Pre-Construction Treatment for Termites Worth It?
Janette
5 years ago
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cpartist
5 years ago
PROCharles Ross Homes
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Safe termite control for organic garden
Comments (24)I know I'm late to the discussion. Fipronil trench is a perfect solution to preventing termites from getting into your walls. It is a very labor intensive job, and a homeowner can accomplish this if dedicated to the job. In conjunction to this, exercise the bait stations in and around the perimeter of your house. You can also create your own termite killing bait stations. Get some pine garden stakes, a 5 gallon bucket. Mix a super concentrated solution of fipronil in some water, soak the garden stakes in the solution for several weeks, occasionally stir the solution with the stakes about every 2-3 days. Hammer stakes in the ground around your house. Termites cannot detect the fipronil, will eat on the stakes, bring the poison back to the colony and destroy the hive. Use the old solution of fipronil around dark damp areas surrounding your home to amend your barrier. Agee with other post; the chemical deterrent barriers simply don't work and the termites will find the area that is deficient in treatment, whereas the undetectable barrier is the Trojan horse. You can find this stuff on domyownpestcontrol.com or Amazon Love that website. BTW, I use Taurus SC as opposed the more expensive Termidor SC. Now, back to the question. How do I keep the termites out of my garden, and to stop eating away at the planter box. Here is my intentions. On the bottom of the planter, spread a grip load of diatomaceous earth down nice and even with special attention around the wood areas, lay a weed block barrier down. Apply a plastic barrier between the planter box and the garden dirt (stapled). Wet the planter box boards and rub diatomaceous earth (DE) on the boards (use rubber gloves), and as you work your way to the top of keep pouring DE between the plastic sheet and boards. Cover the top of the boards with the plastic sheet to the other side and down about an inch. The diatomaceous earth (if ingested by any bug, will rip their intestines apart and keep grub and termites from coming from the bottom of your planter). Not sure if this is going to work, but it is plausible in my mind. In one growing season, the termites have eaten about halfway through my pine 2x10's! Nasty critters....See Moretermites found in new wood.
Comments (7)In keeping with what Bus Driver stated, you definitely need to have the damage inspected by an expert. What you are seeing could have been pre-existing in the logs when they were processed at the sawmill and the offending insects are long gone, but on the other hand its possible that this is something new. Only a trained entomologist can properly identify the culprits and asses the damage. My singular reservation with relying upon a pest control service to assess the problem is that they are in the business of selling long term pest control contracts. While they certainly should be able to determine what caused the damage they may be a bit overzealous in selling you a remedy. Whenever I am confronted with an insect problem of any sort I contact the State College-Agricultural Extension Service. Every state in the union has a state college, and in turn, every state college has an agricultural extension service. The primary purpose of the Ag. Ext. service is to conduct research on all aspects of agriculture within your state and in turn it doesn't matter whether we are a rancher, farmer, homeowner working on your lawn and garden, or a school kid working on a science project, we can all benefit from their service. I just recently read where the Ohio State University Agricultural Extension service has one of the largest Entomology Labs in the world. I know that on two occasions in the past I have captured some insects and taken them to my local county extension service office for identification.. Within a few days I had a report back with full details on what type of insect it was and a complete bulletin on how to control them. Try running a search for your state online... example..run "Ohio State University Agricultural Extension Service" Or "Tennessee State University Agricultural Extension Service" or input your state name. Generally when you find their site it will list a county extension office very near you. You will be fascinated with the results because not only can they help you with this problem, you will find hundreds of bulletins on lawn and garden or home nutrition that will prove of interest to you....See MoreHelp with the purchase of a custom home pre-sale
Comments (25)Rrah: the 75k we will have for DP is independent from our emergency savings, which is not the amount you suggested but is a number we are comfortable with. Over the past five years we manages to dig ourselves out of a MAJOR financial mess. We've paid off substantial debt all while managing to save and pay cash for both the unexpected and expected expenses. I feel good with where we are at and how we are doing. We may end up waiting longer and saving more for our next home, as the more I research the more I think the home we want will cost more than initially anticipated. We have to balance that though with the risk of rates rising. Our DTI is low, but when we purchase another home we will be keeping our current one so we will be approaching the upper limits of acceptable DTI ratios. If rates have increased substantially I think it will essentially negate any increased savings we put down. It's not as if we are acting today anyhow. We are not yet at the three year mark and we cannot do anything until then. And it's probably all a moot point unless the builder carries the contruction loan. For now I'm trying to determine if a builder carry scenario is a viable option (sounds like it might be) and determine how much we might be looking at to build. We are definitely not as risk adverse an many on this forum probably are. Not to say we haven't learned from our past mistake- we have and have moved forward doing things differently. However, we are okay with taking on another larger mortgage given that we have no other debt and because if we wait too long rates might inhibit us from buying as much house as we would like. I do appreciate all the advice given and I have much to think about, so thank you,...See Morebuilding house? Pre-Termite treatment? Pre-treat new construction?
Comments (9)Just because you aren't required to be inspected doesn't mean that there are no building codes applicable to your project. All 50 states are covered under national building codes. Just some locations lack enforcement. Also, would you want to live in a home that was built below code? Code is merely the lowest possible method of ensuring your safety in your home. Most people value their family above the cheapest way of constructing a project, even if it's unsafe....See More
Amy79
5 years ago
ch47gunnergirl
5 years ago
worthy
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoTermiticidal treatments are required in some parts of the Toronto core for new homes; I was required to use it under the footings only.
Toronto Termite Map, Aetna Pest Control
A friend didn't realize her home was infested until she picked up a book under her bed and found it mostly eaten away.As a mortgage examiner/lender, we always require a termite inspection in suspect locales. While foam insulation is very effective in sealing rims in homes, it also provides a comfortable hidden habitat for termites.
girl_wonder
5 years ago
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Mark Bischak, Architect