Two Octobers ago I came across a vintage cabinet-like piece of furniture at a thrift store. I think it was less than $10 and it was pretty awesome.
Soon after bringing home, we spotted some signs of termite damage. There was also obvious water damage. I inspected it thoroughly, even to the point of digging into the wood some. The wood was dry and I found no live termites, although the doors to the cabinet were filled with termite droppings. I discovered this by poking holes in the bottom of the doors but there was no way for me to dig all the way up the doors to empty them out.
Occasionally a small amount of droppings would fall out onto the floor, since the doors were opened and closed daily. I never thought much of it.
Then, about two months ago (or maybe one? I lost count) we noticed about five termite swarmers in our living room on a rainy night. On top of that, within a week we noticed a significant amount of termite droppings had fallen out of the cabinet doors. We tried not to panic and immediately moved the cabinet outside.
Since then we’ve had our pest control company check out the room it was in and he didn’t see any signs of termites. He also noted that a few swarmers on a rainy night isn’t something to be overly concerned about.
So, I still don’t know if the cabinet had actual living termites in it or they were still just old droppings but that thing isn’t coming back inside. It is kind of unfortunate, since the vintage cabinet was such a unique shape and fit in my son’s room perfectly. We’re still trying to find a replacement to hold all of his things that were stored in there but for now mostly everything is laying on his dresser or on an unfinished chair I brought into his room. I guess it’s time to start visiting thrift stores more…
Do you have a thrift store find horror story to share?
This article describes how termites and other wood-destroying insects can become a nuisance in homes.