:) I had an exterminator in for a carpenter ant problem (a yearly event). :) Next to an attached garage, I had some pieces of pressure treated :) wood sitting on some 2X4's to keep the pt off the ground. The :) exterminator lifted one of the 2X4's and found termites in the wood :) and tunnels under the 2X4. This is about 1.5 to 2 feet from the :) cement foundation. The ab ove ground foundation is about 2 feet high. :) He told me that I should have the house treated, otherwise the :) termites will attack the house. Now, I live in a wooded area, lots :) of decopmposing wood around, I see termites all the time. Although I :) don't think I've seen them this close before. I've never had a :) termite problem. My question is, is it likely that the termites will :) attack the house? How close do they have to be before you worry?
Impossible to say, I have seen 20+ year old homes supposedly never treated and never a termite discovered and next door to them termites have been found multiple times in the structure. A common thought is a home without a sprinkler system will probably have termites show up
7-11 years and a home with a sprinkler system 4-7 years. If your home is on a slab, the bath trap area is a common place for them to be found, but this location is never opened up until a treatment is done from finding termites in other parts of a home. I would guess over
80% of the homes I treat will also have activity in the bath trap area when I open up the wall, usually they being there long before termites were discovered in other parts of the home. How much cellulose around the home will not determine where they will feed. It is not a nest just feeding on the wood they were found in, the same colony will also be feeding in over a dozen other places possibly over 100 feet away from where you saw them. There are products out there that companies can use as a minimum treatment and still protect your home and usually saving you a bit of money over to having to totally treat the area of concern when you know you have termites.
Curious also on why you have to be treated yearly for carpenter ants..is it preventative or actual nests being found on the home.
Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!
It is said that the early bird gets the worm, but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.