I did a search and didn’t find a thread specific to this topic, if someone knows of one in existence please point me to it…
I have found evidence of termites in my house (poop & wings) but before I call in an exterminator, I wanted to hear about experiences of others on what I should expect in dealing with the little buggers (both the termites and the exterminators). I am fairly certain that once I call in the exterminator they will confirm that I have termites and then sell me some menu of services. Indeed I will want the termites gone - but I have anxiety about $$ costs and disruption.
Apologies for the over-broad questions, I know the answers are very much in the “it depends” arena - I don’t know what I don’t know. So, what should I be looking at in terms of possible outcomes, regarding cost, treatments, etc? Please share your experiences.
Background: the house is a southern California mid-century modern, single story, slab foundation, ranch house. So some factors are - age of house, dry climate, no basement or attic.
If you get them/have them now ---- you’re going to get them again. Go with a company that has been around a while and has good insurance in addition to regular checks for re-infestation. And if you are in a city/close to your neighbors, let them know as they will probably have them as well. We had our first infestation almost 25 years ago and two recurrences. The one did some serious damage to then garage which Terminex covered and had repaired. After that last one we/they went heavy on poison bait and we’ve been good for 10 years now but ------- I still keep up the service.
There are different types of termites. Your termite inspector should be able to tell you which one you have, and how much damage they tend to do. I had drywall termites, which are thankfully very slow eaters.
We tried a spot treatment to avoid tenting, but it didn’t take care of the problem. So I ended up having the house tented.
Some companies will provide you with bags that you can put things in so you don’t have to remove them from the house. Others will tell you to remove all food that isn’t in a sealed can.
Four years (or so) later…this year, in fact, I started seeing pellets again. And wings. But the wings didn’t look like termite wings to me. I called the company back for an inspection. Turns out I have big headed ants. They’re going through one of the old channels, and pushing out old termite poop to clear the way.
My first job out of college was as a developer in the IT dept of a bank. One of the developers in our group was a guy named Ian. Ian was from Scotland. He was a little socially awkward, red headed and bearded, looked a bit like a hobbit and funnier than he probably ever realized about himself. Not a day went by that he didn’t have an odd and generally pointless story to tell. But he always told it in a way that you could not help but be drawn in laugh despite the fact that it was usually just so mundane and pointless. He had a real gift.
The one I remember the most is a story about his house being infested by termites. Over lunch or break he’d go into detail about how it was discovered and where and how much damage and how it was being addressed. And every day the subject would begin with him saying, “Have I told you about my termite problem?”
No-one was spared the tale but every time he’s start talking about it, it would be as if he’d never mentioned it to you before. Eventually, he ran out of rivveting updates and one of the last conversations I remember on the subject went like this:
Ian: Have I told you about my termite problem?
QS: Yeah?.. (on the edge of my seat expecting a new update)
Ian: Yeah.
… and that’s it… just “Yeah”.
I loved that guy. A really sweet man. Made me laugh my ass off.
Sorry this has very little relevence to the OP. I guess you had to be there.
I had a house in Indianapolis that had multiple infestations (4) concurrently, it cost me roughly $30k to kill the little bastiges and make the house structurally sound.
Two issues were the root causes of my termite problems: A very poorly constructed addition to the house that did not flash the joints in the roof, and a leaking drain pipe under the slab leading out of the bathroom. Both provided the moisture necessary to support the colonies.
If I ever build my own house, it will be all concrete and steel.