Bugged : Termites Turn Home Into House of Horrors While Family Awaits Court’s Ruling

Last month, the Real Estate section ran a three-part series on termites in Southern California. The story that follows, which outlines the problems of an extreme case of infestation, was brought to our attention as a result of that series.

Peggy Rose and her husband, Harvey, thought they had found their dream house three years ago in Simi Valley. The roomy home at the end of a cul-de-sac had a view of nearby mountains and a big back yard for their two sons to play in.

Now their dream house is giving them nightmares--literally.

Peggy and Harvey Rose and their children have frequent nightmares about bugs coming out of the walls and crawling over their beds.

The Roses’ house is so badly infested with termites that at least part of it must be razed and rebuilt, according to repair estimates, Peggy Rose said. One contractor said it would cost less to tear it down and start over than to fix the problems, she said.

Termite damage inside the home is easily visible, with holes dotting several walls. A subterranean termite tube built from mud, saliva and feces snakes nearly a foot down the sun room wall.

If you stand near a severely damaged living room wall, the paneling wavy and pockmarked with termite holes, you can hear a slight crackling, rustling sound that Rose said is the termites at work. The insects make a noise by bumping their heads against tunnels in the wood, entomologists said.

Underneath the home, a joist has a jagged chunk missing, as though someone had taken a big bite out of it. More mud tubes rise from the soil to the home’s underpinnings.

Peggy Rose said she notices new holes every day, along with a musty smell that seems to come from under the house. The termites are building more mud tubes on inside walls.

The Roses haven’t had the termites exterminated and the damage repaired because they are embroiled in a legal battle over who is responsible for the problem.

These are the previous owners of the home, two exterminators who treated the house for termites and the realty companies involved in the purchase. The Roses allege that the damage is a result of fraud by some, breach of contract and negligence by others.

The Rose case, while more extreme than most, demonstrates how vulnerable home buyers are when relying on a termite inspection, and how important it is to check such reports as much as possible. Trouble can result for others involved as well if a report is questioned later.

It also shows how difficult it can be to resolve a complex problem with the system of termite inspection and treatment.

“This could happen to anybody in Southern California,” Peggy Rose said.

When the Roses bought their “dream house” in 1987, they did what most people do--included a termite report and repair work as part of their purchase agreement. They bought the house believing everything was fixed.

The couple first noticed a problem about 18 months after moving in, when they saw insect holes on a living room wall, Peggy Rose said. They had been having Western Exterminator Co.’s Oxnard office spray monthly for other pests and asked them take care of the problem.

Western sent an inspector who reported finding subterranean termites (a type that lives in the soil and tunnels up to food sources) in the wall.

He recommended drilling through the outside wall and applying a pesticide. This was done March 16, 1989, according to a copy of the inspection report filed with the state Structural Pest Control Board.

The report also notes that other areas of the house, such as the attic, garage and foundation were not inspected. The Roses paid for a complete inspection.

Soon after the March 16 treatment, the Roses noticed termite debris in the home’s attached garage. Western was called again, and in an inspection report dated April 4, 1989, discovered a different type of termite--drywood. (Drywood termites live in the wood itself.) Western treated the garage termites with a local pesticide application.

In July, 1989, the Roses again called Western to examine holes in their bedroom and adjoining sun room. They were told it was subterranean termite damage and a local treatment was recommended.

By this time, they had doubts about Western’s judgment, Peggy Rose said, and called another exterminator, M&M; Termite & Pest Control Inc. of Newbury Park.

When they saw M&M;’s report, listing numerous problems throughout the house, “we had to be picked up from the floor,” Peggy Rose said.

M&M; found both types of termites in the attic and substructure, drywoods in the garage and subterraneans in various spots, including the master bedroom, living room, floor and floor joists in certain areas, foundation and behind the water heater.

Poor ventilation, earth-to-wood contact and cellulose debris under the house were among the discoveries, along with a leaky shower and other moisture problems--all of which attract termites.

Recommendations included fumigation for drywood termites and drilling holes every five feet in the foundation and injecting chemicals for subterranean termites. Damaged sections of floor and other wood needed replacing. The report also suggested tearing open sections of floor and removing the shower so that inaccessible areas could be inspected, and getting rid of soil and debris under the house.

M&M;, who the Roses are not suing, told them to complain to the pest control board because areas that had been treated before were still infested, the Roses said.

After they filed a complaint with the board, a state investigator examined their home. He told them the termites had started chomping several years before they had bought the house, judging by the amount of damage, Peggy Rose said.

The Roses said they were shocked because a Simi Valley company, Pacific Coast Exterminating Co. Inc., had treated the house for termites as part of the purchase agreement.

In his official findings in the Rose case, the investigator held Pacific Coast and Western each 50% responsible for seven violations where they failed to report problems, and Western 100% responsible for four other violations, according to a copy of a September, 1989, letter provided by Western’s attorney.

Board officials refused to discuss the Rose case because it is still pending.

Western, one of California’s largest exterminators, with more than 20 offices, accepts the state’s findings and is offering to take care of its share of the problem, said its attorney, Arthur B. Cook. The worker who inspected the home has been fired, he said. The company also offered to reimburse the Roses for their inspection and treatment fees.

However, Western does not think it is fair for the company to pay for damage that took place before it was hired, Cook said.

The Roses said Western’s offer fell far short of what was needed for repairs, and negotiations faltered. The Roses finally felt that the only way to get their home restored was to sue Western and the others, which they did in April in Ventura County Superior Court.

The Roses’ attorney, Eric Chomsky, said that if Western had discovered the extent of the problem in its original March, 1989, inspection, most of the damage could have been prevented.

He likens the situation to a person who has cancer and is misdiagnosed by two doctors. Both are liable for malpractice, he said, and they can’t claim responsibility for only half of the patient’s body.

When the suit was filed, repair costs were estimated at more than $90,000, and growing. Later Chomsky asked Western to either buy the Roses’ house for $750,000 or pay them $250,000 in cash (with partial reimbursement if the Roses collected from other defendants). That offer had been withdrawn, because the latest estimate shows it would take at least $300,000 to rebuild the house, plus the legal and other costs, Chomsky said. The Roses paid $318,000 for the house.

Western offered to make or co-sign a loan so the Roses could afford to fix their home now instead of waiting for the dispute to end. The loan would not affect anyone’s legal position in the case, Cook said.

But the Roses don’t want the financial burden shifted to them with a loan, Chomsky said, because it isn’t their fault the house is damaged.

The Roses are also suing the original exterminator, Pacific Coast, and its president, Michael Venarde, alleging fraud and negligence. They accuse him of falsely certifying it was free of active infestation. Venarde did not return calls for comment.

The Structural Pest Control Board last month asked the state attorney general for a hearing to suspend or revoke Pacific Coast’s registration and Venarde’s liscence. The board also asked that Pacific Coast be required to pay fees owed to the board and restitution to the Roses.

The suit alleges that Venarde had told the previous owners, Michael and Adele Gruett, that the home would never be free of termites. The Roses are suing the Gruetts as well, charging them with fraud and breach of contract. The Gruetts declined to comment.

The other defendants are Century 21 Finley Realty of Simi Valley, the sellers’ broker, and Century 21 Ambassador Realty of Thousand Oaks, the Roses’ broker.

The Roses allege both brokers dissuaded them from obtaining other inspection reports and misled them into accepting Pacific Coast’s report and completion notice as accurate so that they could get their commissions on the sale.

Century 21 Finley referred inquiries to its lawyer, who did not return phone calls.

The owner-broker of Century 21 Ambassador, Robert Majorino, denied that his office did anything wrong. He said two termite inspections were done on the house--one by Pacific Coast and a follow-up check by another company--and both showed similar findings. Pacific Coast, which submitted a higher estimate for the extermination and treatment, was selected and paid by the sellers.

Pacific Coast filed the state-required completion notice, certifying that the property was free of active termite infestation in accessible areas. It treated the house with chemicals and repaired several areas, including a damaged floor joist, according to a copy of the August, 1987, notice attached to the lawsuit.

However, it also shows two recommendations not done--remove cellulose debris and correct earth-to-wood contact in certain areas. Both conditions attract termites.

The Roses’ agent, Ray Gebeau, said he doesn’t remember why those items were skipped, but such preventive measures as described in the report don’t have to be done, Majorino said.

The state does not require that recommendations be completed, but lenders will usually insist that any needed corrective work be done so that a home is free of termites. Buyers also often make it a condition of purchase, as the Roses did.

However, with preventive recommendations, the parties involved sometimes choose not to do the work or to do it later, Gebeau said.

It’s unclear if anything was done after the August notice, but similar problems appear on later inspection reports.

The Roses said they don’t know why some recommendations weren’t done. They were told the house would be free of termites, and everything would be taken care of by the time escrow closed, Harvey Rose, 38, said.

If they had known the structure had a serious infestation they never would have bought it, he said.

Meanwhile, the termites are eating more and more of their home. The Roses have taken pictures off the walls to keep the termites from chewing on them. They’re treading cautiously over the weak spots in the floor.

And they’re getting angrier all the time.

Originally she only wanted her home restored to its previous condition, Peggy Rose said, and expenses paid when the family moved out for repairs. Now legal fees, medical bills and emotional distress are added to those costs.

Having their home resemble a horror movie set has “put my family through hell,” Peggy Rose, 37, said. The stress has strained her 16-year marriage and given the family nightmares along with severe headaches and stomachaches, she said.

The Roses are afraid that by the time the case is settled there won’t be much left of their house. They said the pest control board has been responsive to their plight, but its powers are limited. The board can discipline exterminators and order them to re-treat if their original work was faulty, but it can’t guarantee restitution.

Even if the house is repaired or rebuilt, the Roses aren’t sure they still want to live there. But they’re worried that the property would be hard to sell with its record of termite trouble. And as much as they long to leave the experience behind them, they also dread going through the process of buying another house.

“We’re gun-shy,” Peggy Rose said.