Fun with Vikane (Not)

In previous posts I had mentioned that my condo building was going to be fumigated for termites. Well, that time cometh: it will happen next week.

A couple evenings ago representatives of the firm that will doing the fumigating met with owners and occupants of the building to explain what will need to be done. We learned the fumigant will be Vikane, and the major thing we have to do is protect from being effected by the gas anything that can be swallowed (foods, water, toothpaste, medicines, et cetera, et cetera) and that is not in original factory-sealed airtight containers, by double-bagging them in special non-porous bags that come from the same firm that makes Vikane.

The double-bagging will be a pain, but at least I won't have to do it all on the morning the fumigating starts, before I clear out. For instance, I'll get everything in the freezer in the bags the evening before.

And one relief is that I won't have to pay for housing while I have to be away from the condo: I have plenty of family near to me!

Another follow-up

In this post I had written about the termite infestation throughout my condo complex, and the resulting special assessment being charged each unit for treatment. I also noted that payment of the assessment would be spread out over 12 months, but I was sort of tempted to inquire if the whole thing could be paid at once just to get it over with.

Well, the monthly bill for the normal fees arrived in my mail yesterday, in which I expected the first of the payments for the special assessment to be included. So, I was very startled to find that apparently someone in the billing process had made a mistake and assigned the entire assessment amount to the bill!

I'm sure the management office will be getting plenty of calls complaining, but I am seriously considering going ahead and sending in a check for the billed amount before the probable corrected bill gets sent out. Like I noted above, I think I'd just like to get. it. over. with!

Cripes

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday I received a notice from my condominium HOA basically stating the entire complex has a termite infestation, including all the buildings and many fences. The builds will be tent-fumigated and the fences and many other wooden items entirely replaced.

The cost of all this? A special assessment of $600 per unit, charged as $50 per month for 12 months on top of the regular monthly HOA fee. Oh, man. I'm semi-tempted to inquire if it will be possible to pay off the $600 all at once, just to get it over with!