Termite Treatment
Today we had our house treated for termites. If you drove by you may have noticed there was no tent on our house. In fact, I sat in the house for the entire treatment.
Instead of tenting which only kills the current termites, we chose to use a borate treatment that kills the current termites and acts as a preventative to future termites.
We used a company called Homeguard. They previously had treated our house for subterranean termites using a bait trap system that worked well.
They went up in the attic and under the house and sprayed all of the exposed wood. Then they drilled 1/8" holes in wall in between each stud and sprayed the insides of all of the walls. After they were done they patched all of the holes. We will have to paint the holes. In 3 hours all was done.
The cost was $1020, cheaper than tenting. No food or other items to pack away. No motels to sleep in. We did have to clean up some drilling dust and there were some occasional sticky residue spots. A slight odor. I started off with sinus issues and this did not help.
Supposedly all new houses in New Zealand are treated this way. Tenting is not used there.
Another good company, that does spot termite treatment is Earth's Best Natural Pest Management. Randy Raeen has used them.
6 comments:
The good news-
Borates are the best way to kill and repel termites.
The bad news-
Unless there were at least 10 men onsite there's no way 3 hours of application treated your whole home.
Let me guess- in addition to the treatment they sold you a yearly service?
Am I correct?
All wood is treated pre-construction in New Zealand.
If they told you it would kill your existing termiites...you were lied to. Borates only kill termites when borates consumed by the termites. The treatment is great for future swarms but won't do a damn thing to eliminate colonies already sealed in the wood.
I pre-treated my addition with Timbor (basically what they sprayed in your walls.)
Borates will kill an active colony. I just don't think 3 hours of application is enough to adequately treat a whole home.
Timbor, when mixed to a 15% concentration, will succeed in killing an active termite colony in the treated wood with a single application.
At a 10% concentration, a second application is required, but it is equally effective (this approach is often used for pressure treated lumber)
Both methods of treatment offer a residual action of up to 10 years, provided the wood is kept dry.
D-Limonene (orange oil) topical treatments are also effective at killing termite colonies when applied by a skilled technician. As a volatile oil, it does not have any residual action and fully evaporates within a day or two in most cases. Timbor application is therefore recommended for exposed wood in attics or garages.
The orange oil approach is often favored by "natural" and IPM-focused companies for in-wall studs, furniture and less accessible areas where termites are active (ie, where kick-outs and fresh fecal material are present and termites have been sighted or sounded for in the wood).
The Timbor label indicates it is a preventative not a pesticide to kill existing infestation. I have used Timbor for my own home following fumigation. Since it has not been proven to eliminate an existing infestation in an existing structure, I always encourage my customers to fumigate then apply Timbor
I ran into a number of good termite articles at http://www.inspection-termite.com/Articles.shtml
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