PROBLEMS
It certainly hasn't all been a bed of roses on this renovation. As with most older houses, once you start opening up the walls and floors, it's a Pandora's Box of surprise- some good and some very bad! All in all, this property has very good bones despite a couple of uneven floors and bowing walls. It wasn't the brief to completely gut and redo- some of these quirks give it character. But.. when it comes to pest control, this has to be taken very seriously.
Our first issue was coming across termite damage, both existing and live infestation. We were made aware of the historical damage and it was mostly superficial, but upon opening the wall to create the ensuite, we were presented with live termites. Not being familiar with the process around finding live termites in the house, we did the wrong thing and sprayed as many as we could find with fly spray. Yes this killed a few hundred of them, but it caused the colony to retreat further into the house, so it was time to call in the experts!
Walt engaged Flick Pest Control, who generated a full whole-property report, including finding 6 surrounding trees that housed the nests. We had the entire property treated and a perimeter trap system. From here, it's 6 monthly inspections. The damage was substantial, replacing and rebuilding an entire internal wall, from bottom plate to roof rafter!
Renovating a property, in Victoria, during a pandemic and relying on trades from the world's most locked down city through the schedule into chaos. This build used as many local trades as possible, but due to the hectic work loads and some existing relationships- Melbourne trades were needed. The reno was due to be finished in October / November 2021, but is due for completion in Feb 2022. Wrangling travel restrictions, border closures and materials shortages certainly was a challenge.
