February 13-16, 1998

Really long holiday weekend.

February 16, 1998

Our contractor calls. He has arranged for a really excellent flooring specialist to "lay our linoleum down" (Hmmm....good title for a country song). This floorguy will call us later today in order to arrange a convenient time to come out to the house and re-measure the floor (being really excellent, he understandably would want to do this himself). Hopefully, We'll be able to wrap this whole project up by next week!

February, 17, 1998

And so we wait to hear from the really excellent flooring guy.....

February 18, 1998

.....And so we wait to hear from the really excellent flooring guy who does finally call while we are out and leaves a message on our answering machine to call him on his mobile. So, Linda repeatedly calls his cell-phone number. No answer.

February 19, 1998

Contractor: "What do you mean you haven't heard from him? I'll call him myself. He's really good and worth waiting for."

Actually, we don't mind waiting at this point. Atleast our termite treatment has been applied. We have been finding dead carpenter ants in the kitchen these last few days. Not sure what that means. Maybe the exterminators disturbed them while they were drilling around the outside of the house.

February 20

We're sure we'll here from the floor guy today. We'll just wait. We're sure the phone will ring any minute now. Hey, there it goes. Hold on a minute while I answer it......Well, guess what. That call was from Sears. They want us to buy aluminum siding. Heh-heh, those Sears salesmen, they call at the most convenient times. I can't believe they didn't wait until the middle of dinner like usual. But, hey, that's OK; I'm really calm now. I gently explained to them I was working on my web page while awaiting a call from a really excellent flooring guy because some termites began eating up my house 36 days ago: "HERE, WHY DON'T YOU JUST CHECK OUT THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THIS, YOU B*ST*RDS !" I explained to Sears. There, I feel better now.

February 21-22

For those of you who do not understand this hilarious reference to the hit television show "South Park", I suggest you you spend some quality time viewing and discussing this website with an adolescent or medical student of your own choosing.

February 23, 1998

Nothing

February 24, 1998

The floor guy calls. He's been trying to reach us and doesn't know how he keeps missing us. He comes right out to the house and measures the floor.

February 25, 1998

On the day the AGH basketball team loses the inaguaral game of the annual AGH vs. Shands basketball shootout (Hey, I had to work a plug in somewhere), the floor dude calls and says he'll be out sometime Friday to do the job.

February 26, 1998

All day we anxiously hold our collective breaths all the while awhispering to ourselves: "Tomorrow is Floorguy Day; Tomorrow is Floorguy Day; Tomorrow is Floorguy Day."

February 27, 1998

Floorguy Day dawns bright and sunny, a welcome respite from the El Nino induced floods (which we figure is playing a role in bringing all these carpenter ants into the house). Alas, no word from Floorguy.

February 28, 1998

Its the weekend, your house is a mess, your termites are gone, but carpenter ants are everywhere, your floorguy has gone AWOL for the second time, some of the epoxy seams in your concrete slab crack have come undone; Where are you going now ? That's right, we're going to Disney World. Woo-hoo. And so we did. In the El Nino rain.

February 29, 1998 or March 1

Even though its the weekend, out contractor calls us. Floorguy no-showed because the new flooring shipment was damaged. They have now discussed it at some length and have decided the damaged part will go under the cabinets where no one will see it anyway, so, woo-hoo, Tomorrow is Floorguy Day! Tomorrow is Floorguy Day !

March 2, 1998

Well, you see, when our contractor went out to check out the floor shipment himself, he realized that this was a pretty severely damaged bit of linoleum afterall. Sooo.....they had to order another shipment which should be out Wednesday morning, and so Floorguy Day will be Wednesday. So, we lose again. But don't worry, none of our contestants go home emptyhanded; Jay, tell them what they get.

"That's right, Ron, all of today's lucky contestants will receive the home version of our show, "Termite Hell"! In addition, your contractor will send his men out to your house to prep your kitchen for the Floorguy just incase he ever does make an appearance! They will pull up the edging from along your kitchen floor and pile it up on your workbench so you cannot use your scrollsaw! Then they will leave, but not before they forget to reseal the cracks in your slab with epoxy!"

March 4, 1998

Well its Floorguy Day, again. Only one problem, the new floor was shipped to Jacksonville by error. Our noble contractor was so annoyed by this, that he piled into his pickup and drove to Jax to pick up the floor himself. He then drove back.

Floorguy and his men got right to work around 1:00 peeling up the old linoleum. Rather than scrape up every bit of glue from the floor (this was the part that killed my back the night I attempted it), they left the glue behind and then covered the slab with something they aptly named "mud", trowelling some of the mud into the cracks in the slab. This mud is to provide yet another barrier between the inside of our house and future borg. When they mud dried, they applied glue and then the new floor. They were somehow done by 6:30 and had the washer, fridge, stove, etc back in place.

I have to admit, the kitchen looks a lot better now (well, except for the molding which is not yet up, the cabinet sitting topless over by the window, etc.) It is much brighter now. Michael really enjoyed watching the men work and went on about it for a long time after I returned home from work.

March 5, 1998

The contractor's crew will be out tomorrow to finish up the job. Could this be the light at the end of the tunnel ?

March 6, 1998

The contractors crew returns to the house and discovers that the many pieces of edging which were removed from the kitchen were mistakingly not numbered so they have to spend an hour or so figuring our where each piece goes. Some pieces are missing (termites?) and others were broken during the removal process. They scurry off to get some more molding and set up a little woodshop on the driveway consisting of sawhorse, miter saw, paint, stain, compressor, and boombox and manufacture, paint and/or stain the pieces they are missing. Then they nailgun the bits of edging back into place. Next the foreman does an inspection and notices that the floor was not put down properly in one area (instead of removing the one piece of molding seperating the kitchen from the living room, placing the flooring underneath, and then replacing the molding, the floordudes decided to save time by placing the floor as close to the molding as they could without removing it.) He vows to have the floorguys back to do the job right because his crew does not settle for second best.

He then explains how he is going to have his men move the refrigerator onto a spare piece of linoleum so as not to scratch up the new floor. Relieved, Hal goes off to do some computer work. He later comes down to find the fridge sitting on the new floor, the spare piece of linoleum standing not quite five feet away and not quite protecting the new floor.

Seeing as how the refrigerator is no longer wedged into its usual cubby, Hal figures he'll take advantage of this by squeezing behind the fridge to determine why the icemaker has not been making enough ice. He turns on the water valve (guess the floor guys left it turned off, heh-heh) and immediately water begins leaking from said valve to said new floor.

Turning said valve back off, he finds said foreman who determines floor dudes crossthreaded the valve when reconnecting it to the icemaker hose. Said valve being conneceted to thin copper pipe, he is afraid to force the hose from the valve for fear of breaking the pipe. We are not to worry, fortunately, as this crew never settles for second best and they will get this thing fixed. They will be back Monday to finish fixing the trim and the pipe and get the floordudes to fix the floor right this time.Relieved, Hal returns to computer while crew cleans up, moves the refrigerator back, and leaves. Linda soon returns home and.........

.....discovers where refrigerator has torn hole in new floor.

March 7-8, 1998

Spend weekend looking at hole in linoleum infront of refrigerator. Enjoy unseasonably warm Florida weather with a cookout Sunday evening. After cookout, the van won't start. Determine it a battery problem. Hal will have to jumpstart van in am before work. Linda will drive Michael to school, leave van engine running, and then drive out to Dodge to get new battery. Also Hal's watch battery dies. (Just thought I'd mention that; sort of a battery motif...eh...thing)

March 9, 1998

Get up early. Get ready to jump van. Contractor crew shows up early. They are horrified about hole in floor. Don't understand how it could have happened. Must have been the new guy.

Linda chases them away and does her things. The foreman returns in the afternoon and replaces last of edging, replaces valve behind refrigerator, and sort of seals the hole with epoxy. It now looks pretty good. He discovers that the seam sealent the floordudes put down is coming up in strips. Not to worry, he'll get floorguys out to fix this as well as the area where the kitchen meets the living room. This week.

March 10, 1998

Nothing planned. Nothing happens.

March 11, 1998

Floorguy Demi-Day. Quick visit for some patching and gluing. Offers to replace the square infront of the refrigerator. We decide that would lok funny and will leave well enough alone for the time being.

March 12, 1998

The contractor himself comes out for an inspection ( and to deliver the bill ). He reconnects the dryer (Linda discovered the hose on the back was not reattatched properly) and restains the bit of trim we didn't like. Linda discusses with him painting the house and fixing a leak on the roof.

March 15, 1998

Today was a warm day following only our second freeze this this winter. Our biological clocks took this as a sign of spring, so I cleaned out the gutters while Linda repotted some plants. In doing so she found a carpenter ant colony in a bag of cedar chips that had been wintering in the garage. We are cautiously optimistic that this is where that have been coming from, though we've been finding them upstairs this week.

April 11, 1998

By now things are largely back to normal. Linda has repainted the trim and the torn linoleum is largely unnoticable. Paul and I brought in a new fridge for the hallway and moved the washer and drier there back and forth and did not damage any flooring at all.

2 weeks ago At the Kanapaha Spring Arts festival, I spoke with some entomologists from the University of Florida about termites. They warned me about large national pest control firms and recommended some local outfits, including Alachua Pest Control. Bob and Cindy E-mailed me from Orlando with some problems they had with a certain national company.

I also learned from this that contractors are very useful in doing house repairs. I guess they are kind of like family physicians : They can do many things themselves, and know the people to call when they can not.

April 12, 1998

Thanks for all the e-mail of support during and after this ordeal. I am going to post some letters especially when they help tie up loose ends :

Jennifer S. wrote: > > Did you consider a baiting system for your termite problem? Putting up a barrier will not eliminate the colony, enabling them to re-enter your home should a crack occur in the chemical barrier you had put in. The swarmers will most likely continue to re-appear each year in the early Spring.

Hi Jennifer, Thanks for writing. I spoke to the termite people about a baiting system. Although they offered one, they didn't think it was a good idea because 1) it can take a long time for the termites to find the bait and the termites were only a few feet away from a wood floor when we found them. 2) There are so many termites here in Florida ( and we live on a heavily wooded lot ), that even if the technicians saw the bait being eaten, they would have no guarantee that the termites doing the eating were from the same colony that was attacking my house. 3) The termiticide they used at our house is a relatively new product that does not just create a barrier in the classic sense, it can also be carried by the termite back to the colony and hopefully kill off the colony ( though they would not guarantee this, they believe it works this way and in a few years will be advertised as working in this manner ). It actually kills termites by hormonally preventing them from cleaning themselves and thereby allows mold to grow on them. Atleast, this is my understanding. 4) We did seal off the crack in the slab, which was our biggest problem anyway. In FLorida, we are told, if there is a way for the termites to get into your house, they will. There are just that many termites and they are that active. The key is to remain vigilant and repair any defects in the barrier as you find them. OUr mistake was not realizing this and fixing the crack as soon as we bacame aware of it. I have thought about using a baiting system in addition to the barrier system, but I'm not sure if it makes sense to use a baiting system now that we have the initial infestation under control. One the one hand, we can kill off any termite colonies that might be around the house so that they do not bother us in the future. On the other hand, is that an environmentaly sound thing to do ? Those termites are there eating fallen limbs and dead tree stumps and providing food for other animals. Its something I'll be thinking about. Thanks again for writing. I hope you'll share any more thoughts you have on the subject ! Hal

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