I just noticed on my bedroom drywall (exterior wall) some dark spots.
At first I thought it was dust. Upon closer examination, it appears to
be a kind of a brown particle like thing sticking to the drywall. It
scraped off easily, and I noticed some small holes in the drywall.

The next day, the particles grow back, and that's when I realized
something bad is probably growing inside. I spray some bug spray
around that spot, and the particles did not grow back. But I also
noticed there are multiple dark spots on the same side of the wall
about a foot or two away.

Anyone know what these things are? Termite? I am in Bay-Area
California and it's fairly dry during the day, temperature is about
60-80.

How do I get rid of it? I called a local pest control company and they
are going to come out to take a look. In the mean time, I hope to find
out more so I can ask the guy some good questions...

Thanks!

Raymond

wrote in message ...


I just noticed on my bedroom drywall (exterior wall) some dark spots.
At first I thought it was dust. Upon closer examination, it appears to
be a kind of a brown particle like thing sticking to the drywall. It
scraped off easily, and I noticed some small holes in the drywall.

The next day, the particles grow back, and that's when I realized
something bad is probably growing inside. I spray some bug spray
around that spot, and the particles did not grow back. But I also
noticed there are multiple dark spots on the same side of the wall
about a foot or two away.

Anyone know what these things are? Termite? I am in Bay-Area
California and it's fairly dry during the day, temperature is about
60-80.

How do I get rid of it? I called a local pest control company and they
are going to come out to take a look. In the mean time, I hope to find
out more so I can ask the guy some good questions...

Thanks!

Raymond

Sounds like mold.

Hi Raymond,

I don't know if this is what you have, but a friend of mine had dirt
dobbers and wasps start building nests in his walls due to some
openings he didn't know about under a window seal. At first he heard
some scratching every so often then he saw similar things to what
you're describing. It wasn't until he started seeing 2-3 wasps and
dobbers a day that he started putting the pieces together.

Putting your ear to his wall you could hear the buzzing and sounds of
the critters, and just pushing the wall with a finger it went through
exposing a massive nest in several places inside the wall. He ended up
removing the drywall and after an exterminator found the spot they were
coming in, he fixed the hole and all was good.

Just a thought... walk around your house and see if you see massive
accumulations of flying bugs (dirt dobbers, wasps, yellow jackets,
anything) flying to a point where you see no nest. Chances are they
might be going inside the brick or walls and nesting. In my house I
saw hornets starting to do this.. coming in and out a spot in my brick,
and I used some mortar and a little caulk to seal the hole.

HTH,

Sam

In alt.home.repair Alex wrote:

Just a thought... walk around your house and see if you see massive
accumulations of flying bugs (dirt dobbers, wasps, yellow jackets,
anything) flying to a point where you see no nest. Chances are they
might be going inside the brick or walls and nesting. In my house I
saw hornets starting to do this.. coming in and out a spot in my brick,
and I used some mortar and a little caulk to seal the hole.

Hi Alex, thanks for the tip. I'll take a look. At night, I do hear
some very subtle knocking noise in the middle of the night. Sometimes
I thought it was my bed/head-board making strange noise...

Would it be mice? It doesn't sound like something's chewing on wood,
more like subtle knocking noise...

Raymond

wrote in message ...


I just noticed on my bedroom drywall (exterior wall) some dark spots.
At first I thought it was dust. Upon closer examination, it appears to
be a kind of a brown particle like thing sticking to the drywall. It
scraped off easily, and I noticed some small holes in the drywall.

The next day, the particles grow back, and that's when I realized
something bad is probably growing inside. I spray some bug spray
around that spot, and the particles did not grow back. But I also
noticed there are multiple dark spots on the same side of the wall
about a foot or two away.

Anyone know what these things are? Termite? I am in Bay-Area
California and it's fairly dry during the day, temperature is about
60-80.

How do I get rid of it? I called a local pest control company and they
are going to come out to take a look. In the mean time, I hope to find
out more so I can ask the guy some good questions...

Thanks!

Raymond

termites. they don't like the light, so when they tunnel through the
drywall, they stop.

wrote in message ...


I just noticed on my bedroom drywall (exterior wall) some dark spots.
At first I thought it was dust. Upon closer examination, it appears to
be a kind of a brown particle like thing sticking to the drywall. It
scraped off easily, and I noticed some small holes in the drywall.

The next day, the particles grow back, and that's when I realized
something bad is probably growing inside. I spray some bug spray
around that spot, and the particles did not grow back. But I also
noticed there are multiple dark spots on the same side of the wall
about a foot or two away.

Anyone know what these things are? Termite? I am in Bay-Area
California and it's fairly dry during the day, temperature is about
60-80.

How do I get rid of it? I called a local pest control company and they
are going to come out to take a look. In the mean time, I hope to find
out more so I can ask the guy some good questions...

Thanks!

Raymond

This is Turtle.

Raymond , Here in Louisiana we have a problem with roaches eating sheet rock or
what you call dry wall. they like the glue in the paper coating of the dry wall
and will eat through to get both sides to eat on. You have roaches inside the
wall and eat your wall from the inside out.

TURTLE

In article , wrote:

- I just noticed on my bedroom drywall (exterior wall) some dark spots.
- At first I thought it was dust. Upon closer examination, it appears to
- be a kind of a brown particle like thing sticking to the drywall. It
- scraped off easily, and I noticed some small holes in the drywall.
-
- The next day, the particles grow back, and that's when I realized
- something bad is probably growing inside. I spray some bug spray
- around that spot, and the particles did not grow back. But I also
- noticed there are multiple dark spots on the same side of the wall
- about a foot or two away.
-
- Anyone know what these things are? Termite? I am in Bay-Area
- California and it's fairly dry during the day, temperature is about
- 60-80.
-
- How do I get rid of it? I called a local pest control company and they
- are going to come out to take a look. In the mean time, I hope to find
- out more so I can ask the guy some good questions...
-
- Thanks!
-
- Raymond


If they're real small spots, then my vote is for termites, too.
--
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~
"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson

http://www.suzanne-eckhardt.com/
http://www.intergnat.com/malebashing/
http://www.intergnat.com/pussygames/

In alt.home.repair Suzie-Q wrote:

If they're real small spots, then my vote is for termites, too.

Thanks everyone.

I had a guy from Okins come out this morning. He looked at it and said
it was Termites.

Since it's just on that side of the wall, he said he could spot treat
for about $1200 (foam, and treat the wood from attic and craw space)...

He could also fumigate the whole house for about $4700. The house is
about 1500 sqft.

I was hoping for some several hundred dollar repair. Both options are
expensive. Although only one wall is showing symptons, it might be
safer to fumigate the whole house. I don't know when the last time the
house was fumigated, but I'd estimate it was more than 10 years ago...

Are there any foam like thing I could buy from HD? Ie, a tube would
punch a tiny hole on the wall and I just spray the foam inside the
area?

Would fumigate the whole house really kill everything? even those
between drywalls? Do they need to punch holes in drywalls?

Thanks.

Raymond

I've used the spray can to spot treat termites with success but felt
like an ostridge (SP?) with my head in the sand doing it. Our 1600SF
house was tented in So. Calif. coast several years ago for about $1900
and we've not seen any sign since.

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:20:13 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

In alt.home.repair Suzie-Q wrote:

If they're real small spots, then my vote is for termites, too.

Thanks everyone.

I had a guy from Okins come out this morning. He looked at it and said
it was Termites.

Since it's just on that side of the wall, he said he could spot treat
for about $1200 (foam, and treat the wood from attic and craw space)...

He could also fumigate the whole house for about $4700. The house is
about 1500 sqft.

I was hoping for some several hundred dollar repair. Both options are
expensive. Although only one wall is showing symptons, it might be
safer to fumigate the whole house. I don't know when the last time the
house was fumigated, but I'd estimate it was more than 10 years ago...

Are there any foam like thing I could buy from HD? Ie, a tube would
punch a tiny hole on the wall and I just spray the foam inside the
area?

Would fumigate the whole house really kill everything? even those
between drywalls? Do they need to punch holes in drywalls?

Thanks.

Raymond