Ugh.  Termites.  We saw so many houses on our househunt with some termite damage.  Pesky devils.

Are they fumigating the house or the garage? Or both.

Not sure where you live, but here I've never heard of a fumigation here.  People usually treat by injecting chemicals into the soil in a perimeter around the house making what they call a chemical barrier.  Then they keep doing this every year or something like that. Is that an option instead of the fumigation?

The good news is that if they fumigate, your stuff won't be in there yet.  

I don't know how safe the chemicals are.  I assume, not very, in direct contact, since they kill things.  But, the idea of safe fumigating is that you aren't there, and the gas (and bugs) are gone before you get back.

If I had to do it, I would say the longer you can stay out and let it air out post-treatment the better.  Good luck.

We heard that the soil injection does not work because it allows colonies to continue to live inside of the perimeter.  Never heard of tenting.  Seems like it would not work on colonies outside of the house and also the ones under ground.  We use sentricon--baiting stations placed around the perimeter of the house.  Termites come in eat the bait and take it back to the colony.  The chemical --or hormone or whatever it is--does not allow the termites to shed their extoskeletons and they die. It has solved our termite problem and seems relatively non-toxic to humans.  We live in suburban NYC.

The house is in Houston, which basically a paved swamp.  Bugs are part of life here (you should see our cockroaches!), and it is not uncommon to see houses tented occasionally.  

The house has been treated in the ground, but the damage was caused by flying termites, which is why they recommend the tenting/fumigation.  It actually won't prevent future infestation, but it will kill anything currently living in there.

According to the termite folks, the chemmicals clear out of the air in about an hour, but they continue to air it out for a lot longer than that.  We are scheduled to move in a week from Saturday, so we thought if we could get it done in the next few days that would give us a fair amount of time to make sure it is good and aired out.

Ugh.  There is always something.

We had to have our house retreated.  We didn't have any active infestations, so I'm not sure if they treat differently for that or not.  We didn't fumigate; they drilled holes around the entire perimeter of the house, about a foot up from the foundation, and put the treatment in there.  It really wasn't any big deal at all... the only annoyance was the "new cement" circles around the house until it aged enough and blended in.  I'll take that over termites any day!  Ours doesn't get repeated, unless there is a problem, and our termite contract covers the re-treatment if that happens.  They just come out once a year to inspect.

This is way out of left field but here in SoCal there is a service that claims orange oil is a safe and totally effective way to exterminate termites.

Don't have any first-hand experience, but  here's a website to peruse.

Good luck!

Safe is a relative term when used in conjunction with poisons.Length of exposure and concetration are probably the most important factors.
I would let it air as much as possible and wipe down all reachable surfaces with good oll hot soapy water to remove surface residue.

However, statistics on vehicle related deaths dont stop us from driving.

http://ptcl.chem.ox.ac.uk/...

http://www.drywoodtermitecontrol.com...

From this article:

If you are chemically sensitive, we suggest you only try termite predators, e.g., nematodes and/or predator mites, baits, antibiotics, salts, fans, food-grade DE, dehumidifiers, rain gutters, proper grading, ventilation, moisture barriers, sand barriers and/or mechanical alteration, then if you still have any pockets of resistance the only natural chemical/pesticide we recommend that you use is called sodium borate; it is a naturally occurring material that has trace amounts of arsenic; TIM-BOR powder has no added inert ingredients; BORA-CARE liquid also contains ethylene glycol and water; IMPEL RODS are solid borate fungicide rods. If you can not find them, spray all unfinished sole plates, sill boxes and infested wood with 1½ cups of borax per gallon of hot water 3 times to the point or run-off, letting the wood dry between each spraying. In addition, we also recommend you use other non-toxic controls such as exclusion, mechanical alteration, temperature controls, biological controls, sanitation and other integrated pest management techniques. We are firmly committed to your safety and we will always attempt to help you permanently control your pest problems with the least amount of toxin possible! ALWAYS FOLLOW THE LABEL DIRECTIONS AND REMEMBER BORAX AND/OR BORON PRODUCTS WILL NOT PENETRATE FINISHED WOOD!

http://www.thebestcontrol.com/...