Termites take over Treasure Island condos, HOA refuses to tent

Article and Video Courtesy of Channel 10 -- Tampa

By Jennifer Titus

Published January 21, 2014

 Watch VIDEO

   

Treasure Island, Florida -- Digging for help; that's what a neighborhood in Pinellas County is looking for after they say termites have dug their way into their condos.
    
It's all taking place at the Sun Catch 2 condos, located along Sun Vista Court in Treasure Island.
  

"That right there is active termites," says Weikel.

Paul Weikel says termites first showed up in his Treasure Island Condo a couple of years ago 

"HOA has own exterminator. They came out and said, 'You have bunch of termites,'" says Weikel.

The exterminator spot-treated them. But years later, the termites really never left.

"When I tore drywall down, I noticed three studs behind the drywall that was halfway eaten through," says Weikel.

 

Weikel took matters into his own hands and had four licensed exterminators out to his building. All four told him the same thing.

"Four contractors said tent it. HOA says, 'We need our guy to come out,'" says Weikel.

   

Even that exterminator said there's only one way to go.

"He told me not once, twice, but three times that it needs to be tented. He would give that info to HOA. He also told me they are resisting to tent it," says Weikel.

The owner of Magnum Termite and Pest Control says he's not surprised.

    

"Most of the time, management doesn't cooperate," says Nick Wingo.

Wingo says he sees it a lot with multi-unit buildings. HOA's don't want to deal with the hassle of putting up a number of residents in alternate housing while fumigation is taking place.

"Spot treatment sometimes will be considered a band-aid to a situation. Most of the time... tent fumigation is the end result anyways," says Wingo.

Weikel says he doesn't no what else to do and is afraid he's eaten away all of his options.

"They can be eating as silent killers and eating everyone's homes up," says Weikel.

Wingo says termites are most active and expansive during the summer months. He says it's simple to check for termites in your home: take a look around to see if you notice anything different, such as droppings or wings. That's when you need to call an exterminator.

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