Wednesday, July 31, 2013

A tented house 07-30-13

Blogger wouldn't take my pictures last evening, but it has relented and I think these three will work.  If the pictures don't show, please let me know. 

I have previously posted pictures of houses tented for termite fumigation.  They cover the entire building from dirt to the ridge top with these specially made canvas tarps and seal up the connecting seams with a fold or two and big clips that look like the clips used on battery chargers.  But before the tent goes up the workers go through everything in the house to remove anything edible - food, pills, pet food, etc. - that might absorb the poison.  Of course, the residents have already done this, but double checking is necessary.  There have been people who forced their way into the house and died from the gas used.  It kills termites and everything else inside the tarps.  


Warren Street, where I live, ends with a left turn onto Barbara St. and this two story five bedroom house is the first on Barbara, so it is visible almost the length of Warren.  It has been on the market for about a year and sold at the beginning of July.  I hope the new occupants don't have a hulking white motor home to park in the driveway.
 

Here it is, all sealed up with signs posted warning people away.  While the gas was doing its work the people who are moving out parked their motor home with slide out "rooms" across the street from my house and plugged into the power at the house on the corner.  I assume they had permission to do that.
 
 
I believe this is where the gas is injected and, ultimately, released.  You can see the clips on the seams.   I'm not sure I would want this done to my house.  There are new treatments that use orange oil, so it isn't quite so toxic, but I would worry even about that.  I have wondered if something built into this house has been part of my breathing problems, but there is no proof.  We have had subterranean termites in this house four different times.  I've been told that is because this development was built on land that was covered with orange groves for a hundred years.  The buried roots and pieces of the trees attract the little critters.  A friend who lives not far away had a little dog that would start scratching at the baseboard - he could hear the crunching going on inside! 
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3 comments:

Sherrie Spangler said...

My parents in Palos Verdes just had to have their house of 30 years tented for the first time a month ago. It was an ordeal for them, at their age. They've had regular termite inspections the whole time and never had a major problem before. Scary.

Corky said...

We had to have our San Jose house tented and it was a real pain. They don't tent homes here in South Carolina. Usually they drill into the foundation and put some sort of poison in- probably something that California has banned.

Mary Ann said...

I have critters in my house but I am using cheese as a bait.