HI all,
We recently discoved a termite infestation in our home. Has anybody had any experience in treating these pests themselves rather then paying the $800 – $1200 Terminex, Orkin etc. are charging?
thanks in advance,
Larry
HI all,
We recently discoved a termite infestation in our home. Has anybody had any experience in treating these pests themselves rather then paying the $800 – $1200 Terminex, Orkin etc. are charging?
thanks in advance,
Larry
Use proper prep and flashing details to install weathertight windows before the water-resistive barrier goes on.
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Replies
Ya gotta be old enough to have stashed away your part of a 5 gal barrel of chlorodane concentrate your group at work went in on ($380 in about 1977) before it became illegal to sell, 1 tbs. in a gallon of water kills tens of thousands & the queen of anything with 6 (is it six?) legs. A quart lasts a long long time.
since only "pros" can get anything that works these days, you may be stuck with the huge markup, courtesy of "silent spring" and Jimmy C. et. al. .
PS: The eagles have come back though to eat the neighborhood cats, though that was mostly PCB supposedly.
PPS: also had a few gallons of penta concentrate and creosote <G> don't ask for any, it's gone <G>
DIY treatment would leave a big question when you go to sell the home: you'll probably have to disclose the infestation (a few states don't have disclosure laws, I believe) and even if you don't, a good pest inspector will probably find evidence of the infestation (unless you're really good at hiding the evidence, which raises legal and moral issues).
At that point, you'll probably be asked to show that a licensed treatment company provided treatment; since you won't be able to show that, you'll have to pay for the treatment at that time.
Also, what if your DIY treatment doesn't work? Are you ready to risk expensive damage if you don't get it right?
The right professional treatment will give you a guarenntee for retreatment (not repair) with inspections for a number of years, then u can buy reinspections with treatment on a yearly basis. Believe this is transferable.
Assume you're talking subteranian type, not the airborne
the subs live in the ground not the wood, that's the restaraunt.bobl Volo Non Voleo Joe's cheat sheet
Junkhound has it right. The only remaining way to go is to get the pros to fumigate. As for doing it yourself, would you really want to own and store all those tarps and sandbags and a tank of Vikane gas? The gazillion spring clamps would be kinda cool to have, though. ;-)
-- J.S.
These termites are the type that live in the ground so treatment would be done by drilling holes aoound the perimeter and injecting some type of chemical. I'm in the process of excavating the crawl space out to become a full basement so now would be a great time to treat the dirt under the house before we pour the floor.
any ideas?
Larry;
Just to give you an idea as to the relative effect of chemicals presently available to homeowners vs. the pros, I'll relate son's family ant story. I think you are stuck with going to the pros as nearly everyone advises (unless you have some CD or DDT stored away<G>).
Big ant hill appeared in DIL's rose garden. She went to big box and bought "strongest" ant killer, almost no effect after 2 weeks.
DIL is pregnant with #4. After re-doing a research on birth defects due to Chlorodane (non known, still told DIL to stay out of rose garden till ants were dead and I removed effected soil) I mixed 2 teaspoons of Chlorodane in 1 gal water and poured on ant hill, ALL DEAD in 2 days. I also wanted to get rid of the treated soil from their garden as CD is also death to bees, which of course we all want around our gardens.