Eric
Batrez is the owner of Absolute Termite and Pest
Control. He
has his Alabama Home Builders and Remodeling License along with
Alabama's Industrial, Institutional and Household Pest Control License
and Wood-Destroying Organisms Pest Control Certification. His
web
site can be found at: http://absolutetermite.com/
He
can be contacted at 334-239-7317
or email: AbsoluteTermite@gmail.com.
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| (Jim)
what are some things a home owner can do to help
prevent
termites? |
(Eric) Keep
all wood and wood products away from the foundation and off the ground.
The key is to avoid any wood to ground contact within 15-20 ft of
structure. Keep flower beds below
slab line and weep holes (breathing holes, spaces in the brick work).
If it is not metal,
glass,
plastic, or brick then termites may have an easy meal. Keep
all
landscape
timbers away from the foundation and divert water away from structure.
|
| From your experience how
much damage can termites cause if they
are in a home and how quickly does damage occur, overnight, in a month,
a year? |
| Termites don't eat like
everyone thinks - really they eat very little.
They say that a normal colony eats about 1 pound of wood a
year.
That's about 6 inches of a 2x4. They do more
scaring damage
than structure damage. The real concern, when
termites do a
lot of damage is if there is a moisture problem in the same area.
Then
they will go like fire, or if they are left alone for a longer period
of
time. |
I hear a lot about bait
treatments, what are they and are they
effective?
|
They
are a container with a piece of wood and no initial poison
placed
around and in proximity to the structure. After their
discovery
from a regular inspection of the wood cartridge, the cartirdge will be
replaced with a poison cartridge to kill the termite
colony.
This
system may be an alternate procedure especially in places
where
chemical
barriers cannot be established. Termite bait station systems
can
take 6-9 months to completely eradicate a termite infestation.
|
| In California you see
whole houses are covered with a huge "plastic
bag"
and some sort of chemical is pumped into the bag, why is that not seen
in this area? |
This
treatment is referred to as fumigation. In our area, subterranean
termites account for almost all termite activity. These type of
termites can easily be controlled with liquid or bait station
treatments. Fumigation is used for powder post
beetles, Dry wood termites and Formosan termites. Although not very
common, fumigation has its place and is required in extreme cases of
infestation.
|
In the 70's and 80's
chlorinated hydrocarbons (DDT, chlordane, etc.)
were withdrawn from use and just recently chlorpyrifos (Dursban) was
also
taken off the market. What has been your experience in homes
which
have had treatments with these no longer used products and what can we
expect
in the future?
|
The
homes with the chlordane treatments are mostly still hanging in
there
against termites with a few breakdowns. The homes with the
Dursban
treatments are breaking down rather quickly after their 7 year run.
Dursban was only required to stay active for 5 years.
Termidor
has become the new gold standard for liquid treatment of termites. In
studies it has had a 100% effective control rate for at least 8 years
with lasting control into the 10 year mark.
|
Any final ideas for us
to consider?
|
Be sure to know your
termite person and company. If you need a
home
treatment make sure the license holder for that company is there on the
job site during the treatment. Have your own termite
inspection
performed
on the property you are consider before buying. The best surprise
is no surprise when it comes to a home and termites. Termites
will
not eat your house up today, tomorrow, or next week; take
your
time
and find a company you can trust.
|
Thanks Eric,
for your expertise and time both are greatly
appreciated.
|