn't shown any major signs of failure, that's a
good sign you can expect it to outlive you.

Our house is only 10 years or so younger and has very few problems
structurally other than I haven't fixed some drainage issues yet and
they are causing some foundation issues--I really need to do that!
As in the case you say, the house was extensively remodelled in the
late 70's when all new wiring and plumbing was put in as well as
insulation and a HVAC system. There's one area of concern in an old
house--did they do this at the same time there? Heating particularly in
your area is a concern.

W/ a non-conventional construction such as this I'd recommend a
structural guy as a good investment as someone else suggested if you're
really concerned. Whatever, you do, be sure that whoever is doing it is
on your payroll, not the realty company's or even your lender's.

I really don't know about your climate enough to know for sure, but I
wouldn't rule out termites w/o at least a rudimentary check unless you
have really solid knowledge/basis for otherwise.