STRUCTRUCTURAL PEST CHEMICAL TREATMENTS

One of the services that the Structural Pest Control industry has vehemently protected as one that only ‘licensed’ companies can perform is chemical treatments, both soil and wood. This has been strongly backed, right or wrong, by the Structural Pest Control Board, EPA, County Agricultural Commissioner, and of course industry organizations such as the PCOC (Pest Control Operators of California). Applying chemicals is a serious practice and needs to be done in exactly the proper manner to be an effective control method, but more importantly, to be safe to people and the environment as a whole. But, this is where the ‘rub’ comes in. Many pest treatment chemicals are available on the open market at places like home improvement supply stores, hardware stores and garden/agricultural supply outlets. When a consumer purchases these products, many times they either don’t read the instructions on the label or they ignore them. Some how that old failed thinking of “If a little is good, well then a whole bunch is way better!” seems to ‘creep’ in. This is very unfortunate as this allows an excess of foreign chemical substances to be introduced into an environment that never had those materials involved in it’s ‘living’ make up to begin with, and, that excess is not performing any positive pest control action, but is a waste and ‘unbalances’ nature, especially if it washes off the treated area into storm drains and our streams and water sheds.

The Pest Control industry has been crying ‘foul play’ for some time to the regulating agencies because they (the Government Agencies) claim they (the pest control industry) are not applying the chemical treatments properly, or that the environmental issues are caused by the pest control industries activities. The pest control industry claims that it is the homeowner types that are the ones that are over applying and causing the contamination, which probably is mostly true. Of course, agriculture activities also have a hand in this situation. A side line to this issue is that it emboldens the pest control industry to try and convince their customers that they (the pest company) are the only ones who can properly and safely handle and apply wood destroying pest chemicals. Because of this ‘tug of war’, one issue that comes up time after time, especially here in this area due to the large amount of homes that have wood decks, is pest companies telling homeowners that wish to repair their own decks or other damaged portions of their homes that have wood decay problems that they, the homeowner or their Contractor, cannot perform the chemical treatment of the wood areas that are infected but are still structurally sound. This simply is not true. Not only is this a backhanded approach to get work by the pest companies, but the very same type material many of the pest companies would use in an application such as that, the homeowner can purchase at a home center/hardware store. The ingredient in the material has a real scary sounding name: Disodium Octoborate Tetrahydrate. But, really all it is is a borate, which is a natural material and not harmful to the environment when used as directions specify. The material will harm live plants if the treatment some how contacts the green leafy foliage, but it won’t be because the plant is being poisoned, but rather because the borate will dehydrate/dry out the foliage.

Most of the time, homeowners and/or their Contractors will perform the repairs very diligently and completely. However, if they need the pest company to provide a certification for the lending institution involved in a home sale, these people are many times literally harassed or subjected to completely undue delays because the pest companies continually try to find more and more areas that need repair or insist that they need to see the repaired areas before they are ‘closed up’/finished. This is done by making the ‘re-inspection’ and charging for it and not providing the needed certification. At that point, an additional re-inspection (and charge) by the pest company will be needed to get the certification. There is no need for the pest company to ‘see’ the areas of repair before they ‘get closed up’ as they are not ‘rot cops’, they are not guaranteeing the repairs, nor are they responsible for the repairs that are performed. If, at some point in the future it is found that rotten wood was left in place and covered over, the responsibility rests entirely on the shoulders of the person who made the bogus repairs. All that the pest company is certifying is that the property “is free and clear of wood destroying organisms” in the visible and accessible areas as of that date. Any other action is just an attempt to harass the homeowner and/or the Contractor, or to attempt to obtain a lucrative chemical treatment job, all or any of which is totally improper action by the pest company.

The only requirement of a Contractor, besides doing a thorough and proper repair job, is that they must provide a written disclosure to the customer/homeowner that they are going to apply a fungicide (see the Structural Pest Control Act/Laws and Regulations, Section 8556 (A), page 22, Business and Professions Code). Of course, obtaining a Building Permit to perform the repairs is also a necessity.