Termites!

[Gercarson]

Is there an effective way to "home treat" for termites? My house is on a slab and is brick veneered. Not sure if I have termites, but there is some old termite "scars" and would like to know if I can handle treatment myself. Any suggestions?

[VALENT]

Yes, look under your state extension service for their recommendations or else go to a chemical store in your area and they will give you some options. There are many "barriers" which you spray along the outside of your home and these will be active for many years at preventing termites from entering your home and doing damage. Personally, I know the "professional" termite monitors definitely fail.

[gobug]

There are no simple solutions. Certainly, applying a chemical around the outside surface is totally ineffective.

Chemical termite treatments involve soaking the dirt along the edge of the house down to the bottom of the foundation underground. This requires some equipment not commonly found on the average homestead. In addition to the outside perimeter, the inside of the house must be treated by drilling through the slab and injecting the pesticide beneath it. The holes should be spaced at about 1 foot intervals with enough chemical injected to create a barrier without a break. The holes need to be around the perimeter and on one side of all interior walls.

This is not a do-it-yourself project. It is also not entirely effective. In fact, no treatment is totally effective. Termite companies used to have long term warranties, now they are non-existant. Instead you pay for them to visit periodically forever.

The most important thing you can do as a homeowner is deal with water issues. Look at the ground outside and determine the path surface water takes. It must not come to the house. The same goes for runoff from the rain. Your roof must shed the water and it must be channeled away from the house at least 4 feet and flow away. Furthermore, the plumbing represents another aspect of water control. Even a subtle leak from a toilet or other appliance can create an situation which attracts the termites.

Window frames and door frames are another area of risk due to potential water intrusion. Make certain these shed water and do not allow water to soak the framework.

Baiting can have an impact, but it isn't as foolproof as alledged. It is about as reliable as the old drill and fill approach. It is just a lot less labor for the pest control company.

Sometimes people see wood damage and associate it with termites. What exactly are you seeing? Termites typically eat soft wood and leave the hard grain. They also construct tubes from sand, wood pulp, and termite saliva to control the humidity where they are at work.

If you are near a metro area with pest control companies, you can probably get a free inspection by an expert. They look hard because they don't earn anything unless they can sell you a treatment.

[gobug]

I just noticed that you are in FL. That is the heart of termite country.

How long have you owned the house?
It may have been treated during the construction, especially if it newer.
If you bought it used, it may have had a termite treatment sometime in the past.

You should be concerned about not only subterranean but also drywood termites.

Brick veneer only hides the evidence.

There used to be a product which was wooden shims treated with dilute boric acid. You pound them into ground around the house. Supposedly the termites would find them and eat them and succomb to the poison. I have a box of these that I never used. I really don't know if they still sell them or whether they really worked. I'd be glad to send them to you if you wanted to pay the postage.

[VALENT]

Actually, I think you will find that the termite barriers are very effective and some of them for up to 5 years. It does not take fancy or specialized equipment to dig a trench about 12 to 18 inches deep along a concrete slab foundation( which is the more likely scenario in Fl.) I agree that it is not going to be totally effective but I do know that the big pest control companies drilling holes in your slab, through your flooring and etc is not much more effective-though far more expensive and certainly meant to give greater peace of mind.

[lilyrose]

Good thread. Is anyone here in the pest control business by any chance?

Valent, what are these "termite monitors" you're referring to?

Gercarson, I once lived in Florida and one night I was standing in my livingroom when a zillion black bugs flying all over the place started swarming. It was really wierd. They all died within a few minutes and I had a mess to clean up. They were termites swarming and we had a pest service come and deal with the problem. I'll have to ask my dh what they did to kill the critters.

[VALENT]

Terminix and the other companies set up these bait stations all around your house.(In my parents case it was like 25 or 30 separate stations) Then they supposedly monitor these stations to see if termites are around your house. When they are around your house, I guess they spray for them. In my parents case, they paid for this guaranteed termite protection (in addition to the beforehand drilling through the floors fiasco) and then had a spare bedroom very much termite infested and the bait stations or the people monitors never said anything. So, that is my reason for my opinion. I have known many others very near who have used the termite barrier chemicals with completely positive results and a far lesser outlay of cash.

[gobug]

lilyrose
I am a licensed exterminator. I have been running a pest control business for 15 years. I am closing it now because I want to move to the mountains and homestead.

If Valent were correct about it being so simple, why in the world would anyone drill holes through the slab?? Just because you don't see them does not mean they are gone.

In your case, the swarming termites disappeared, but would have anyway because they die (except for the new queen) within hours of emergence. Termites only swarm for a 2 week period each year. A termite colony has a radius of activity of more than 100 yards. In other words, your house could be eaten by a colony in the next block. Swarms usually emerge close to the colony. So not everyone sees them. In an area with termites, there could be more than a dozen different colonies at work on your house.

The truth is that termites are winning the battle because of man's insistance upon using bug food to build houses. There is no fool proof treatment. They can go through or around any chemical barrier if they choose. The reason they do is because they sense wet wood. The ambient moisture in FL is high enough that just about any wooden structure will be attractive to them. In addition, FL has termites that don't need to get to the soil, so treating the soil could be a total waste of money.

Termiticides are among the most toxic of pesticides. I do not like to use them. Baits such as Valent described Terminex using have marginal success, especially in areas with major termite problems. Terminex hard sells them because they bought the company that makes them, and because of the excessive liability in applying liquid pesticides to the soil. (think about this when you consider doing it yourself)

Consider a 900 sq ft home, say 30x30. This has a perimeter of 120 ft. Most termiticides are labeled to apply 4 gallons per 10 linear feet per foot of depth. Most slabs are supported by a grade beam, which may be supported by caissons or pilons which may go several feet below the surface. Grade beams can be 12-18 inches thick. The minimum amount of pesticide would likely be close to 50 gallons, and more likely in the neighborhood of 200 gallons. This is just the outside permimeter. The termites can easily tunnel under a 1 foot barrier and come into the structure wherever a 1/64" crack or crevice exists. This is typically where the plumbing enters the house.

When termite baits first became available I was excited because baiting works so well against ants, another social insect. Terminex got in trouble with the feds for claiming that baiting eliminates the colony. It doesn't.

The vast majority of litigation in the pest control industry is by people who pay for an inspection and after buying the house which supposedly had no termites, they find an infestation. Since the termites do not reveal their presence, they can be nearly impossible to detect. So claims that they have been eliminated are frivilous.