Termites: Tenting/Fumigation

[Chris Padilla]

I noticed one day some strange spots on some finger-jointed pine base molding that had been put up brand new about 3 years ago during the living room remodel. It turns out they were holes!

Anyway, Orkin came buy this morning and after poking around for a while, recommended tenting the house AND my two sheds and fumigating the whole thing. We've been in the house a little over 11 years so I figure it is probably high time to do it.

The $2.4k bill to do it, however, took me back a little. I can pay like 3.3k for a 5 year warranty period that includes yearly inspections and if they find anything, it is on their dime to treat it.

I don't mind moving the fish tank (small one) and the cat out of the house for a weekend but then I was informed that all food needs double-bagged!! *SIGH* I think it might be easier to haul the freezer and fridge over to the neighbors for a couple days vs. bagging everything...ugh!

Anywho, so tell me about y'alls experience with fumigation 'n stuff.

[Bill Huber]

I don't know but if it is termites they are going to be down in the ground. I had to have them come out and go all around my old house and put stuff in the ground. They also drilled holes around the kitchen and bath rooms and injected the stuff. That cost me $1200 and $130 a year for them to come out and inspect the house.

I guess I can't see how fumigating will get them in the ground.

[David G Baker]

Chris
Do some shopping around, Orkin is not really one of your best choices. When I lived in Antioch I used a local Martinez pest control company that was not part of a chain. They were much cheaper than Orkin and did a great job. I used Orkin for around one year and canceled the service after watching the tech pretend like he was spraying around my house when he thought we were not home. This happened with two different techs. Tenting your home is probably going to be expensive but $2.4 sounds way too high.
Do an Internet search on Orkin's customer complaints.

[Chris Padilla]

Yeah, I think I'm going to do more searching online and see what I can find.

[Charlie Reals]

Next to vacuuming your heating duct system, tenting for bugs has been the #1 scam for years in the bay area. I doubt if anything in the moulding would call for tenting. I would get another opinion. 11 years isn't that long Chris, Many homes in the bay area have never had problems that needed tenting. I remember a tract years ago where it turned into the thing to do then was found to not cure the original problem.

[Chris Padilla]

Man o man...tenting sure is a pain and to think about all that poisonous gas going EVERYWHERE in your house. I just don't know. Hmmm....

[Ken Garlock]

Greetings Chris.

In our home in Plano, after 20 years we got termites. The men that came to treat the problem said that each day the workers must migrate from the work site back to the nest to get water. To kill the infestation they drilled holes through the concrete patio next to the problem wall and forced their killer in under the concrete patio making sure the series of holes had some killer from the adjacent hole thus making a wall that termites would/could not cross. Problem solved. They also placed problem finders around the house. They were cylinders with a stick of wood inside that they checked a couple times a year.

In your case, perhaps a well done perimeter treatment would do a like job. It might be a job you would want to oversee.

In our part of the world, they say it is a matter of if you are going to get them, it is a matter of when.

[Rick Moyer]

I believe Ken has it right, at least that is my understanding of how it's supposed to be done. No experience other than I think sometimes the whole termite thing can be a scam IMO. If YOU are certain you have termites that's one thing, but I don't trust most of the "exterminators" who tell you you have termites. Of course I think the radon thing isn't near the issue claimed either so my opinion is worth what you paid for it. :)

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I too am confused about the technique of tenting for termites.

I understand termites to be subterranean (living underground). That is where the nest is. It can be many feet deep. Food gatherers work their way to the surface to find tasty wood in our homes. When they find some, they return it to the underground nest to feed the colony leaving a scent marker for others to do the same thing via the same path.

The only other time you may see termites aboveground is during mating. They sprout little wings, fly around, mate and then shed their wings. In a bad infestation, one will often find a pile of wings on the floor. This usually happens in the spring.

The old standard was to use chemicals injected into the ground. This often involves coring the concrete foundation to access the ground under a slab-on-grade. Chlordane was the wonder product, but it killed everything including birds. It also lasted nearly forever. But the product has been off the market decades ago.

The chemicals used today claim to last 10 years. But folks I talked to in the industry say that it's more like 5 years. Also, the perimeter application must be very thorough or the termites will find an opening. It is nothing more than a barrier. It does not directly eliminate the nest.

The most recent method is to use traps and chemical poisons. Small cylindrical traps are placed in the ground about 8" deep and baited with wood (looks like basswood). The traps are placed around the house about 15' apart. The traps are then monitored monthly for hits. Once a hit occurs, a poison bait is placed into the trap. The poison is then eaten and taken back to the nest where it spreads throughout the entire colony. The poison is engineered to only kill termites by preventing the termites from shedding their exoskeleton shell whereby killing them.

I found this system to be highly effective. However, you need to have an honest and reliable company to perform the monitoring. There are also similar kits available at Home Depot for about $50. However, I don't know how effective they are. Overall cost of the bait trap system is about the same as chemical injection since monitoring of the bait traps can be time consuming when a home may have 20+ traps to check every month. But it kills the colony versus a barrier waiting to be breached.

Good luck,
Jeff :)

[Jim Koepke]

I used to live in the SF Bay Area. The termites there in my experience are ground dwelling and they are everywhere. Those little bugs you see crawling in scraps of untreated lumber that were left on the ground are a kind of termite. My understanding is these are a different kind of termite that fly to mate that are common in other areas. The ground termites do not survive in areas where the ground gets a hard freeze in winter.

When my neighbor was trying to sell his home, the termite inspection came back bad and they wanted $600 to rectify the problem. He wanted to see the termite damage they were going to repair. Turns out there wasn't any termites. There was some scrap wood in the basement and the termite inspector wanted $600 to remove it. My neighbor decided for $600 he could crawl down there and get it out him self.

If you have a cement foundation, look around for cracks or mud tubes for the points of entry.

We had dry wrought in places. Sometimes opportunistic bugs or ants will tunnel in to make nests. Have you actually seen the little critters causing your problem?

jtk

[John Neel]

Subterranean termites live under the ground and will build mud tunnels to get up to the wood in your house. Often the tunnels are not visible, but are inside concrete blocks, pipes, columns or other hollow structural components. Cracks in concrete can also be entry points that conceal the tunnels. If there is untreated wood in direct contract with the ground, subterranean termites can go through that wood to other parts of your house without showing any damage on the surface. Subterranean termites do need ground contact for moisture. Chemical barriers can be effective, Physical barriers such as termite shields can work, but most exterminators can show you pictures of tunnels built over the shields. If your house is such that you cannot inspect the shields easily and frequently or if there is any gap in a physical or chemical barrier, termites may enter.

Drywood termites do not need ground contact. Drywood termites are what require tenting and fumigation.

Powder post beetles also may require tenting and fumigation.

Get several estimates for any fumigation. Ask to see where the infestation is located. Find some of the critters and compare them to images you can find on the net. Protect yourself from fraud by educating yourself about what kind of termites or other pest you have and how they should be treated.