I’m a rangy 6’2″, and many of my customers take one look at me and express their doubts about my ability to circumvent their attics. Most California attics don’t have enough room to stand up in, much less walk around. Most of the time, I need to crawl on my hands and knees. Some require me to pull myself through sections on my belly. Right now, I have a scratch on my stomach from doing just that.

Being tall doesn’t necessarily hurt, though. It allows me to stretch from one section of framing to another. Sometimes I have to squeeze my body through a section of ductwork, hold onto a rafter, and pull one leg after the other through the same opening until I’m on the other side, already trying to figure out how I’m going to clear the next obstacle.

It would be challenging enough to navigate an attic without worrying about putting a foot or knee through the ceiling. But along with the heat, splinters, nails, and all the other attic hazards, there’s fragile drywall just sitting there waiting to be broken if I step or kneel in the wrong spot.

Somehow, termites seem to know how to infest the hardest-to-reach areas. That may be because they enter attics through vents, which are often positioned at the far ends of an attic space. Sometimes I can walk along the rafters all the way over to a section of infested framing near a gable vent. Other times, I have to crawl through a tunnel of attic framing to reach the termite-infested wood, all while dragging my treatment bag behind me.

Once I get there, I may have to balance myself on a few rafters after making my body as compact as possible, operate a drill and sprayer, and strain my neck so my headlamp is aimed at the area I’m treating.

When I’m in a situation like that, I sometimes laugh at how precarious it can be. My knee could slip off a rafter, and the only place for it to land is on half an inch of drywall. Sometimes it’s so tight I can feel roofing nails pressing against the skin on my back. Other times, it’s so hot that the slightly cooler air coming through a vent feels like air conditioning.

I ask myself, Why?

But I already know the answer.

I’ve decided to be the guy who can treat your termites without tenting. That requires thorough termite inspections and a willingness to go where other termite inspectors or technicians may not want to go.

Completing a localized treatment in a hard-to-reach area sometimes makes me wonder: If I were working for another company, would my termite technician coworker even consider doing a treatment like this? Would I expect them to?

But I’m not working for another company.

I’m warranting the entire house, so I need my treatments to be effective. I want my company to be successful. And, quite frankly, it’s my bank account that my customer’s check is going into.

So I’m willing to go where almost no other termite professional will go.