I'm in the middle of purchasing a home built in the 1950's. The latest infestation report from Arrow (I believe) says there is no evidence of current or past problems with any type of wood-destroying insects. However, every beam and board for the house's floor, when viewed in the crawl space, has tiny holes all over them. The holes are about the diameter of a pencil lead, they are quite shallow - maybe 1/8 of an inch, and almost perfectly round. I had to press the issue a little with the home inspector, but he wrote it up, agreeing with me that it seemed very unusual. The wood seems very strong, and there appeared to be no damage beyond the holes. They are very numerous, seem to be everywhere in the basement, but not in any regular pattern. There is no contact of wood with the ground except for the deck supports that are in the front of the house. Some of the wood appears to have a dark stain on it , as though something was brushed on it, very irregularly. Inspector said it almost looked like oil. To me, it looked a little like brown paint. It doesn't feel any different to my fingers. Everything is very dry. Plastic sheeting covers about half the dirt floor. Furnace and AC are in the crawl space - nothing else. Any ideas about the holes?
Thanks, beekay