Thread: staining

Frame house (from the famous Country Walk area) built in 1981. There are stains below the siding outside the bedroom area. There area no other stains anywhere else around the home. Any ideas on this?? Thanks

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Originally Posted by william siegel

Frame house (from the famous Country Walk area) built in 1981. There are stains below the siding outside the bedroom area. There area no other stains anywhere else around the home. Any ideas on this?? Thanks

Hard to tell from your photo, but many of those homes had the bottom sill plates anchored with hurricane straps which were then shot to the outside of the concrete slab. No embedded anchor bolts holding the sill plate and walls down.

I used to see the straps rusted/rusting off on those homes, which was a big deal because that means the house is like an airplane on the runway at MIA, holding position and waiting for permission to take off and fly away. Which, as you recall, many did during Hurricane Andrew.

Look closely at those edges of the slabs next time, I'm going to guess you will see where the straps were and where the shot pins/concrete nails were which held the straps in place.

Those rust stains could be from the remains of those straps at the sill plates.

Once I realized what I was looking at, I found *many* homes that way in Country Walk.

Originally Posted by william siegel

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Any ideas on this??

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Freshly Scrapped off termite Tunnels.
* from the photo looks like several older ones were scrapped off on the left of current stains in the past.
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Thanks!! I learn something new every day.

Originally Posted by Billy Stephens

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Freshly Scrapped off termite Tunnels.
* from the photo looks like several older ones were scrapped off on the left of current stains in the past.
.

In this area that would be a good guess, but those definetly were not termite tubes. We did find drywoods, thouogh.

These appear to be water/rust marks/stains. If Jerry's suggestions aren't the case then also check for these. Are there plumbing lines near the wall associated with a bathroom or kitchen? It could simply be from a past event or overflow. Also check the sill for a nearby water supply or drain. If there is a window or other wall penetration above the mark water could have gotten in behind some trim or flashing. There may also be an AC supply duct in that wall chase that tends to sweat.

Always look for what is above and around a water stain and when I say above I mean to the roof. Chances are if you study it long enough you will probably still not figure it out in a single visit, but you may be able to come up with some sound theory.

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