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Termite Prevention Treatment.

Jackalope

Jackalope

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Now that I'm living where if you throw a board out in the yard it'll have termites before it hits the ground I figured I would do a preventative termite treatment on the house. The house is 15 years old and I'm sure the site was sprayed pre-construction but this is a cheap peace of mind. Judging by the previous owner's lack of maintenance I'm sure he wasn't doing some DIY pest control. Sure I could have a termite contract and have them come spray the perimeter once per year but the chemicals they use as a preventative have a short lifespan and they do not bond to surfaces. The biggest problem is they're a detectable repellent. Now let's say I called them to treat an active infestation. Then they would bring out the good stuff and likely use a product called Termidor. They use high-pressure wands and inject the chemical under the surface of the soil up against the house. Termidor is a non-repellent chemical that termites cannot detect. It bonds with soil for over 30 years and any critter crawling through that protective barrier will die. It takes a couple of weeks for them to die and that's by design. It's a delayed reaction chemical so that the termites come and go and contaminate the hive, their tunnels, and each other. By the time they knew what hit them it's too late. The great thing is it's no more toxic than a cat's flea collar as the pesticide is fipronil.

I used this product in a house I had in Ohio that got termites and it completely wiped them out.

They just came out with a new chemical called Termidor HE for high efficency which allows you to use half the solution as Termidor SC and only scratch out half the trench.

To apply it you have to mix 1.6 oz of termiticide per gallon of water.

The application rate is 2 gallons per 10 linear foot of trench, per foot of footer depth below grade. The trench is 2 inches deep by 4 inches wide.

A 79oz container will do about 250 linear foot and runs about $249 per container. Roughly a dollar per foot cost.

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For this house as you can see the brick extends about 8 inches below grade. This bad because the slab isn't exposed so I'll never see the termite's mud tubes climbing the slab to the bottom of the brick which would give me an early warning. Subterranean termites could enter through any tiny crack in the brick or mortar and have access directly inside the walls. By the time that evidence was visible indoors the damage would likely be extensive.

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Subterranean termites require a damp environment and if one is not available inside the wall they enter back and forth to the ground. It's common for them to enter in areas that stay moist. That's why it's critical to have functioning downspouts with extensions that direct water away from the house. And a grade that slopped away from the house.

Places like this corner behind the shrubs where there's a sprinkler head way too close to the house is trouble waiting to happen. And down here, it's not if, it's when and how bad.

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The application is pretty simple. Since the slab is only about 8 inches below grade I only need to apply 2 gallons of finished solution per 10 linear feet of wall. If this was more than a foot I would need to apply 4 gallons.

Application is easy. Mix 2 gallons of the solution in a 5-gallon bucket and pour evenly along the trench against the wall. The solution extends down like a curtain and bonds with the soil for 30 years. Tip. Measure two gallons of water and mark the inside of the bucket so you don't have to measure water every time. The termiticide comes with a measure and pour top.

So trenching time. 2 inches deep is easy, if you purchased the older Taurus SC and not the HE formula it would have to be 4 inches deep. A little more of a chore. But two inches is easy.

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When you backfill the trench make sure to treat the fill dirt. This can be done with a hand sprayer and just wet everything as you rake it back in.

For areas where concrete meets the structure, there are a couple of ways. The pros will drill 3/8 holes and pressure inject under the slab. I don't like doing that as it's obvious the house has been treated and to most that means there was an active infestation at one point because termite companies don't use this chemical or method as a preventive. (They'd be out of business and couldn't loop you into a prevention contract) Seriously if every termite company did this as a preventative they would be out of business or only doing new construction once existing structures were treated.

I drill holes at the expansion joints and just go slow with a hand sprayer to treat around protruding structure.

At the arrows.

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For poured concrete patio areas I again don't want drill holes. A company would drill a hole in the slab every 16 inches and inject under the slab. (Slab pink chalk mark). I am going to drill every 16 inches on a brick mortar joint at a downward angle and apply behind the brick. The wall, after all is where I want to prevent them from getting. For this I'll probably apply 1/4 gallon per 16 inches. (1 gal per 4 line foot). Then patch the hole in the mortar with mortar and brush it so it's invisible.

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So there yea have it. For $250 bucks I will have done what a termite company would never do for prevention. Solidly protected my home and eliminated the need for a yearly termite contract for the next 30 years.
 
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A wood treatment chemical I use also is called Boracare. It's a penetrating treatment that will protect wood for the life of the wood. Things like posts, privacy fence panels where they meet the ground, exposed joists in a crawl space etc. It works on porus surfaces like brick and concrete also because it penetrates. I use it for wood but also around lights and windows where swarmers might land. Simple 1:1 mix in a pump sprayer.

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I've never had termites, but I did have an outbreak of powder post beetles in my shop a few years ago. best I can figure is that they arrived in a shipment of live green bamboo poles I got from Georgia, and wound up in my hotbox. possibly came from my firewood, but I don't bring it in the shop, so I'll never know for sure. Powder post won't touch osage heart wood, but they will get into the sapwood, and they apparently love bamboo, green or dry. with a few thousand dollars worth of osage, bamboo and other wood at stake, I had to do something. a buddy of mine in the timber buying business told me to use Bora-Care. I laid all of my bamboo out on pallets and sprayed it all, sprayed my osage staves and board stock, sprayed it all over the shop floor, shelves, hotbox inside and out, etc. seems to have done the job as I have not seen any sign of them since I burned the damaged bamboo and sprayed. I have the same container of Bora-Care in your pic, and I'll likely never use another drop of it, I also sprayed it around the outside of the shop and on the pallets I stack my firewood on.
 
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Joe, what’re you use for mud daubers and bore bees? Anything out there that’s lasts more than a season?
 
J said:
Joe, what’re you use for mud daubers and bore bees? Anything out there that’s lasts more than a season?
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Permethrin does a number on carpenter bees, paper wasps, yellow jackets, japanese lady beetles, and those fake stink bugs. kills everything that touches it, so I don't use it very much outside, just around the doors and windows, and all the usual hiding places for winged demons.
 
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Jamie said:
I've never had termites, but I did have an outbreak of powder post beetles in my shop a few years ago. best I can figure is that they arrived in a shipment of live green bamboo poles I got from Georgia, and wound up in my hotbox. possibly came from my firewood, but I don't bring it in the shop, so I'll never know for sure. Powder post won't touch osage heart wood, but they will get into the sapwood, and they apparently love bamboo, green or dry. with a few thousand dollars worth of osage, bamboo and other wood at stake, I had to do something. a buddy of mine in the timber buying business told me to use Bora-Care. I laid all of my bamboo out on pallets and sprayed it all, sprayed my osage staves and board stock, sprayed it all over the shop floor, shelves, hotbox inside and out, etc. seems to have done the job as I have not seen any sign of them since I burned the damaged bamboo and sprayed. I have the same container of Bora-Care in your pic, and I'll likely never use another drop of it, I also sprayed it around the outside of the shop and on the pallets I stack my firewood on.
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It's good stuff for sure. The biggest thing is it penetrates the wood and doesn't impact staining or paint. In reading in how deep it penetrates they said two quick coats will penetrate the depth of a 6x6 post.
 
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"J" said:
Joe, what’re you use for mud daubers and bore bees? Anything out there that’s lasts more than a season?
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Nothing that I Know of. Bora-care doesn't really work on borer bees from what I've read. I think the best is like Jamie said, some permethrin once or twice per year.
 
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@"J" I also use Bifen I/T in a SR 450 mist blower for mosquitoes and gnats. Bifenthrin is a synthetic pyrethroid which is a natural chemical in chrysanthemum flower and is pretty none-toxic to humans. Safe around kids etc. I just got done spraying the yard and bushes around the house. The mosquitos aren't bad yet but the gnats are atrocious right now. I also add in some insect growth regulator but I don't remember the brand. The IGR helps stop the lifecycle and basically keeps them from developing.
 
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Jackalope said:
@"J" I also use Bifen I/T in a SR 450 mist blower for mosquitoes and gnats. Bifenthrin is a synthetic pyrethroid which is a natural chemical in chrysanthemum flower and is pretty none-toxic to humans. Safe around kids etc. I just got done spraying the yard and bushes around the house. The mosquitos aren't bad yet but the gnats are atrocious right now. I also add in some insect growth regulator but I don't remember the brand. The IGR helps stop the lifecycle and basically keeps them from developing.
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Joe, how’s that work in a power backpack sprayer? That’s what I’ve been using but I can grab a mist blower as well.
 
"J" said:
Joe, how’s that work in a power backpack sprayer? That’s what I’ve been using but I can grab a mist blower as well.
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I've never tried it in a backpack sprayer. All the reading that I've done say that mosquitos lounge around on the bottom of vegitation. It's important to get the bifen on the bottom of the leaves and penetrate deep into vegitation where they lounge during the day. If left unchecked they're atrocious here. I'm talking middle of the day you'll have 10 of them on you. After I spray I usually only get the occasional one for 2-3 weeks before having to reapply. I took this video last night when I did my yard.

 
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"J" said:
Joe, what’re you use for mud daubers and bore bees? Anything out there that’s lasts more than a season?
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Been doing some reading on this. It appears that Cyzmic CS and FenvaStar Ecocap are good solutions. Cyzmic last 90 days outdoors so you should only need to apply twice. Once in early spring and again in the summer. The FenvaStar is more organic and less harmful if that's a concern but the residual is only 30 days. Both are pretty cheap. For chemicals I use www.Domyown.com and www.seedbarn.com.
 
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