Work crews Tuesday removed the enormous red, white and blue curtain covering several businesses along the Hill Country Mile, and business owners are anxious to throw open their doors to customers once again.
Five businesses in the 100 block of South Main Street — Hillje Music Center, So Vain On Main Boutique, Fiancée Bridal Boutique, The Fickle Pickle, and Ivi Rugs Inc. were veiled by the humongous circus tent-like tarp for about three days while exterminators got busy ridding the building of a termite infestation.
Debbie Aguirre with Elite Exterminating Inc. of Corpus Christi Tuesday said the tarps went up Sunday evening in preparation for the fumigating process.
“We had it shot by about 2 p.m. Monday,” Aguirre said.
The firm’s monitoring system erected inside the building confirmed “the kill” by 4 a.m. Tuesday.
“The fumigant is only harmful to the termite under the confinement of the tarps,” she said Tuesday as crews began to roll and pack up the tarps. “Once the fumigant is gone, it’s like it was never even there. You don’t smell it, there’s no residual left at all.”
Under federal law, a fumigated structure must remain closed for eight hours after the successful kill register.
“We will run our aeriation equipment through the building Wednesday morning to see if there’s any remnant of any gas,” she said. “If it shows 0 parts per million — and we’ll know that between 9 and 10 a.m. — it will be completely finished.”
Tenants may be able to return as early as Wednesday afternoon if everything goes according to plan, she said.
“Immediately after completion, when deemed termite-free, it will be safe for re-entry and ready for reoccupation,” she added.
Building owner Margaret Gray could not be reached for comment. Two store owners contacted by The Star deferred to Gray for comment.
High winds Sunday and early Monday prevented Elite from shooting until Monday afternoon.
“Winds were too high,” Aguirre said. “Fumigation is an exact science, it’s an environmentally precise science ... winds can play a factor in the fumigation.”
This job has been in the for a couple years, she said. “Finally, about two months ago, we got the call. They scheduled a date, and we were ready for it.”
She called the job “an active infestation.”
“The drywood termites were throughout the structure. What is visible is only a portion of what is present. They work from the core of the wood, working their way out,” she added.
She said her firm is in the Boerne area on a regular basis.
“We’re there about three or four times a month. We’re there again next week,” she said. “We literally have thousands of customers in Boerne we have done. We’ve been fumigating in Boerne for 35 years. It’s been a problem for a long time.
“We have lots and lots and lots of customer in the Boerne area.”
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