Well, found some swamers in the basement over the weekend. Did endless searches in google groups but most information came up old, by about 2 - 4 yrs old. Noticed that many people offered many solutions, but still have questions. Since I was able to SEE the little buggers and know that they are subterranean termite's and they are active my coarse of action I think will be this.
1) Have a licensed pest control guy apply Termidor.
2) Buy the Advance Termite Bait kit and apply traps around house. I plan to monitor and bait the traps myself.
Has anyone tried either of the above recently? Like I said, I found information that appeared to be over 2 - 4 yrs old and would like some input more recent.
Paul Flansburg wrote: > 1) Have a licensed pest control guy apply Termidor.
If you have the Termidor applied professionally I would save your money you will spend on the Advance. Termidor has been on the market almost 7 years now and I still have yet to have a call back on any home I have treated with it.
Thanks Lar, I've read alot of your responses and with the research that I have done it all makes sense. Questions that I have, can you provide any helpful sites that explain the whole process for application of the Termidor? I have a raised ranch thats ~1600 square feet, can you give me a rough cost? I live in New England, Mass, and have yet to get estimates. I plan on at least 3 estimates before I hire anyone. Based on your experince, what should I look for and look out for with an exterminator?
hard to say what you will pay..I'm in Texas where basement treatments are few and far between. But would guess $800-$1200 is in the range of the average company. The National companies may be as high as $2000, Bubba Joe driving up in his beat up old pickup may be as low as $500. Check with friends and family on who they have used and feel comfortable with. Termidor for the most part can be idiot proof so finding someone to just put it out can be done with a cheap cost to it at times, but you may be losing protection of other issues such as if somehting happens like the exterminator busting a water line or a window and then just disappears on you. Make sure who ever you use has the proper insurance/licensing. Termites do not eat you out of the house in any short time so if anyone starts pressuring you that you need to sign up now, show him the door. Note that many times , especially with the larger companies, the inspector is a salesman. His pay is based on commission. Some companies will use it at a rate of .06% other will make a show on using it at .125% making you think they are giving you twice the chemical as the next guy, but in reality they will be applying it at half the volume of .06%. .06% is applied at 4 gallons per 10 linear feet.. .125% is applied at 2 gallons per 10 linear feet, at the end of the day the same amount of active ingredient has been applied, the only real difference is the guy putting it out at 2 gallons gets to go home earlier. Termidor can also now be applied only around the perimeter and in key areas and areas of activity and still protect the whole house, called Perimeter Plus treatment. If you get two $1200 bids make sure they are equal, if one is doing the Perimeter Plus way and the other is doing the old way, go with the option 2, more product being put down than the other guy. If the PP treatment is considerably cheaper then you have a decision to make. For the most part I do the Perimeter Plus treatment and it reduces the cost to my customer and have still had no call back issues, but as stated earlier we do not have many basements here and they can need more attention given to them.
No problem with the questions...also I have a few contacts in Mass if you are in need of any more bids, or if you may want to ask questions of a more local guy who would be more familiar with the way things are done in your neck of the woods.
Sure thanks. Where in Mass are your contacts? The guy that came last night went through everything in about 45mins. I think he rushed, but never the less answered my questions. References are always welcome. I have another guy coming tonight and one Monday of next week. How do you want to give me your contacts?
I don't know them personally, but I trust the guy who composed the group of exterminators they are listed with as "good guys" to deal with. If you will send me an email at snipped-for-privacy@arrow-pestcontrol.com with Termites-newsgroups in subject line it should catch my eye and just let me know if any of those areas are near you, or if you want any names just to have a local guy to help you out.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.