termite time

[Parsons]

I am doing a renovation on a 100 plus year old home in New Orleans. after exposing the studs and ceiling joists in some of the rooms I am starting to find termite damage. The house is presently under contract with an exterminator and there are sentricon bait traps around the perimeter. My next step is to get the extermiinator out and get his recommendations. Before I speak with him I am trying to get as much info as posible about termites and the limitations of this sentricon system. Anyone got any leads?

[William.Deans]

Greetings,

(I don't know about sentricon but) I understand that bait "trap" in general are NOT to stop termites. They are to detect them and perhaps to keep them from getting in the house but what are they going to do for the termites in the ceiling?

Termite damage in a 100 year old home? So what? Does the wood need replacing? Most 100 year old homes have some damage. The real question is if the infestation is active?

Find out if the owner (you?) is guaranteed against termite damage by the exterminator or otherwise. If so, call upon the insurance to (try to get them to) fix the damage.

Hope this helps, William

[tbasc]

Is the termite infestation active? If it is, the kind of termite is going to determine what needs to be done. If not, check the bait traps regularly.

Once the termite situation is resolved, checkthe members for structural capacity.

TB

[William.Deans]

Greetings,

I also had a bad experience with Terminex. I had a rep inspect 5 of my properties and he got back to me that one of them had an active infestation and wanted to charge me 1000's. I told him to show me. We went over together and he showed me some wood with signs of termite damage and I told him that he didn't understand. I need to see a live termite before I spend money. Alas, he could not find one. He was sure to tell me that he knew they were there and just because he could not find one doesn't mean they aren't. He was unable to give me convincing evidence of anything but a past infestation. I think it was a scam.

William

[Lar]

In article , [e-mail] says... :) I am doing a renovation on a 100 plus year old home in New Orleans. :) after exposing the studs and ceiling joists in some of the rooms I am :) starting to find termite damage. The house is presently under contract :) with an exterminator and there are sentricon bait traps around the :) perimeter. My next step is to get the extermiinator out and get his :) recommendations. Before I speak with him I am trying to get as much :) info as posible about termites and the limitations of this sentricon :) system. Anyone got any leads? :) :) In New Orleans you can be dealing with native subterranean termites...an exotic subterranean called Formosan Termite...or Dry Wood termite. Need to make sure what you are dealing with or if they are even active. The Sentricon ..referred to in the industry as Simple Con will be for subterranean, so even though a treatment has been done if you are seeing dry wood activity they will not be bothered. If your contract is for termite work get them out for a thorough inspection...if not call several reputable, local companies to have a look.

I will come across this several times a year with Sentricon...

opposite side of the foundation is this home was put under the plan in 1999....this tube was found by me in

2005 while doing a real estate inspection...by the size of it I would guess it is between 4-6 years old. The home owner paid a company $2800 for the installation and close to $400 a year to keep the home under contract. I did a Termidor treatment on the home for around $1300 and $125 for the yearly renewal. As suggested if you have the home treated use Termidor...I have yet to have a call back on any home I have treated with it.

[jim evans]

This article is getting a little long in the tooth but is still basically correct

jim ___ Have a home upkeep question? Try my help page. It's sort of an alt.home.repair FAQ.

[Sacramento Dave]

I spent 3 month ( full time) doing termite work in one of my houses. Did lots of research on termites. including chemicals and Baiting systems. I'll make this short Baiting system will make you sleep well at night and that's about it. There is a set up fee $$$$$$$ to place the station's.Then the monthly service charge$$$. That's there money maker and read the guarantee ( the ink is worth more) I went with a chemical treatment called Thermador, you can research that. The best advice I have is stay away from Terminex, The guy from there crawled over a termite tube, he jammed his head under a ducked and said lot of damage back hear. ( I found none when I tore into the house there) This is my favorite part he was pushing the baiting system like a used car salesman and I'm dead serious had a loan application in his back pocket.Talk to a couple CO. about half I talked said that baiting was a waste of time

[Walter R.]

I also had a problem with Terminix. They wanted $ 2,500 to get rid of some termites (no actual damage). When I called another company, they only wanted $ 600. It took the guy 2 hours to apply termiticide.

The whole termite business is full of scams. Beware

[Sacramento Dave]

I did find spots in my house with damage and no termites. The bad part though wood I tore out with no visible evidence were full of them. Those basterds eat from the inside out. From all the work I did I doubt I found all the damage. I found more than any inspection, But when your tearing stuff it exposes more.

[Billy]

I Know that there are alot of termite companies out there,that do take advantage of customers.every chance they get. But I am going to do the pest control business myself, and I always ask the customer if I find termites if they would like for me to show them the termites. I beleave in being honest to people and I beleave in doing what you what you say you are going to do, and to give the customer there monies worth on whatever you are charging them for. jordan [e-mail] Billy

Billy