Termites!!

i am buying a house in adelaide sa. i was reading a thread on this site about "any termite experts here".

i had to sign up to post. can't find thread now. some poster on that thread suggested that termites with a black head and pinkish rear were worriesome.

my question/confusion is this:

this house's dirt near house foundation (footpath actually,) has a termite looking thing with a black rear and pinkish head (small creature) and smaller black ants were there also. is this a termite or ant.

i only turned over the top-soil say 100mm depth and on closer inspection, the smaller black ants were carting off the termites - for dinner i guess!

confused: termite or ant, termite with pink front body portion and a black body rear portion, found in top soil next to house (footpath actually) - foundation of house about 2-meter away.

what does it all mean??????????????????????

any advice - thanking you in advance - cas999

I suspect that you had worker ants carrying away the new borne as a result of the nest been distrurbed.

Two main types of destructive termites - subterranean (live in soil) and drywood (live in dry wood). Different treatments. Insecticide in a carrier on the wood itself for drywoodv t's, sometimes painted on sometimes sprayed or injected. Subterranean termites use mud tunnels to move about looking for wood or water. Most traditional control methods poison the soil in order to block access to either. In most houses with slab laid between foundation walls irrespective of wall construction treatment is before slab is laid and then consequently after if termites have breached this barrier later in the life of the building. Before slab is laid insecticide is sprayed on soil infill, concentrating near foundation walls. Damp course laid and then slab. The main barrier to entry is the slab, but with time cracks can form between slab and foundation walls, hence allowing access if the chemical barrier below has also failed. If so traditional treatment is to lay a line of insecticide in the soil around the outside of the house as well as to drill through the slab along all the internal walls and re-inject insecticide under the slab to renew this chemical barrier. Remember this barrier is basically poisoned soil - termites use it & die so cannot gain access. Cavity treatments are a cheaper and less effective way of trying to stop termites that have gained access from the soil below the house; cheaper because they are less manpower intensive than drilling the slab and less effective because they are killing termites that have access rather than blocking that access.

adm333 system is a newer technology. Termites find their way around their tunnels by leaving pheromonal (chemical) signals. These allow workers to follow foragers who have found a tasty bit of wood so they can go to lunch on it. Once that bait station adm333 is using shows signs of activity, the chemical it is treated with is a generally an insect growth regulator - ie not immediately toxic. Termites visiting the station pick it up, take the chemical back to the nest, contaminate that and hence kill the colony. It is a good system but needs a bit more care and attention that the traditional method and you need to make sure you have enough monitoring stations to ensure you pick up the foraging termites activity before they find your house!

cas999 termites outside are not your main problem. Make sure there is documentation for the termite treatment before you buy the house and if you are serious about buying it see if you can visit the company that did it to see whether you think they are any good.

90% of the houses in WA are double brick so we have minimal termite issues. I was unlucky enough however to get an SES callout to a house in the hills that had a termite issue. Main roof frame was jarrah, but smaller battons that support the tile were pine. at least 50% of the pine battons were no more, and the owner had no clue. We couldn't believe that the tiles were supporting themselves! After removing a few, well a lot of tiles we could found a safe enough spot to get on the roof and tarp it.


Its amazing how much damage they can do without scratching the surface.


Ben

Yip, in the lucky (sic) position to have found termites in my house as well - hopefully not too much damage yet, but mainly a PITA. So far it's limited to the garage wall and i found live ones a week after the "expert" told me they were spooked and moved on, leaving just a bit of dusty dry remnants of wood frame - yeah right. I better make sure i'm there on thursday when he comes back to check again and prescribe treatment or my wife will assault him - she's a bit cheesed off at the $$ he charged and missing the obvious so blatantly.
Ah well, guess i'll be learning to plaster and paint soon :(

If you want to treat it yourself, with the stuff the professionals use, try looking on eBay for "Termidor".

You can import it from the USA extremely cheaply.

They are selective in what they will eat. I had a job to replace a window where the termites had travelled from a tree next to the road (no footpath) all the way to the rear of a house and had eaten just one section of a finger jointed window. Absolutely no damage to any other timber in the house.

Bad news with these termites. Sorry to hear it.

Houses built on concrete slabs can be invaded by the termites burrowing under the slab and then building a mud tunnel on the water pipes or electric cable conduit exterior where these enter the house from under the slab. Then they attack the internal timber of the house.

One big disincentive to termites is to keep all shrubbery and plants well away from the side of the house. Keep it dry, open and sunny. And if your house is built on stumps do not ever use all that under house space to store anything. Keep the under neath of your house clear and well ventilated. These things combined will help deter any termite attack.

termites aaarrgggh :twisted::twisted::twisted::twisted::twisted: dont get me going on the subject

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Bad news with these termites. Sorry to hear it.

Houses built on concrete slabs can be invaded by the termites burrowing under the slab and then building a mud tunnel on the water pipes or electric cable conduit exterior where these enter the house from under the slab. Then they attack the internal timber of the house.

One big disincentive to termites is to keep all shrubbery and plants well away from the side of the house. Keep it dry, open and sunny. And if your house is built on stumps do not ever use all that under house space to store anything. Keep the under neath of your house clear and well ventilated. These things combined will help deter any termite attack.

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NOW i hear this! buggar!!
trying to de termite any thing i see now and PARANOID is the word alright, i learnt a hell of a lot on termites in a very short space of time.:o

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If you want to treat it yourself, with the stuff the professionals use, try looking on eBay for "Termidor".

You can import it from the USA extremely cheaply.

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veeerrryyy interesting, will look into that

You're paranoid bigcarle? So am I.

I live in a very old country town of 70 year old plus wooden houses. All the houses surrounding mine have termites -they are either owned by old, very old, pensioners who don't really care any more or short term rentals where again both owner and renter don't care.

A few years ago I had my house restumped [chucked the red gum stumps for concrete ones] and was terrified of what the restumpers would find in the stumps, house bearers, frame and floors etc. The same thing when afterwards I had the bathroom totally gutted [walls, floor, ceiling -the lot] and fully replaced. Bathrooms can be good places for termites - lots of damp, lots of pipes, water leakage from old showers etc.

Nothing - not a termite or evidence of a termite in sight with both. Phew!!!!

But don't I ever have some battles with Mrs Grumbles who to this day still wants lots of features, gardens, plants and shrubs directly along side the house. No way. Short, very short grass with minimal to no watering is the only thing ever going to grow beside my house. Nothing within several metres of the base boards - ever!!