Termites

Resta

I have a invasion late last night. Termites. Saw few of them on the stairs and found them mating in the laundry room. get into panic. Spray whole room with ORTHO home defence. Call exterminating service. Waiting for them to come tonight for inspection. Like I understand I do have two opinions. I can use "terminex service", they are puting some capsule with poison in the ground. Or to use local exterminator, they drill the holes in the walls and use some poison. It is town house, laundry room is in the middle of the house. No basement.
How do you think, whats is better?
I my be not able to answer for each post but will read certainly..

Mike(VA)

Resta, first of all, don't panic. You have plenty of time to educate yourself about termites and what they do. You have plenty of time to research companies that provide a termite control service.

At this time of the year, HO's have two possibilities when it comes to termites. They could be reproductives of either termites OR ants. Easiest way to tell is that termites disgard their wings and ants do not. If you see loose wings on the floor, in spider webs, on window sills, you have termites even if you see no creatures. Ants do not drop their wings.

Also, termites look like they have a one piece body and a head. Ants have three sections, (head, thorax, and abdomen for you entomologists out there). Neither one will bite and neither one will get into your furniture and eat it. Termites will trail each other in a mating ritual, but need moist soil to lay eggs. Both ants and termites need just the right balance of temperature and humidity to swarm.

Termites that are eating your wood will not be seen. They are white and if you find damaged wood, they will have carried sand into the tunnels. No sand; no termites.

Take your time. Termites will not eat your house before tomorrow evening. You could even wait until late fall for treatment when many companies will discount their services with the approach of winter.

__________________
__________________________________________________ ___________
I EXPECT THAT SOMEDAY I WILL SEE THE FRUITS OF MY LABOR. IS IT SOMEDAY YET?
Clifton, Great Falls, McLean, Fairfax Station, Manassas, Virginia Renovation Contractor

Tinstaafl

First and foremost, be VERY careful about signing a contract for yearly service.

When we bought the house we're in now, we "inherited" a yearly service contract (with automatic renewal) with the outfit which had treated the house in order for it to be marketable. We actually paid them for several years before I wised up.

The contract simply promised that they would do a yearly inspection, and if they found evidence of termite activity, they would treat the premises. Well, every year they found evidence of termite activity, and every year they treated the premises. The only thing their treatments accomplished was an ever-increasing abundance of drilled and patched holes where they injected their chemicals.

It's been over 15 years since I fired them, and repaired a number of damaged areas with pressure treated wood. Every so often, I put down a batch of diatomaceous earth. That pretty well takes care of them, without the useless and chemically hazardous pesticide treatments.

Now, you CAN get a contract which offers yearly inspections, treatments AND repairs, but you'll pay a very high premium for that.

Resta

Thanks. That's termites. It was a bunch of wings on washer & dryer.
"Top hat" exterminator offer to drill a holes around the house 8" apart put Phantom termicide in. Take out sheetrock in the laundry room and look what is inside. It is town house, they need to drill hols inside all perimeter and I need to take wooden floors 2' from walls. 950$ for termicide, 250 to tear walls, 2 days.
"Terminex" offer to put capsules in front and back yard and spray laundry room. Two years contract, they will check every 3 month. 980 first year and second 390. And I'm getting senior discount 10%.
Right now I think I'll go with "Terminex". Don't want to tear the floors we lay them only 3 years ago.

Mike(VA)

Resta, my bet is that the washer/dryer are at the front of the house, near or below thje front entrance. Termites usually live outside of the foundation and gain entry under the poured stoop below the door. This is the weakest point of construction from a termite's perspective.

No need to remove sheetrock, wood, or anything. If the company is decent, they will know how to apply a barrier to stop entry or place baits outside. Either way, control takes time, but you have time. Also, you may still see swarmers for a couple of weeks after any treatment. Spraying the laundry room will do absolutely nothing. You can use a vacuum cleaner and accomplish the same thing which is cleaning up the swarmers. The other company wants to tear out walls to look for damage so they can add on repairs.

I am not a big fan of Terminix. Look them up in ripoff report. Check your local Coonsummer Checkbook, neighbors, or call several companies for estimates. By the time you go through 3 or 4, you will be better educated and can make a good choice.

In case you are wondering, I worked in the pest control field for 20 years, 14 as owner of my own company.

__________________
__________________________________________________ ___________
I EXPECT THAT SOMEDAY I WILL SEE THE FRUITS OF MY LABOR. IS IT SOMEDAY YET?
Clifton, Great Falls, McLean, Fairfax Station, Manassas, Virginia Renovation Contractor

Dutch1962

If you saw them late at night then it is not subterannean termites. It may be Drywoods. So treating the soil outside will do no good. Wall injection might but still I have doubts if they even are termites. Usually Drywoods swarm at dusk--not real late.

Resta

Terminex already put they capsules outside. Inside we drill the holes in the laundry walls and injected "spectracide". I still see the couple wings on the machines every second day.