Termite protection - confused

[waynep]

Not really anything to do with Landys ( unless termites eat aluminium ) but you are a very knowledgable bunch of people so :

I am currently getting quotes for termite inspection / protection for my house and am very confused.

-One company is trying to sell me a $2000 top shelf chemical treatment which includes wood protection insurance for one year and then $300 threafter every year to continue the insurance and get an annual inspection.

-Other companies say they'll inspect for around $300 and then advise on treatment later.

Can anyone give me advice to avoid me getting ripped off here ( so I can pour more money into the Disco - there you go a connection to Landys:D )

[loanrangie]

Hi Wayne, i went thru this dilemma earlier this year after we had flood damage to our house (35k worth) the builders came to repair and found termite damage to a large supporting beam and the framework of 2 walls.
I take it you are in the temite belt ne mel ? after i reframed the walls i had a company called termite specialists based in reseach treat the affected area with termador, cost of $900. I explained that i really couldnt afford to pay it and they let me pay it off.

[incisor]

One company is trying to sell me a $2000 top shelf chemical treatment which includes wood protection insurance for one year and then $300 threafter every year to continue the insurance and get an annual inspection.

I dont envy you... i built most of my place out of cypress to try and avoid them...

when i was a lad... the old fellas used to spray kerosene everywhere and that stopped them .... they used it in their ceiling/roof cavity, on the stumps, you name it... be frowned upon big time now i would think :P

on bribie island they use a mixture of things, several variants of termi-mesh, baits, metal tapes and chemical sprays.

one of my mates has employed all these methods and has been hit 3 times in 5 years. They keep moving in from the new estate up the road. just last week he sold up to get away from them, he was headed for a mental breakdown worring about when they would be back.

i used to part own a plastering business a few years ago and we did quite a few "after termite invasion" repair jobs.... from what i saw, nothing will stop them if you have something they are interested in getting. they will sacrifice many generations to make it there. i have seen them burrow thru 6 feet of concrete to get into one place on bribie.... no exaggeration involved....they went along thru the wall of a concrete pool.. dammed amazing creatures...

[101RRS]

Beware, beware, beware

Had a similar thing in my house 20 years ago - I had termites in a balconey - $2000 to drill holes in the slab and then fill with a chemical barrier.

I baulked at the cost and got a second opinion - that opinion was that chemical barriers do not work - or at least work for very long. Also there are termites and there are termites. The ones that chew through your house like "good wood". The termites I had only eat rotting timber and the reason they bypassed all the "good wood" in my house frames and went to the balconey was because there was dry rot and the timber was rotten - yum yum.

Advice was for a raised house was make sure your ant caps were not bridged - do regular inspections, keep the house dry underneath and don't store timber under the house - for houses on slabs - you should have got a barrier in when the house was built, keep stuff away from around the walls of the house and hope for the best - the tabloid current affairs programs have also knocked these pest controller pests.

Garry

[loanrangie]

Agree Garry, we had water damage from prior to us buying and that attracted them. Little F**kers were close to reaching the floor boards !, luckily our house is split level with most of the house raised on concrete stumps and only minimal timber near the ground. As a precaution i used treated pine to reframe the walls. Also found out that the nest was on my neighbors property in a timber retaing wall, this has been cut up and burned and the area treated.

[waynep]

Hmm, thanks all.
The reason I am concerned is that an old dead tree was cut down in our backyard and it had been eaten out by termites.

As far as i know there is no infestation in the house. ( yet).
I'm not too keen on the chemical option, even though I know they re suppossed to be "safe" these days. The quote I have is for Thermidor treatment, which is supposed to be the best. ( but all these are only as good as the applicator.)
I am now looking at the baits planted around the house, these you can get DIY kits of about 20 baits for about $400. Inspect them once a month and if termites are detected, get in the extemrinator guy.
Well, that;s the idea anyway .....

[JDNSW]

There is a good reason why my house is steel framed and has a minimum of timber trim ................ We were also lucky in getting it built in the last six months you were allowed to use really effective (and environmentally very unfriendly) chemicals. So far no problems with the house, but you don't want to leave a bit of wood on the ground for more than a day or so.
John

[chunk]

Hi there,
if you are building a new brick veneer house then termimesh is the way to go, it's a s/steel mesh that sits on top of the second course of bricks and onto the slab. it is also impregnated with chemicals. if you have an existing house or building a timber house chemicals are your only real option. all methods of termite protection need to be inspected every year otherwise you void your warrenty. any house constructed from timber will attract termites. steel framed homes only attract white rust.

[solmanic]

I presume you are enquiring about termite protection for an existing house. Unfortunately nothing is much chop compared to the chemicals they used to be allowed to use. Other people are absolutely right that a "mechanical" barrier (termimesh or cordon) is best, but you don't have that option for an existing house, so chemical "irrigation" is your only option.

Before getting too into the new irrigation system, there are a few basic things you can do to make sure it will have full effect.

The bottom line is, termites need to "build a bridge" to get into any house, unless the timber is in contact with the ground. All mechanical barriers (this includes stump and ant capping) do is force them out into the open where you can see them - it DOESN'T STOP THEM.

Before getting any chemical system in place, make sure you clean around the entire perimeter of the house. If it's a slab on ground then make sure the slab edge is exposed, or at least remove any vegetation up against the walls. Cleaning will do the most to ensure you can see them when they try to get in.

Try to find out how much of a problem termites are in your area, and whether they are active anywhere on your property. Before forking out mega-bucks it would pay to know just how much of a problem they are. The price you have quoted seems high, but naturally a few quotes will sort this out.

As I mentioned before, the chemicals you are allowed to use now are heavily watered down due to environmental concerns, so they need to keep being topped up (hence an annual agreement). There is really no other way to do it.

Good luck.

[awabbit6]

I've found that most pesties will do the second method - inspect then recomend treatment. Cost is about the same both ways.
We have a lot of termite action in our area and regularly have nests appear on our property. I usually dig the nests up while they are small and the black ants and magpies come in and finish them off.
We recently had our pest guy out to inspect and recomend - more of a friendly chat and offer advice. He has done a full treatment on our place in the past and we are due for a top-up. Essentially we discussed whether to treat or not to treat. Ultimately he couldn't advise one way or the other. The chemicals don't last long, especially if the soil is disturbed. There is no real way of knowing how effective or thorough the treatment is, especially under concrete. Utimately it is like paying for insurance against termites but not really being certain that barrier is effective or for how long it will resist attack.
We decided to hold off on the treatment and consider further the options. I regularly check for tracks up the outer walls and keep the perimeter of the house clean and dry (termites love water). I think that being aware and regularly inpecting outer walls is a major step in pretecting your house. Chemical barriers can have the opposite effect where you consider you house protected and don't bother inspecting.

Ultimately it is a tough decision and a lot of money. When the pest controllers can't give me a definite answer as to whether to spray or not I can't justify the money.

[waynep]

Thanks all some good advice there/

[DirtyDawg]

Having held a pest control license (WA1984) what you need to do is mix cresote and old engine oil dig a 20cm deep by 10cm wide trench around your house (if a concrete pad) and pour in the said mix repeat every 10years..
if on stumps do the same around each stump.
out of the 1000's of termite species in Aus only 20 will eat houses and we have most of them in the west and NT has the big nasty daddy of em all.
Termites can sense chemicl up to 2m away and they hate creosote and oil with a passion..PM me with any questions;) I can tell you how to inspect and what preventitive measures you can take around the home and it won't cost you a $;)

[abaddonxi]

If you have wooden stumps on your house and are doing the creosote thing, it's also a good idea to drill a hole into the middle of the stump and funnel in a whack of creosote so they don't sneak in by eating out the middle of the stump and leaving the outside clean.

Cheers
Simon.