There really is no such thing as a simple household project.

[logosoco]

8. Everyone thinking about buying a home needs to read this!

My worst story in this vein started with a darkish look on a base board. I swept past it with a broom for months, then realized I needed to take care of it further. Armed with a wet cleaning rag, I thought "If this doesn't do it, I'll just paint". Turns out the darkness was from termites eating all of the wood under the paint! Whole house had to be treated for termites, which entailed moving every SINGLE thing away from the outer edge of the house so they could drill into the slab and spray the poison.

That was many years ago and we haven't had termites since!

I think hardware store clerks understand how this works, too.