An influencer who purchased her dream home in a wooded area outside of San Francisco revealed that it has become a nightmare to maintain.
Laureise Livingston posted a video of some of the disasters she and her husband have had to clean up and shell out thousands of dollars to fix after buying the 100-year-old home nearly two years ago.
Despite being an old home, Livingston revealed that the problems have not necessarily stemmed from its age but more from the rodents and insects that have moved in with them.
The content creator, who is also a yoga instructor, shared some of the horrific issues they’ve had to endure in a video posted at the end of August, warning people never to purchase a home in the woods.
‘Just a PSA about buying a house in a wooded area – just don’t,’ she said, adding that their home has ‘a lot of opportunity for issues.’
‘It has been rodents, and bugs, and beetles that have just been eating us alive financially.’
She recalled the moment she and her husband heard a ‘scratching’ noise underneath their floor one night.
‘Turns out we have Norwegian rats. And if you’ve ever seen a Norwegian rat, they are literally the size of a squirrel,’ Livingston said.
The rodents, also known as a brown rat, are ‘one of the most common rats’ found in Norway and California, according to Killroy Pest Control.
In their home, she said the rats were feasting on their heating or HVAC piping, which is ‘wrapped in asbestos.’
‘And this wouldn’t be an issue because it wasn’t being disturbed until the rats came down there and started munching on it,’ she said, adding that the rodents used the asbestos to create nests underneath their home.
The couple then removed the pesky rodents, but because of the damage they brought, the HVAC piping also had to be replaced costing them around $10,000.
In order to do so, the couple were left without heat and air for approximately six months while the major issue was fixed.
Another bothersome issue arose just when they thought they could finally catch a break.
The pest control company Terminix phoned the couple and offered a free termite inspection after their neighbors were plagued by the insects.
‘So they come on over, and good news is, no termites, but, but you have wood-boring beetles,’ she said, clarifying that they ‘are basically just as bad as termites.’
She recalled the expert telling them that the insects are known to ‘bite through the wood and lay little larva.’
‘And then the eggs hatch, and then those little eggies that are no longer little eggies anymore, then go and bite into the wood until the wood is all f***** up in your house,’ Livingston said.
The couple wanted to know how to fix the disastrous issue and were told that they had two options – to tent up the home and heat treat it or fumigate it – both of which were inconvenient.
For the first option, the couple would have to remove everything from their home that would could combust or melt, including hairspray and lipstick.
The treatment itself would also cost a whopping $4,500 to complete.
The second plan would require the couple to vacate their property for four days and fork over $7,000 to fumigate the home and get rid of the beetles with ‘poison.’
They went for the cheaper option and got their house heat treated, as Livingston said the home was ‘a million degrees’ because of it.
‘Gonna go inside and sit in the heat, but at least the beetles are gone,’ she said, showing a dead plant wilting away during the costly treatment.