Quote:
Originally Posted by Bamaman
As you can tell, the comments on termites are all over the place. My observations from experience:
1. The pest control businesses are more of an insurance company than getting rid of any bugs or critters. The EPA prohibits them from using toxic chemicals to kill the bugs. In the old days, pest guys would kill bugs--where now, they're scaring them out of your house.
2. Many pest control outfits are fraudulent operations. They're mainly wanting to get you into long term contracts where they come out monthly and check the traps--and look like they're spraying for bugs. They're a rip off and so are their termite contracts.
3. Carpenter ants are a much larger problem than termites in that they're so fast doing damage. But they're only eating diseased wood i.e. trees, etc.
4. Termites eat very slowly and they're following the formaldehyde smell of wood. They also leave mud tunnels where they go in and out daily for water--into the ground. Termites cannot live in air, so you seldom see them. If you have concrete or block construction, you're not going to have termite problems generally. Termites love to come up the inside of siding that touches the dirt--a common construction error.
5. When there is a termite infestation, termicides are used to kill'em in a localized area--and they're tough little rascals. Companies tenting a house are ripping you off as it's not required.
6. All those tank trucks used by pest control outfits are "for show." Termite men treating their own homes use graduated yard sprayers with termicide in them.
7. There are termites in every shovel of dirt you dig up in your yard. You just don't want them within the last 6 inches of your house.
8. Even if there has been termite infestion in your house, there is enough wood left to where repairs don't even have to be made in many cases.
My good friend is a pest control company owner. When I had 3 small infestations, he told me to dig a 6" trench around my house and fill it up with pea gravel. Go to the local pest control store and buy a good termicide. Mix it in a graduated yard sprayer in order to spray the whole container into a 10' section. Go back and forth until the sprayer's empty and go on to the next 10' section. Do this all the way around the house. I drilled holes in my garage floor and sprayed it down.
Want to read about getting rid of any pests? Go to BugSpray.com He's the largest seller of termicide in the country, and has written over 150 narratives on getting rid of any bug or critter.
|
Not quite true on a number of items...
You are only talking about subterranean termites... there are also drywood termites that do not live in the ground... THEY need to be tented to get rid of them... you might be able to spay and get rid of them, but maybe not...
Also, as you mentioned, you have to treat the whole house for subterranean termites or they can just move to another place...
I was a licensed exterminator (a WAY long time ago, when we had real poison...) and we did not do what you say.... we would mix the poison in a 55 gallon drum and flood that 6 inch trench... maybe today that is different, but I would not think you would be putting down enough with a yard sprayer... you want toe poison to work its way into the soil and a top spraying just does not provide enough water to get it down in the soil...
Finally, NOT seeing them does not mean you do not have them.... in my last house they came up the sewer pipe in my bathroom and were under the floor to the wall... there was no outside indication I had an infestation... did not see them until we tore out stuff to redo the bathroom...
Linear Mode
