It seems like every week or so I’ll drive by a house that is covered in one of those circus-striped tents that are used to enclose the house for pest control fumigation. How are these installed? Are they custom made for each house? If so, that seems really expensive. How much does this service usually cost?
They have a bunch of standard shape tarp pieces that they connect by rolling the edges together and then clamping things in place.
I recall that when we bought our house a few years ago, the cost to tent and fumigate was between four and five thousand dollars.
I, on the other hand, have never seen one in real life. Is it a regional thing?
Asking same question. I’ve never seen that in NE WI. Maybe rich people don’t tolerate bugs like the rest of us.
I was thinking of posting in that “things you see in movies/tv but not in real life” topic. Never once actually seen one, but in Breaking Bad they can apparently fumigate all of Albuquerque.
I’ve only ever seen them on TV or movies I guess. Never in real life.
And WHY are they always striped? Is it to indicate “stay away”?
Tenting was required when we bought our house 6 years ago. There was some slight sign of termites in an outbuilding, so they tented everything. Still a rule, I suspect, as I’ve seen several other houses tented around town in the last few weeks.
As mentioned above, the “tents” are just vary large tarps that are clamped together at the seams. Two guys can tent a house in an hour or so.
The severity of termite infestations is very much regional. Subterranean termites generally are most prevalent in warm climates like Florida and California. They are much less of an issue in places with cold winters. I had never seen a tented house in Illinois, but they are very common here in California.
Hawaii neighborhoods can look like a motley tent city. Termites - curses!!
They rig them up in less than a day. You and family spend a couple/three nights with family or go to Vegas. Then back to living again.
Thank you. That makes sense. (I didn’t even know the tenting was primarily a termite thing) I’ve never lived in a warm climate.
Here in Santa Barbara, our realtor suggested that we should plan for needing to tent about every 10 years.
I remember a poster here who showed photos of an off-grid house he built in rural Hawaii that was designed to be termite-proof, so no wood at all in the structure. That seemed like a good idea rather than having to tent once a decade.
I see one around here every couple of months.
They’re much more common in the parts of the country where it never freezes in the winter. Extended periods with below freezing temps are a pretty effective termite killer.
Places where 55F/12C is considered a serious cold snap have much more trouble with bug infestations.
I’ve seen pictures of houses with fumigation systems built in. They run a hose throughout the walls with a nozzle in every stud bay. When needed, pest control can pump their chemicals into a port on the outside of the house.
I had wondered if this was done to rid the house of bedbugs, but termites? Makes sense, and since I don’t live in a semitropical area either, that’s why I’ve never seen “house tenting” myself.
I always though it would be nice to live in a custom built non-wood house, with perhaps either a tile or metal roof for more fire resistance [especially if I were in a wooded area that might have a forest fire at some point]
Even brick-built homes have a lot of wood in them. Floor joists, floorboards, ceiling joists and rafters. I once lived in a 1930’s house made of concrete. Cold and noisy, because - insulation.
As a child, I grew up in Sierra Leone, West Africa. We lived in wooden houses, but they were built on concrete pillars to lift them off the ground. Termites lived in the garden but were ruthlessly exterminated. AFAIK they did not migrate to the house. Now ants were a different matter.
One can actually get metal joists - though personally, being in a wheelchair, I am fond of single level ranch homes, and they tend to be slab built [on concrete pads] and even if one wanted a basement, one can actually get a concrete floor [similar to the concrete floors in high rises] and metal rafter sets. one just has to go with ‘industrial’ building techniques. I lived in a cinderblock building - studio flat in Tidewater Va that had a cement slab roof, and the interior walls were cinderblock, and a metal shower floorpan and stall [it sort of echoed when you bumped the wall showering =)] It never actually bothered me, the only wood was the Sears all in one kitchen [or whatever they called it - it was a 6 foot long length of counter than had built in range, sink and half sized refrigerator. ] veneer that was glued on to make it ‘homey’ looking. I can’t find a picture of the exact one, but I did find an all metal version, I had a mattress and box springs in twin size as my bed and sofa, and a coffee table used to eat at [pre computer, this was 1985] and my TV was set on a classic 4 cinderblocks and a board stolen from a building site =) That was when I learned I detested venetian blinds.
