Termite Fumigation & a Big Circus Tent
Sigh. Jack put railroad ties in, and replaced the fence around the yard. Paul Daley from Beachside Termite and Pest Control drove past while this was going on, and didn't stop Jack from replacing the fence. Paul called me later, telling that that the folks who need to put the tent up couldn't get the cherry picker in the existing gate. We must take down the fence that we just put up. The charge for the one day delay with equipment is $500.
I told Paul it was a ripoff. He told me he isn't making money off the tenting...the price is straight from sub to me. They will charge me 3 more days of rental on that equipment if I want to rebook. I took photos of the equipment. It didn't appear to move. There were no tracks by the gate. This is the very first grrrr of this renovation.
We had ordered our windows months ago. They had been built to suit at the factory, and then picked up by a third party delivery company. And, because the termite tent was delayed a day, the windows were to arrive while the termite tent was still up. We had poor communication from Home Depot on the delivery time. I'd gotten an email from HD that windows would be delivered on another day. No one showed up. Apparently, the notification was from Andersen regarding the delivery of the windows to the third party shipper. I waited all day, and no one showed up.
On this Friday, HD assured me that the windows were coming, so I paid three guys to be there while we waited. We needed to inventory the windows and doors, and ensure that there was no visible damage from the shipping. Plus, the windows were heavy and I wasn't sure that the delivery guys weren't just going to put them on the curb. The first notice was that the windows were to come in between 10 and 2 on this day. Home Depot firmed up the delivery to 3, and then they actually came closer to 4. The shipping company said that they knew from the start of the day that we would be the last delivery, based upon where the windows were loaded on the truck.
My family members had packed up suitcases, as we had a hotel booked for a 6 hour drive up North, so we were on our own personal timeline. When we arrived at the house, the termite tent was still up, and there were signs up saying "Danger Do not Enter Area Under Fumigation with Vikane, Deadly Poison, all persons are warned to keep away" on each side of the tent.
A rainstorm moved in and we all huddled under the entrance awning. The guy from the fumigation company arrived with a tester kit; he ensured the Vikane was cleared from the house. His tester read zero, and we were given the all clear. We noticed a dead gecko floating down the rainwater, and my kids pointed out all the dead plants around the perimeter. Vikane means business!
The windows came later in the day, otherwise we would not have been able to unload them into the house.
Cost for the termite fumigation $4042.
Comments (4)
Thanks Kerry. I recently had s house under contract in New Bern, NC and it had an active termite infestation that showed up during an inspection. Once the infestation was known about, I noticed lots of termite mounds in the planter boxes and around the yard. I asked the seller/landlord how long the termites had been present and he told me that he had no idea. When performing a walk thru I asked the tenants how long ago they noticed the termite damage to the baseboards, they explained that they have been asking their landlord to get rid of the termites for over two years. I don’t know how long it takes for termites to do significant damage to a house, but I knew right away that this is not a seller that’s I wanted to purchase from so I “terminated” the contract. Thanks for responding and sharing your story.
- Jason Hathcock
Jason Hathcock, over 6 years ago
@Jason Hathcock tagging so you see my response.
Kerry Baird, over 6 years ago
Hey there, Jason. I apologize for the late response...just saw your comment. We had active termites in part of the house, with piles of sawdust. The house also had a few areas where we could see that the wood was eaten up to my eye level in the past, and had been treated. So there was old sign, and there was new sign. When my window and door installer removed the old and began installing the new, one door frame was all powdered behind the Sheetrock. He had to remove the parts that were left up at the top, and reframe the door. When we bought the house, we could see those spots where the termites ate up to my head level, we just couldn’t see how far they had gone.
I’d had another house in Tucson, where the termites had gone up the studs in the walls, and up those in the ceiling rafters, and had come DOWN in little tubes from the high ceiling!! They looked like stalactites! At that house, there wasn’t much actual damage. We treated the termites and didn’t have very much repair work.
So I have learned that there are two main types of termites. The variety we had at the current remodel left wings behind and were swarming, looking for a new residence. It is possible they arrived in the plywood. The previous owners had a more destructive variety that they treated sometime in the past, but never repaired the damage to the wood.
Kerry Baird, over 6 years ago
Just curious. What was the justification for tenting the house? Was there additional damage to the structure that needed to be addressed due to the termite damage? Did you assess the damages behind the Sheetrock?
Jason Hathcock, over 6 years ago