Termites...termites...termites (often called white ants). You can't have just 1. If you got them, you have many and many more. And if you have many termites, the army of termites is eating the inside of your house and you don't hear termites, you do not see termites, or smell those termites.
The first time you know you have them is when one of 3 things happen. You have swarming termites, you discover damaged wood, or you find termite shelter tubes going up from the ground or wood over an area that is treated or is masonry that termites have to do a go around.
There are actions you can take to control or eliminate them, but in most cases you should consider professional services available locally or on line because of the potential of very expensive damage from uncontrolled termites.
- DON'T: No untreated wood touching the house including live or dead plants, bushes, trees, etc.
- DO: Drain all ground water away from the house foundation.
- DON'T: No piles of wood or wood related debris near the house.
- DO: Use treated wood rated for ground contact if wood-ground contact is necessary.
- DO: Naturally resistant to termites wood such as white cypress, sequoia, or turpentine tree is an alternative that works well but not perfectly.
- DO: On new construction, apply a termite barrier (pre-treat the soil) to block their entry.
- WARNING: Beware if you have a chipmunk infestation, they can tunnel through the barrier and give the termites an entry point.
- DO: On old construction, an application of toxin by soaking the ground adjacent to the foundation is possible.
- Bait Stations: Using various methods, bait stations to detect and/or treat termites are placed around the perimeter of the structure by a professional extermination service and checked for activity once a month. Information on this method is available locally or on the internet.
- Direct Application: You can obtain pesticide products locally or on the internet that kill the termites quickly by direct contact but not always is the entire colony wiped out. These products are applied to either the soil or directly to the wood.
- Parasitic round worms: This treatment has had limited success and is available if you try hard to find the few businesses that use this treatment program. Because there are but a few local stores that offer this alternative, information off the internet is your best choice.
- Fumigation: Professionals offer a treatment where they "gas" the entire house to kill the termites. This is not a job for the homeowner. Look in your local phone book or visit a pest control website to get contact information.