Books and Bookshelves Destroyed
By hereandthere
@hereandthere (45628)
Philippines
February 5, 2017 8:24pm CST
Two bookshelves and most of the books inside were destroyed by termites.
When they took out the mud-encrusted books and the crumbly bookshelves, they saw that the wooden baseboards running from the bottom of that wall to the other were also being eaten away by termites.
The books were mostly travel books, comic books, and Japanese manga.
Did you ever lose anything that you had plans to sell or give to family and friends due to pests or damage to the house?
16 people like this
17 responses
@ilocosboy (45155)
• Philippines
6 Feb 17
This Is one of my problems termites eating the magazines and books
3 people like this
@Linda1234 (4711)
• Houston, Texas
6 Feb 17
Sorry hear that .I don't know termites are so bad
2 people like this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
6 Feb 17
termites are sneaky because they start from the inside. you don't realize that something has been eaten away and hollow already because they still look whole on the outside.
3 people like this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
6 Feb 17
i did think about people who lost their homes to floods and fire, so it's not so bad after all
1 person likes this
@much2say (57760)
• Los Angeles, California
6 Feb 17
Oh no! I've never been through termite issues anywhere where I've lived. I love my books and cringe at the thought of them being lost to pesky termites! I do remember my mom having some clothes in the closet . . . and she found holes in them due to moths . . . I remember that moth ball smell from childhood but do not recall how bad the problem really was (kids don't notice these things 
).2 people like this
@much2say (57760)
• Los Angeles, California
6 Feb 17
@hereandthere Oh gosh, I really don't know. I have no idea what keeps termites away. We did take care of exposed wooden areas of the house (not that much, but wooden areas at the bottom of the windows from the outside) - sealed and repainted.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
6 Feb 17
do moth balls (naphthalene balls) work for termites?
2 people like this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
12 Feb 17
it wouldn't hurt so much if you've at least read them once.
1 person likes this
@Beatburn (4286)
• Philippines
12 Feb 17
@hereandthere Yup. Some were gifts from a very important person. He gave us a box of 10+ books, new novels for our wedding.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
12 Feb 17
@LadyDuck oh, so you mean the fire alarm was triggered and sprayed water everywhere? oh wow. what a big job that was to clean up!
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
12 Feb 17
really? did it happen in italy while you were growing up? how high was the water?
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502215)
• Italy
12 Feb 17
@hereandthere No it happened here in our storage room. The antifire system broke and plenty of water fell on our shelves.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (153544)
• India
6 Feb 17
Those must be white ants. The moment I spot a blotch of the mud you are talking about I spray that area. We have this in our garden too. We use a spray called Terminator
@allknowing (153544)
• India
6 Feb 17
@hereandthere You will have to clean place and then spray,.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
6 Feb 17
this was in a bedroom, so it wasn't easily obvious. they sprayed something yesterday, but it's back today.
2 people like this
@SIMPLYD (90717)
• Philippines
20 Feb 17
@hereandthere I think when books are eaten by termites, the pages become brittle.
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
20 Feb 17
@SIMPLYD they have holes in the middle so you can't read the whole book because there are lots of missing words hahaha! mine aren't affected yet, so i'm sending them while they're intact.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
20 Feb 17
the whole house has been treated with anti-termite now. i'm now planning to send my books and magazines to my friend for her parents and kids in batches.
1 person likes this
@jstory07 (148727)
• Roseburg, Oregon
6 Feb 17
That is teriable. I hope you got rid of the termites.
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
6 Feb 17
they sprayed something yesterday, but seems it didn't work. i've contacted a carpenter for advice.
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
6 Feb 17
you can't help wondering about the rest of the room. how do you treat termites?
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381905)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Feb 17
@hereandthere Mostly they have to be sprayed. I hate to say it but they could be right through the house. Houses here have to have a mesh barrier when they are built. You could scratch a bit at some other wood areas to see if they are just below the surface. Sometimes timber will show a good 'front' but be absolutely all eaten away underneath.
1 person likes this
@brokenbee (11937)
• Philippines
6 Feb 17
OH NOOOOO! Comic books and Japanese manga! Oh my!!!
Hmmm That's also a problem at home right now. That's why we need to have our house renovated.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
12 Feb 17
yeah, i saw some pugad baboy. i think the manga was wallflower.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
12 Feb 17
@brokenbee we gave the archie and tintin comics a long time ago to nieces and nephews. i know there were garfield and mother goose & grimm comic books, too, but don't know if they were also eaten by the termites. my brother did the sorting and packing so i didn't see everything.
1 person likes this
@brokenbee (11937)
• Philippines
12 Feb 17
@hereandthere Did you see some Jughead's or Garfield comic books? Hmmmm I am collecting those.
1 person likes this
@almostoveryou (4954)
• Philippines
22 Mar 17
I've lost a lot of books to termites. Sadly these books were collector's items (like this compilation of Douglas Adams's novels). I now only keep the ones I'd want to reread. The others, I pass on to my sister or sell.
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
6 Feb 17
We lost a bookcase to termites that entered it from the wall. We also lost part of the floor in that room where I stored a lot of books for sale. Fortunately, the termites had not entered the books in the case yet or the boxes of books in other parts of the room.
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
6 Feb 17
Luckily I have not had to deal with Termites but I have had my battles with other pest like wasps and bees.No picnic. It always is saddening to lose something you wanted to passdown but hopefully they are things that can be easily replaced due to mass production.
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
6 Feb 17
no, but I did due to a leaky roof and a rain storm and mold, was sad
