monablair, oh my goodness... what a mess! I really, really do sympathize... it is daunting and not for the weak! Only a small percentage of us would tackle such houses!

You asked how it is going for us, I finally, see a light at the end of the tunnel, DH... still sees a massive amount of work ahead, and there is... but WE MOVED IN, 2 days ago!! The inside is 90% finished. we have 1 bathroom left, painting 3 rooms, 8 doors and trim (trim has already been all stripped, sanded and primed - so just paint!!) We have no washing machine yet - it leaked, so DH is doing that, we took a shower this AM, drain was plugged with concrete, the demo team must have filled! DH was under the crawl space taking that apart today, and fixing it. I know we'll find odds and ends as we move in, but it is livable and it feels wonderful to be finally in! We rushed, because we really needed to get our other house on the market during our season. I hope to be able to finish a room at a time and not kill myself working. DH still does have much to do to tighten up the house, fix the attached garage (termite damage) and exterior stripping and painting, etc....

Those animals can really do a number on things! I think we have the house pretty tight now so that they can't get back in (I hope).

thinking of you all!!!!

Look at the last picture and note the thickness of the wood they ate through and notice how thin that same wood is at the point of entry. Who ever knew those critters would eat wood like that?

I had to show DH these pictures, it IS amazing to think that these rodents can do so much destruction to a house! I think we had a pretty good home inspector.. but still, many things he missed or couldn't see, and every single thing we do, opens another can of worms. I blame it mostly on neglect from the previous owner who lived here 20 years and did nothing to maintain this home.