Tuesday, March 02, 2010
FREE
We had our annual "free" termite inspection today. We use Terminix.
We have termite insurance. It came with the house.
I would be dubious about the value of this but we have actually used the insurance three times.
The first was when we had damage in the dining room floor which is built on an old wood patio. We laid the floor open and rebuilt the beams or repaired them. They paid for that. Then they came and ran a heat extermination on the newly repaired timbers just in case there were eggs in the old timbers. Heat.
The second time we had them, they paid for a full tenting of the house. Gas. This was as a result of the inspection.
The third time they paid a lot of money when we had the new roof put on and it evolved that some large portion of the front rafters were termite ridden. We got 3500 dollars of the roofing cost refunded for that.
The insurance costs about 225 a year. We have paid it for ten years. We are ahead.
Termites are ubiquitous in Southern California. They like it here as much as we do. Some homes are so termite ridden that they have to be torn down.
It seems to come in waves. For three or four years around the time we got tented we would see the tents all over the Valley. Now, not so much.
Maybe it is the economy. Tough on the termites.
I don't know.
The guys they send to do the inspection are all eager beavers. Happy to do the job.
This one came early today. We were still watching the movie. He worked around it. Did the outside and then, just as the final credits rolled, he had that room as the last one to inspect.
He gave me three brochures to hand to neighbors. I get a hundred bucks if you use Terminix.
Anyone need to have termite insurance?
