Are We Going to Tent and Fumigate for Termites?

THE CONSENSUS AMONG EXPERTS is that for a big ol’ building with a history of serious termite infestation like ours has, the only sure way to ensure that the termites have stopped digesting our wood is to throw a temporary tent over the entire structure and then fumigate inside the tent. 

That might seem like a straightforward matter for our sanctuary building, because it’s unoccupied most of the time. However, in our case we need to accommodate not only our school building—which is attached to the sanctuary building along a shared wall, and occupied by the preschool—but also our attached neighboring building, which is owned by Soheil Darvish, a real estate developer who resides there. 

This post discusses the complicating factors.… 🤔

Although Soheil is a Mishkon booster, he and our synagogue have not yet achieved synchrony in the timing of our respective termite treatments. Soheil purchased his building (202 Main St.) at the end of December 2017, with the intention of renovating it. He soon discovered that the structure (which according to county records was built in 1921 and first used as a mortuary) was completely and thoroughly termite infested—so much so that the entire wood frame needed to be replaced. In late 2018, Soheil suggested that Mishkon likewise get a termite inspection. As Itai Klein recalled a couple of months later in an email to his fellow members of this committee, 

He called me up… and said that he found extreme termite conditions in his property and there's a likelihood that this is also happening at Mishkon and that since he was going to do a major remediation and sealing it might make sense to do it at the same time at Mishkon if in fact we need it.

Unfortunately, according to Johanna Schmidt, then–cochair of this committee, “Nothing was done to follow up,” not even bringing in a termite company for a free inspection. So instead Soheil did local treatment in his own building, as his second-best option. 

Then in May/June 2021, after Mishkon had termite inspections done that found several infestations (they should be done annually!), our executive director asked Soheil if he’d be interested in tenting. He reportedly said no. So Mishkon did local treatment in its own buildings, as our second-best option. (Chances are high that termites still remain active in some spaces that are inaccessible to termite inspectors—but we’ve done what we could.) 

That’s where things stood until about 10 days ago. I was talking with Soheil about the challenges of termites, and we realized that we were both open to the ambitious idea of having tenting done in the near future. So within a week I’d gotten a quote from the same company with whom we have our service contract. 

This morning, when Soheil and I discussed the proposal, we realized that there are significant hurdles that need to be leaped over before tenting could take place. They include:

When would the tenting be done? 

All parties would need to vacate for 3 work/school days (= 2 nights) if it’s done during the week; or if it’s over a weekend, we would vacate for two work/school days (= 3 nights). 

Now, our preschool will be on its summer break during the first two full weeks in July, so that would be the ideal time from Mishkon’s perspective. However, for Soheil, the ideal time would be within the next month—because after that, there will probably be two brand-new restaurants doing business on the ground floor of his building. (He says it’s difficult to predict when all the pieces will fall into place for those restaurants to open. Yet after they do, tenting is presumably out of the question for the foreseeable future.) From the perspective of the termites themselves, the best time to tent is prior to their swarming season, which typically starts September 1st.

What would be the cost-sharing arrangement between Mishkon and Soheil? 

In a competitor’s tenting bid from almost a year ago (May 24), it was stated that Mishkon’s share of the cost would amount to 84.45% of the total. I’ve asked for a similar break-out calculation from the present bid, which should be forthcoming this week. I don’t know on what grounds such companies make their relative allocations—presumably based upon the predicted time (difficulty) involved for each part. Alternatively, if we were to allocate cost based upon the relative size of the buildings involved (as appears in the county’s tax records, in terms of exterior square footage), then Mishkon would pay: 

100 * (14,158 + 4,128) / (14,158 + 4,128 + 5,180) = 77.93%.

Where would Mishkon get the approx. $18K needed for its share of the cost? 

The trustee of the Kasdon Trust (which is the result of bequest-in-process to Mishkon) recently made a general suggestion: to raise funds for capital improvements, some of the Trust’s funds might be made available as seed money to attract matching donations from interested members. To my mind, that approach seems to be the most realistic one in this case—given that the large projected operations shortfall during the present fiscal year seems to have short-circuited our normal membership-generated funding mechanisms for facilities maintenance. 

Although tenting-and-fumigation is not a prototypical “capital improvement,” it arguably meets the standard definition—in that it is designed to return the facility to its designed efficient operating condition (or at least arrest ongoing degradation), as its pres­ent condition is such that routine maintenance (i.e., spot treatment) cannot achieve that goal. 

Note that the board of directors has not yet weighed in on such a fundraising proposal.

What preparations and additional costs would be involved? 

I would expect also an ancillary expense for security—to discourage break-ins, for one defense attorney whom I know tells me that some criminals make a career of burglarizing tented structures. I’d also expect some costs (and effort) related to measures needed to protect our property from being damaged by the tent installation and removal—such as the jade plants growing in our front planters. The contract says that the fumigators are not responsible for any damage to plant life, wiring, trees, plumbing, and so forth.

Illustration of termite damage (not at Mishkon)

🤔 Well, with all of these hurdles before us, the tenting and fumigation may not happen anytime soon. Maybe during the next pandemic lockdown (?!). And in the meantime, the termites presumably keep on chewing.…