Re: Garages, Storage, and Spiders

["therealdmcvegas" <DMCVegas@xxxx>]

--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "David Teitelbaum" <jtrealty@xxxx> wrote:
<SNIP>

> I read some time ago
> about a guy that bought a "barn fresh" project. He took it home and in
> a short time his house was so infested (I guess it was an attached
> garage) with spiders that he had to call an exterminater. Spider bites
> can hurt. You also must make sure that you close even the smallest
> holes so mice can't get to your pride and joy.
<SNIP>

Guilty. When I picked the car up, it was in "running" condition, but had been 
sitting between a row of wrecked parts cars, and a dumpster for several 
months, at least. So along for the journey home came a few daddy long legs, 
and a few black widows (which naturally left the noisy garage, but settled in 
doorways, and along the cinderblock walls).

The infestation happened at my parents old house, but wasn't really that bad 
inside the home. Fortunetly, fire regulations stated that an attached garage 
needed to be seperated with heavy insulation from the main dwelling, and the 
garage door was a firedoor, with thick insulation. Plus, an alley cat from your 
local shelter can be a cheap, yet reliable source of non-toxic, efficient pest 
control. :)

I didn't need to call in a pest control guy, but I did have to soak the windows, 
doorways, eves, vents, foundation, walls, and the utility vaults out in the 
sidewalk with diazanon. Followed up with regular treatments of Ortho home 
pest control (which actually gave the best results of all). And eventually, all of 
the pests were gone, and even ones that I didn't know about, down in the 
vaults. And as a positive, motivation to work on my car forced me to overcome 
my fear of spiders! Now they're just a nusance.

More importantly, what I discovered scanning over many car restoration sites, 
and thumbing thru books on the subject, not a one ever mentions "delousing" 
a car as part of preperation for the restoration process. I guess that no one 
ever thinks of that, or perhaps I was some sort of a pioneer. Although I have 
heard stories about people getting bitten, or stung by insects at junkyards.

Anywho, spiders can, and will hang out anywhere on the car, but there seem 
to be 5 spots on the DeLorean that they especially love to dwell.

1. Front Cavity.
Above the chassis, below the pontoon, and around the suspension, this is a 
haven for spiders to dine on any insects that can easily crawl, hop, or fly in.

1. Front Striker Pins.
You don't realize it, but when you close the door, a nice little cavern is formed, 
and I've caught a few spiders handing out here, that have built fresh nests 
over the weekend.

3. Accumulator Niche.
If's a small spot, but it also streches the length of the chassis. Perfect for 
reclusive spiders, and the like, to lay nests.

4. Rear Cavity.
Below the underbody, around the chassis, and above the Trailing Arm 
Shields. Short of the clogged intake below the windscreen, this was THE most 
filthy area of the car! Cobwebs, old egg sacks, spider/insect corpses, and a 
pile of decomposed leaves tangled in the mess.

5. Rear Pontoons.
A double whammy here. Before, the other places have mostly been only 
accessable to spiders, and crawling/hopping incects. In the pontoons though, 
the air intakes allow easy access for flying pests. When my power antenna 
conked out, and I pulled the carbon canister, I discovered an old wasp nest 
slightly smaller than my fist. Along with more cobwebs, and eucalyptus 
leaves. So if you have a car which just sits outside in the warmer months of 
the year, you still need to be careful about other types of pests, than just 
spiders and mice.

I don't know about what kinds of pesticides, or alternative repellants to spray 
to keep all of the creatures away. But your best bet may be to simply seal off 
the car entirely. A Carcoon seems like it would do the job, but I don't know 
how well it can seal out spiders, and keep rodents from chewing on it. 
Otherwise, keeping the noise/traffic up in the garage (if possible), regular 
spraying, and dropping some D-Con bait traps should keep things pretty 
clean.

-Robert
vin 6585 "X"