I just had an inspection done by Orkin and there is evidence of termites in the past in my house.  If anyone has any info to share it would be appreciated!

 What is the best method to keep these bastards away?

TIA

Setting the house on fire will work I think.
[:D]

Only if your handcuffed to the structure inside, with a dull knife. [:D]

Move!

Nekkid,

I will ask my housemate who just happens to be working on a PhD in wood destroying vermin (carpenter ants).  

Generally, you need to try to restrict easy access (ie woody portions of your house sticking in the ground is a NO NO ).  Installing sheet metal flashing is another way.

You can check for obvious signs such as little tubes suspending from the soil to the structure.

But I will ask and get back to you.

Hope you ain't in the Southern or Hawaiian regions, because then you may be looking at Formosan termites, and them fuckers is PURE EVIL.  

What region do you live in?  
What kind of foundation do you have?
How old is the house?  

Are there active mud tunnels on your basement joists, beams?  What type of foundation do you have?  Are there mud tunnels on the foundation walls?  You should have had a termite inspection done at settlement so check your purchase documents from when you bought the house.  Also, get a second opinion from another company!!!!!!!!!

OK, I couldn't see your region in the reply box.

You shouldn't be looking at Formosans, so you are looking at dampwood or subterranean termites.  Give me a coupla days.

I live in Michigan.  The basement (footing) are concrete poured.  The house is 17 years old.


 There was one old dried mud tunnel.   The activity isn't current......but I don't want them back!

Anyone have 55 gal. of Chlordane??? yeah right.

Had them recently myself.

I’ve always made sure no wood part of the house touched the ground.  I’ve also always made sure there were no mud tunnels along the concrete foundation.  I thought I was safe!!

However, my house has two concrete pours, one for the house and one for the front porch.  They apparently came up through the crack between the two pours.  I never had a chance!  

It would be nice if the termites would start at the top of the house, so repairs would be easy.  But noooo!!, they start a the bottom and maximize the damage.  Initially, the repair people told me they were going to have to jack up my house to get at the damage.  Ultimately, the repairs cost me $800, which I didn’t think was too bad.

While I’m still debating the wisdom of my decision, I got the Senticon bait system that you see advertised on TV.  I just didn’t want gallons of pesticides poured all over my property.  However, it costs $1200 for the installation and one year of monitoring.  Each additional year of monitoring will cost me $250.  In other words, I’m paying more to get rid of the termites than it cost to repair the damage.  However, I was lucky, they came very close to doing some serious structural damage to my house.

Yet another of the joys of home ownership!!

[:(]

Have the same problem here at my place with termites, if you live in the southern sector of the PRK you got 'em. Think about it tho, there are houses in the east that are over 200 years old and are still standing. Termites dont eat that much and you can keep them in check. Let your decendants worry about the little fuckers, you will be long in the grave by the time they eat their house up.

When I checked into treatment companies a few years back, the only one the offered any coverage for the damage done by the termites was Terminix.  If you keep the warranty up every year and have new termites, its their problem to fix any damage and kill the b*stards.

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The big "I'm gonna have a PhD in Entomology" fella flaked out and told me nothing of real value.

He did say that with the increased use of centralized heating, subterranean termites might be a possibility in Michigan.  These are the more destructive of the traditional North American termites.  

At any rate, it does not sound like you have an active problem.  Maybe do-nothing is the best option?  

1) Get a 2nd opinion, just like Voodoo17 said.

2) Sentricon had good reviews.  They probably have a website.  

3) www.termidoronline.com and
  www.fmc-agspec.com
  www.proactivemarketingonline.com

all advertise termiticides, and some come with some kind of 5 year guarantee.  

I don't know of any repellent schemes, apart from keeping areas of potential infestation clean and free of woody debris, and trying to keep things relatively dry.  

Frankly, unless the Orkin boys are doing some sort of acoustic scanning, I would imagine that you can keep an eye on the problem, but you would need to know the tricks of the trade, which I don't know.  I would suspect that it isn't rocket science.  

Good luck

In my brief career as a Realtor I learned that every used home has termites.  It was a challenge keeping the buyer from freaking out over it, but here in my state you can't escape them .  You can control them to a certain extend, but can't get rid of em', unless you have an old house built before the 1960's when the used DDT.

My house must be tasty, because they kept coming back even after (this was about 40 years ago, long before the EPA) a local exterminator dumped (literally) a 55 gallon barrel of pesticide around my house, twice.  In 1971, after getting disgusted with the smell of the pesticides and the cost, a friend, who studied termite damage at Clemson, suggested sand and recontouring the grade around my house to help with drainage.  He said termites hate sand, if the particles are of a certain size.  If they are too large, then they can crawl between the particles.  If they are too small, they're strong enough to move them out of their way.  If the sand particles are just the right size, they can't move them or crawl around them.  That's why certain types of sand work.  Also, he said moisture will sometimes attract them.  Thirty years ago, I had a lot of dirt that had been washed-out from around my house.  I replaced that dirt with sand, when I added walls between the outside brick columns.  I built those walls on top of concrete surrounded by sand.  Also, I used to have standing water under my house.  I put in gravel on one side of the house to help with water drainage, and I added plumbing to our tub and washing machine.  Our tub and washing machine used to drain out under the house (yes, it's an old house!).  Near where the tub drained was where the termites were at their worst.  In October, it will have been 30 years since I did that, and I haven't seen a termite since.  So, sand and moisture control worked for me.

TonyH mentioned that termites aren't that bad, because there are houses 200+ years old back east.  Yes, but Formosan termites (as far as I know, they're the worst kind) weren't in the south until the mid 60's.  I got hit by them hard in 1971, and they were front page news on and off here for a few years.  We're dealing with a new type of infestation now.

Thanks again guys. Doug

I wish I could explain why there are 100 year old homes still standing yet homes built 5 years ago are half eaten away by these bastards!!!!

In Florida, termites do more damage than hurricanes. Can you believe that!?!?!?!
Houses built prior to 1986 (I believe that’s the year) used a chemical that killed termites for up to 30 years. After 1986 they could only use stuff that repels them and it only last 3-5 years.

Here, you must have the stucco cut in order to have insurance. This allows you to see the tubes leading into the house. Of course even with the termite insurance they have loopholes to avoid paying you. For example, you must find "living" termites. So, if your entire wall falls down, if there are no living termites than no coverage.

The whole thing pisses me off, but I feel better than I have had a chance to rant. I should have stayed in Jersey.

Nekkid80,

I am in the business, so maybe I can help.

Tell me, what evidence did they find? Just an old tunnel? Has the house ever been treated before? When and with what chemical?

The old chlorinated hydrocarbons like Chlordane and Aldrin are gone forever. The best of the new generation chemicals will give you only 5-15 years of protection, depending on a lot of different factors.

If you really want to keep the suckers away for good, find a PCO who uses the Sentricon baiting system, check their references, be prepared to open your wallet, and let the system do its work. Any company worth a damn should give you a damage repair warrantee, and that warrantee should be renewable for as long as you want to pay for it.

As for companies, the bigger the better. There are more people higher up you can bitch to if things don't go the way they should. None of the big guys wants their name in the papers "that way", so you can usually get satisfaction if there is a problem.

"Termidor" is the newest kid on the block (active ingredient is fipronil).  Better than baiting systems.  No need for PCO's to continue to monitor home.  The jury is still out on baiting systems.

Collect the insect in question and take to your local University or County Extension office (County Agent), to have it correctly identified.  Read up on the termite species in question, ask questions of the termite specialists, then call a Pest Control Operator, maybe several, and quiz them.  There are many good PCO's in the business, but there are some that have questionable business practices.

Visit this website [url]insects.tamu.edu[/url] and check out the termite link.  Some of your questions may be answered there.

The first step is to get the insect correctly ID'd, then proceed to possible control senarios.

You can't do it nowdays,but years ago we would wait until it was dry around the house and then soak the outside of the foundation in used moter oil.I don't know if it killed them or ran them off all I know we never had any more problems after that.

I haven't used it personally, but I've seen bully's method of motor oil poured around the house work very well.  Back before we had these 10 minute oil change places, several of us would give our old oil to a neighbor.  He poured it around his house.  Every house on the street ended-up infested at one time or another except for his.  I never dumped oil around my house, because I've always had grass growing right up to my house and I didn't want to kill it off.  I had forgotten about his solution.  bully, thanks for reminding me.

On a related topic, does anyone know if termites will attack treated wood?  My kitchen floor is sagging, and for my birthday, my nephew said he'll pay for the beams to fix it, and my other nephew is letting me borrow a dozen bottle jacks.  He sells both 2x12 treated and untreated.  Think it would be worth the extra trouble (it's heavier and harder to cut) to use the treated?

Treated wood will give a level of repulsion from termite attack but the termites can still build mud tubes on the outside of the wood to gain entrance into your building.

Remember, termites aren't attracted to wood.  They are blind and forage hap-hazardly.  When they literally run into a food source they alert the rest of the colony and the colony is drawn to the new food source, that may be your house.

You can have termites present in your yard and never have a termite problem in your home.

The oil routine will not stop termites.  It may deter them for a while but they will overcome it.  They just didn't find your structure and begin feeding.

Well it's detered them for over 30 years in Dad's old house. And yes they had started feeding to the tune of three floor joist and more than 15 floor boards.Like I said you should not use this method today [ EPA ].But back then there was no laws against it. Even the state would spray the roads with it to keep dust down.

I found it funny that most people on this discussion were talking about subterranean termites.  While probably the most common variety, there are also airborn termites that can start on ANY wood on your structure.  It just depends on what part of the country you live in.

If you have subterraneans, then the foundation chemical barrier will kill the ones inside your home because they need moisture (ground outside).  They only go into your home to eat.  If they are blocked from access to the ground, they'll die in a day or two.  It will also prevent new outbreaks...but I would recommend a warranty as was mentioned earlier.

As far as damage, if it was caught early enough, no big deal.  Your house isn't going to fall-in on you.  Annual inspections should prevent any major damage before it gets that far.

Just my personal experience.