Termites!

[Broncojohnny]

I got termites eating up the fiber board siding on one side of my house. I'm going to demo all that shit myself and replace it. I'm not sure if they got into the wall studs yet or not. From what I see so far they are very lazy and ate all the fiberboard stuff first. Anyone else been through this shit? If so, who did you use to treat your house and what was the result?

[Vertnut]

Al, I didn't think this was their "time of the year". I would think they'd be moving kind of slow, unless they are really inside the wall where it's nice and warm. I'd call someone out pretty quick, because once it does warm up, they will swarm with a vengeance. I have a guy I use on my new homes (he pre-treats all the slabs) and he's very knowledgeable on termites. He's here in Midlothian, though, and you may want to use someone closer to you.

[mustang_revival]

Termites are very expensive to treat. I keep mine under control with some stuff I got at Home Depot.

I was talking to a friend who in pest control - cost 400-600 for spot treatments (good for about 1 or 2 square yards. He said they drill in peoples slabs, run a pole about 2 feet down and add their termite killing chemical.

I paid for spot treatment about 4 years ago, they came back.

The company wanted 1000.00 to do my whole house parameter. So it gets expensive really quick.

[Chuck]

Check the rooms nearest to that wall and see if there are any signs inside. They love the paper on sheetrock. I use Terminix for preventative sprayings, but never had the issue myself.

[Broncojohnny]

The old lady called Terminex and they went around the whole house, $1400 to treat. Going to get a few more estimates too.

The worst spot was an area with poor drainage and no roof gutter. It is sort of an alcove with a tree that sits beside the dining room window. The brain trust that built the house decided that they would use some really cheap ass wood siding that is not much better than cardboard. It is particle board but is obviously some of the cheapest shit they could find.

Because the area is prone to water damage, the siding has absorbed all this water and the termites did what they do and ate into the siding as far as three to four feet up the wall. I tore all this shit off and they also ate some of the vapor barrier underneath. Luckily they only started eating on a few of the studs and it is nothing major. I am going to go back with siding that is a bit better, some sheeting and seal it all up real good. Will be adding a gutter up top to control the water issue. Then I'm going to get the whole house treated.

I wonder if some used 30 wt. out of the Cummins turbo diesel would agree with my termite friends? lol what a pain in the ass.

[yellowstang]

We use Western Extermintors and they also do termite treatments. One of the guys at work used their termite service, had great results.

http://www.westernext.com/

[bcoop]

I feel for you. Luckily, never had to do it myself. When remodeling, we found some damage (paper from the sheetrock gone). It was all EXTREMELY old activity though, and no new activity was found. I was kind of shocked they (Terminix) didn't try to bend me over and tell me it was a complete infestation, and $1500 to treat.

[dville_gt]

any easy preventative maintenance to deal with this before it is a problem?

[Broncojohnny]

any easy preventative maintenance to deal with this before it is a problem?

There is some over the counter Ortho shit you can buy that supposedly works well. But that is just preventitive, from what I understand once you have them you have to treat them with the commercial stuff to kill them off.

It is funny that you say that about the Terminix guys Blaine, this dude swore up and down that I would have "$3,000 to $4,000 worth of damage" once I got in there and started poking around. I guess I needed to hire a neurosurgeon to come out and replace some framing and some siding. At most it is about 15 hours of work and $200 in materials and that is because I bought a roll of Tyvek.

[bcoop]

any easy preventative maintenance to deal with this before it is a problem?

They have those things you put in the ground, around the perimeter of the house. Almost like sprinkler heads, but it dispenses the chemical in to the dirt, which spreads when it rains, etc. I have no idea of the cost though. They've been around for a decade or more. Terminix does them, but surely HD or Lowe's have some DIY version for cheaper.

[Chritaka]

We use Western Extermintors and they also do termite treatments. One of the guys at work used their termite service, had great results.

http://www.westernext.com/

Yep, they use the Sentricon system with in-ground feeders around the perimeter. They spot treated first, then deducted that from the Sentricon cost when I decided to go with that. They monitor it quarterly. We only had one spot with signs of them and we would have never known if we weren't remodeling the master shower. They retreated from the shower almost immediately after the spot treatment and there was very little damage since we caught it so early. We replaced 2 slightly nibbled studs and were good to go. We have no signs of them now and it took about 14 months (they moved to the other side of the house after 6 months) for us to completely stop getting hits on the perimeter bait in the ground.

[Rick the Home Inspector]

I've also had termite and pc business for 20+ years and I can tell you termites are over rated as he77. I've never seen a house about to fall down. Maybe a few damaged studs and drywall and thats about it.

Most important thing is to avoid any "conducive" conditions that will attract termites. Things such as soil to wood contact, high soil against the foundation walls and leaking plumbing.

Termites can be controlled by mechanical alteration without having to spend big bucks on a treatment with a pest control company.

No chemical is a sure thing. I've seen them come and go over the years.

Rick

[Broncojohnny]

I've also had termite and pc business for 20+ years and I can tell you termites are over rated as he77. I've never seen a house about to fall down. Maybe a few damaged studs and drywall and thats about it.

Most important thing is to avoid any "conducive" conditions that will attract termites. Things such as soil to wood contact, high soil against the foundation walls and leaking plumbing.

Termites can be controlled by mechanical alteration without having to spend big bucks on a treatment with a pest control company.

No chemical is a sure thing. I've seen them come and go over the years.

Rick

Like everything else, it has turned into a fucking scam where a business has to overstate the severity of an issue in order to make a buck and not have any liability.

[sdun]

Have you ever used the stainless screens on the plumbing and the "special" tub boxes before you pour the slab?

Al, I didn't think this was their "time of the year". I would think they'd be moving kind of slow, unless they are really inside the wall where it's nice and warm. I'd call someone out pretty quick, because once it does warm up, they will swarm with a vengeance. I have a guy I use on my new homes (he pre-treats all the slabs) and he's very knowledgeable on termites. He's here in Midlothian, though, and you may want to use someone closer to you.