Several Methods Available to Treat, Prevent Termites

April 15, 2007 (Sunday)

Chattanooga Times Free Press

Last year I had swarming termites and my pest control company used a liquid to treat my home.  Do I need to have my home inspected this year?

The presence of termite swarmers indicated you had termite colonies living in your home.  In fact, when the winged, reproductive swarmers emerge in the spring, it is an indication the colony inside your home was large enough that mated pairs of winged termites were emerging to establish new colonies.

The foundation of your home was probably drilled and liquid termiticide injected into these holes to create a barrier under concrete foundations to eliminate the termites.  Homes with basements and crawl spaces are also treated within and around piers and inside wall voids.  In addition, the standard treatment is to dig a six inch trench around your home’s perimeter and inject this trench with additional termiticide and then replace the dirt in the trench.  This creates an unbroken barrier around your home to prevent new termites from entering. 

Termites are always present in our environment and they live in the ground.  Simply eliminating those termites in your home at one point in time will not necessarily prevent new termites from moving through the soil to establish new colonies in your home. If the chemical application did not reach all the termites locations, they could still be inside your home, continuing to eat structural wood used in construction and other cellulose material. 

Termite chemicals degrade over time due to age, heat, sunlight, and other environmental factors.  Also the chemical barrier within the trench around your home may be disturbed and broken due to landscaping, mowing, activities of small mammals and pets, and rain and wind.  Cracks often form in your home’s exterior due to shifting and settling of the foundation, particularly in new homes built on lots that have been filled or graded.  Termites move within the soil between cracks in concrete and over the foundation's footings to find the wood in your home. 

With our mild winter, it is even more critical to have a yearly inspection in our area.  An annual inspection of your home will ensure you are termite-free.  Skipping the yearly inspection could result in hidden termites continuing to eat undisturbed, causing costly structural damage.  Repair costs will far exceed the cost of your inspection and peace of mind. 

The latest trend in the industry, in addition to the yearly inspection of your home and its foundation, is to also install a termite baiting system around your home’s exterior perimeter.  A quarterly inspection is the industry-recommended service interval for this system.  When termites are found to be eating the wood inside the system monitors, it is then replaced with bait.  The “monitoring station" then becomes a “bait station.”  Termites eat the bait and transfer it to other termites when they return to their colony.  The termites distribute this bait through grooming.  The colony may be located inside your home or it may be somewhere in your yard or your neighbor’s yard. 

Unlike the liquid chemical used in your initial treatment, the bait used in a bait system does not work immediately.  This bait works by preventing the growth of the termite’s exoskeleton, which kills the termites as they try to grow larger through molting.  By checking the monitors every three months, you pest management professional can detect termite activity.  By noting which stations contain termite activity, your technician has clues as to the location of the colony as well as the size of the colony.  If termite activity is significant, your home may be treated with liquid chemicals in addition to the baits used in the monitors.  With this comprehensive approach, you can be assured of the protection of your home from these wood-destroying organisms.

Finally, a yearly inspection is recommended to detect conditions that could lead to termite infestations, including poor drainage, cracks or holes in your home’s foundation, rotting wood, and any structural wood in close contact to the ground.  Because termites are not the only insects that eat structural wood, your pest management professional will also check for other wood-destroying organisms including carpenter ants, carpenter bees, old house borers, wharf borers, and other species of wood-destroying beetles.

Lee A. Tubbs is the owner of EnviroGuard Pest Solutions, Inc. and Daisy Pest Control in George and welcomes your questions and comments.