Don't Bug Me

This is the house that we are renting. Why the blue tarp, you ask? Well, several weeks ago, I was sitting in the livingroom when something fell from the ceiling, onto the TV tray sitting next to my chair. It missed my drink by 2 inches.

My first thought was "Damn, that looks like a maggot on steroids!" Over the next 12 hours, 10 of them fell to the floor from the A-framed ceiling in the livingroom. Needless to say, I was up all night angry, upset, and ready to pack my stuff and leave that instant!

After speaking to the owners and the pest control company who came out to inspect the house, I found out that they were Blow Fly Maggots. They normally are found in an old barn "out in the woods". The pest guy said that since we lived in a log home in the middle of the woods, it wasn't odd to find them there. Great.

If that wasn't enough to make me ill, I found out that the home was infested with "Wood Borers". The life cycle goes something like this...the beetle lays about 50 eggs on the wood. They hatch and bore into the wood, spending up to 3 years in a larvae stage, eating all the wood in sight. They then turn into a beetle, come out of the wood and lay 50 more eggs, then die. The cycle continues until you either fumigate or your house crumbles around your feet!

This type of fumigation isn't cheap. It's not about buying a few canisters of bug bombs and setting them off then coming back the same day and open a bunch of windows. This type that needed to be done was a major and costly project. Thank God we were only renting! It cost the owners over $10,000!!

They first go through the house making sure everything is removed that can be contaminated. They open drawers and shut off the gas, etc. Then they cover the entire house with tarps. "Tenting" is what they call it. They have huge sand bags to hold the tarps down. Once that's complete, they set off two canisters of gas that I was told cost $4,500 a peice. Anything and everything that was alive in the house, including inside the wood, is now dead.

Packing up all of the food was a pain in the arse. I also had to remove all medication. After 4 days we were allowed back in. They have a peice of equipment called a "sniffer" that sniffs the air to make sure there's no gas left. What an experience.

The owners were very sorry for our inconvenience and recently sent us a check for rental reimbursement plus a little extra for our trouble. It was nice of them but having someone come pack my recently unpacked stuff would have been nicer. I had to do it myself in 100 degree heat.

If you ever consider purchasing or renting a log home, think again. It's been a pain in the ass for other reasons I won't get into here, but the whole bug thing just about did it for me.

I will be moving in June. I hate this house. The bugs can have it.