Windows install: Carpenter Ants!!!

The Lowes installers pulled one of the sliders first thing.  Given the leaking roof, I anticipated nearly all of the center support framing was going to be toast due water and what would appear to be an active infestation of something.  When the Lowes Install Manager guy came out to do the measurements we talked about reframing where necessary.

WOW!
Anticipate as much as I did, it was still worse than expected!  The two 4x4 support posts and half the header on the right side were nearly dust from years of carpenter ant activity.  The continual source of water from the leaking roof and the untreated nature of the wood provided the ants with a veritable feast for years.  As soon as the slider was pulled free, and then again when they pulled the center picture windows out, there was a swarm of ants all over the place.  On the first sign, I made a fast trip to Lowes and picked up about six cans of Carpenter Ant killer.

On one of the center posts, when it was pulled out, about six inches from the floor up was pure dust and ant dump that just fell out of the aluminum casing.  It would appear that it was the aluminum framing alone that held the roof up.  YOWZA!

KILL!!

Exciting times!  More to come....