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Termite Questions and Answers
What are some things a home owner can do to help prevent termites?
Keep all wood and wood products away from the foundation and off the ground. The key is to avoid any wood to ground contact within 15-20 ft of structure. Keep flower beds below slab line and weep holes (breathing holes, spaces in the brick work). If it is not metal, glass, plastic, or brick then termites may have an easy meal. Keep all landscape timbers away from the foundation and divert water away from structure.
How much damage can termites cause if they are in a home and how quickly does damage occur, overnight, in a month, a year?
Termites don't eat like everyone thinks - really they eat very little. They say that a normal colony eats about 1 pound of wood a year. That's about 6 inches of a 2x4. They do more scaring damage than structure damage. The real concern, when termites do a lot of damage is if there is a moisture problem in the same area. Then they will go like fire, or if they are left alone for a longer period of time.
Bait treatments, what are they and are they effective?
They are a container with a piece of wood and no initial poison placed around and in proximity to the structure. After their discovery from a regular inspection of the wood cartridge, the cartirdge will be replaced with a poison cartridge to kill the termite colony. This system may be an alternate procedure especially in places where chemical barriers cannot be established. Termite bait station systems can take 6-9 months to completely eradicate a termite infestation.
In California you see whole houses are covered with a huge "plastic bag" and some sort of chemical is pumped into the bag, why is that not seen in this area?
This treatment is referred to as fumigation. In our area, subterranean termites account for almost all termite activity. These type of termites can easily be controlled with liquid or bait station treatments. Fumigation is used for powder post beetles, Dry wood termites and Formosan termites. Although not very common, fumigation has its place and is required in extreme cases of infestation.
In the 70's and 80's chlorinated hydrocarbons (DDT, chlordane, etc.) were withdrawn from use and just recently chlorpyrifos (Dursban) was also taken off the market. What has happened in homes which have had treatments with these no longer used products and what can we expect in the future?
The homes with the chlordane treatments are mostly still hanging in there against termites with a few breakdowns. The homes with the Dursban treatments are breaking down rather quickly after their 7 year run. Dursban was only required to stay active for 5 years. Termidor has become the new gold standard for liquid treatment of termites. In studies it has had a 100% effective control rate for at least 8 years with lasting control into the 10 year mark.
Further Comments
Be sure to know your termite person and company. If you need a home treatment make sure the license holder for that company is there on the job site during the treatment. Have your own termite inspection performed on the property you are consider before buying. The best surprise is no surprise when it comes to a home and termites. Take your time and find a company you can trust.