It's Always Something - Part 2

I woke up Wednesday morning to find teeny tiny dark brown granules at the head of my bed. Panic set in immediatly as my first guess was termites. I called a termite specialist to have him come and inspect. He confirmed my fears, it is dry wood termites. I live in an old Florida style house that has no attics. It is an open beam ceiling with tongue and groove wood. The ceiling is the roof, the roof is the ceiling and it was dropping termite poop on my head.

We were going to have to tent the house at a cost of $850, which was the least offensive part of the whole thing. We would have to leave the house for 2 1/2 days. With no where else to go, we would have to find a hotel room at the height of tourist season, $$$. We would of course have to eat out , $$$. That satellite dish and antenae would have to be taken down, $$$. We would have to cut down the vine at the front door and the rest of it will most likely die along with all the other landscaping close to the house. We would have to remove all the food from the house as it will be contaminated, but he said I would not have to wash all my dishes later (why wouldn't they be contaminated too?) But the straw that broke the camels back was when he told me that I would have to remove my fish. I could go buy a very large fish tank and filter, $$$ or have some kind of service take them, $$$. Either way, we would also have to remove all the water and rebuild the tank again. Needless to say I was sick all day at the thought of the whole process.

Internet to the rescue. I was searching for a second opinion, when I came across the words Alternative Termite Management. I called them in a flash and the guy was here a few hours later. Wow, what a difference. They will scan the ceiling with some expensive piece of equipment to determine exactly where the termites are. They then drill tiny holes in the ceiling and inject the wood with a bug killer and preventative. The only thing we will have to do is move the bed. The whole process will take about 3 to 4 hours and the cost is less than tenting. Both this method and the tenting have the same warranty, so which would you choose?

We have scheduled them for Monday morning. In the meantime, a large hunk of painters plastic ($2 at Home Depot) stapled to the ceiling will keep the poop from falling on the bed. Look close at the top of the picture. You can see the little dark specks of termite poop. Yah, I know, it's gross.