Posted: 5/26/2015 3:12:23 PM EDT
I just found two subterranean termite mud tunnels on one cinder block column in my crawl space 
House is only about 3 years old. I am thinking about having a company come in and do an inspection and get their input.....are they still active (i am guessing yes) and is their other areas i missed. Is anyone here in the pest control field??? Or anyone have any good tangible advice? Is this a mission I can tackle by myself??? |
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Not in the pest control business but a builder. Generally, anytime the earth is disturbed for a new building or an addition a termite pre-treat is done after the foundation is in but prior to any framing. Do you know if your home has been treated and is there a contract?
Personally I wouldn't worry too much at this point, it sounds like you discovered them early. Have you noticed any swarms? |
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Not in the pest control business but a builder. Generally, anytime the earth is disturbed for a new building or an addition a termite pre-treat is done after the foundation is in but prior to any framing. Do you know if your home has been treated and is there a contract? Personally I wouldn't worry too much at this point, it sounds like you discovered them early. Have you noticed any swarms? No swarms noticed yet. |
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Thanks for advice so far. Clicker do you think I need to pour the gallons and gallons of this stuff around perimeter of house or just around the column? I'm just a homeowner like yourself but I do know folks in the biz. I'd treat the perimeter of the house and also spot treat the column with the tunnels. You should be able to treat that column with a single gallon of solution. The stuff is hell on fire ants too! |
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call a professional, they'll take care of it. Pay to have it dealt with and the whole house treated. Termites will happen, had them 3x and covered under pest control warranty, I pay $90 a year for an annual inspection Last year they replaced a front porch post for free, a few earlier had termites in the garage. Had them under the crawlspace |
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Old-timers used their old motor oil. Yes, they did...and some still do. However, they used it as an exterior barrier - not as a treatment. I would still call in a pro. There are two things I don't screw around with - termites and mold. If I get either of those, I go full-on nuclear. Both of those will rapidly turn into a cash-destroying nightmare if they get out of control. |
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Had them at my old house. Paid to have them come out and termidor trench around the whole place and drill a bunch of holes through the slab and treat it under the house. It was $1500 or so I think. Then paid $90 a year for inspection/warranty.
Still had swarmers the next 2-3 years in one spot, they came out and retreated multiple times for no charge. Finally pulled the wall apart and flooring back. There was no wood damage or infestation but was a small crack in the slab that they redrilled, pumped termidor into, then sealed. No more problems after that. I could have bought the chemicals and done it myself, but above let someone else with the right tools do the work. Then any future wood or house damage the pest control company would have paid for any repairs and retreatments. |
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Old-timers used their old motor oil. The reason pro exterminators use " Fipronil " ( Termidor or Taurus brand ) is because the termites don't detect it on them Any other insecticide is detectable to them, and they warn the others - they will then circumnavigate around it. Fipronil kills the crap out of ants, ticks, beetles, and fleas. It's not a " knock down " insecticide, it may take a week or two... but it works very well after that. |
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Just paid 500 to treat my 1500 sqft home by a professional with dominion termiticide. Can't beat that to not have to trench and drill around my house. Dominion has a different active ingredient ... Imidacloprid 21.4%. It's much - much less expensive than Fipronil 9.1%. I don't know enough to compare the two. Terminix using Termidor charged me 1K for treating my 1300 sq. ft home. They dug the shallow perimeter trench. Drilled holes in adjacent driveway etc. The worker said I'll be good for about 7 years. |
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The reason pro exterminators use " Fipronil " ( Termidor or Taurus brand ) is because the termites don't detect it on them Any other insecticide is detectable to them, and they warn the others - they will then circumnavigate around it. Fipronil kills the crap out of ants, ticks, beetles, and fleas. It's not a " knock down " insecticide, it may take a week or two... but it works very well after that. Quoted:
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Old-timers used their old motor oil. The reason pro exterminators use " Fipronil " ( Termidor or Taurus brand ) is because the termites don't detect it on them Any other insecticide is detectable to them, and they warn the others - they will then circumnavigate around it. Fipronil kills the crap out of ants, ticks, beetles, and fleas. It's not a " knock down " insecticide, it may take a week or two... but it works very well after that. the reason pro exterminators use Fipronil is because of the digestive cycle of the termite colony. https://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_139/1480806__ARCHIVED_THREAD____Best_DIY_Termite_spray.html&page=1#i40314841 killing the flying (swarming) termites, and even all the worker termites currently above ground, isn't going to do crap about a termite problem. you are battling a couple million years of evolution here. they don't go away when you kill the 0.01% of their colony population who happen to be above the ground at the time. Fipronil, the ingredient in Termidor, works differently, and works in a way that is very effective against termites. termite pesticide application is best done by applying it to the soil before the foundation is poured, after the foundation pour but before the soil is pushed back up against the block, by "rodding" (inserting a hollow rod down against the foundation), or by placing baited traps (tasty wood laced with Fipronil) in key locations. in no case will you be filling a garden sprayer with Termidor and spraying the ground -- this is not an effective use of the chemical and will not make an impact on the termites. they do not live on or above the ground; the live in a colony ranging from one hundred to ten million inhabitants about 2-6 feet below the ground. the mud paths they build into an above-ground structure are protection from predators such as ants, and allow the worker termites safe transit to bring food (semi-digested moist wood) back to the colony. in no case, unless there is some disruption to their mud tunnels, will you be able to see or spray termites directly. they work in stealth mode. instead, you have to get them to feed on wood treated with a pesticide, and Fipronil works well to this end. Fipronil does not (initially) kill a dosed termite. worker termites exposed to Fipronil travel back to the underground colony and deposit "food" (it's actually their crap) for the other colony members to eat. this occurs for 3-7 days. eventually about 20% of the colony has been exposed to Fipronil. but it's an important 20%. the pesticide then shuts off an enzyme in their brains and they have a seizure. the problem for the colony now is that the worker termites are all dead. the FSA in the colony stands around waiting for the food to be brought to them. that doesn't happen. they starve to death. the colony collapses. this is the "nuke them from orbit" approach and is far, far more successful than battling them above the ground. and you can now see why tenting doesn't do anything useful -- the colony is untouched. ps effective termite control is not simple, and it's extremely easy to kill a lot of other beneficial insects in the process. for example --“ pesticides like Fipronil also kill bees, and in fact several governments in europe have banned Fipronil use based on research linking it to honey bee colony collapse. Fipronil will also kill ants, the natural enemy of termites. too few ants will lead to more termites. so it's a giant tradeoff. ar-jedi |
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Thanks for advice so far. Clicker do you think I need to pour the gallons and gallons of this stuff around perimeter of house or just around the column? that is not how to apply termicide. that is EXACTLY not how to apply termicide. next question, do you have a well? ar-jedi |
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Here is what I did. I have a split level. The termites got into the lower level and ate up the pink foam insulation and the wood strips that hold up the drywall.
Home Depot sells the stakes you place around your house. Get double the amount you need and place them. Soak the ground outside your house with the termite killing powder or liquid. Drill the block you found the termites in and 2 on either side of them with a small masonry bit. Go as high as you can before the sil plate Shoot the aerosol type termite killer in each hole. I suggest 1 can for every 2 holes. Seal the holes. Problem should be done. |
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You can go cheap or you can get a professional. Get a termite contract. I did and it covered up to 1 million in damages. This was in Mississippi and it cost me $240 for the year and included quarterly treatments for all types of pests (Ants, Spiders, Roaches, meese, and other creepy Crawlers)
My .02. |
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I wouldn't screw around with it. I'd want a professional to come in and go all Hiroshima on those things. Exactly. A professional will leave you with an infestation report, information about the chemicals used to treat it, a receipt, and a warranty. You're going to want to keep all of that to back up your seller's disclosure when/if you decide to sell the house. A simple "I found some signs of termite activity so I treated the area myself" isn't going to cut it for most prospective buyers. |
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that is not how to apply termicide. that is EXACTLY not how to apply termicide. next question, do you have a well? ar-jedi Quoted:
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Thanks for advice so far. Clicker do you think I need to pour the gallons and gallons of this stuff around perimeter of house or just around the column? that is not how to apply termicide. that is EXACTLY not how to apply termicide. next question, do you have a well? ar-jedi The info you posted is enlightening, thanks. In my case I have municipal water & sewer - no well or septic systems. I've applied the Fipronil by trenching around the perimeter of the house to 12" then pouring the diluted Fipronil solution into the trench and back filling. The issue I had with a big name national outfit is they had not treated the property nor did they plan to. They simply took my money each year and sent some minimum wage flunky out to crawl under my home for 15 minutes and say it looks good. Hell I caught one guy napping under there! I figured I can look at the structure my self and treat the area for far less then their annual renewal fee, which increased exactly 10% each year. |