I'm in Northern Alabama, about 10 miles South of Tennessee. I almost bought some land in Giles County, but there were access issues (old guy owning the adjoining land didn't want anyone using it, so he kept dumping trash in the road) so I backed out of that contract.
Currently looking at 16 acres South of the Tennessee River. One of the big questions I have (and I'm asking a lot more before I make an offer this time around, DAGUMMIT) is what is the best way to avoid termites (other than building in the Yukon, which is very pretty, been there, but too darn cold, and for all I know they have termites there too)?
a) We poison the ground around the foundation as a matter of course around here.
b) Just about every slab house I've seen over 20 years old has the telltale bore holes where the terminex guys came and extorted $1000 to spray more poison in the ground.
c) Termites are pretty much a fact of life around here.
d) We're apparently getting an influx of the airborne termites from New Orleans (they can live in trees, don't need a hole in the ground).
Short of building a house of of concrete and metal (not that I'd mind, but Her Serene Highness objects), which is the better foundation for avoiding termites? Crawlspace or Elevated Slab? By Elevated Slab, I mean where one builds a stem wall up from a cement ditch, then fills the box with compacted earth and gravel, then pours a 4-6" slab on that, the top of the slab ending up a foot or so above grade. There is a lot of that around here.
Thoughts?
Bob
Termites are a fact of life here in AZ too. Most homes here are built on slabs and a pretreatment is required before you pour. It is even on the inspection card that comes with your permit. No pretreatment, no approval to pour from the building department.
...and god help you if your great aunt is a termite. The poisons leaching into the environment from your humble abode will liquefy her like a salted slug as soon as she steps within 10 feet of the house. :(
The upside is that it prevents her mustache from scratching you when she goes to kiss you on the cheek in a traditional family style greeting... :-/ :)
...please don't forget to blame her death on the code and start a class action lawsuit against being made to live in a poisoned home.
http://www.safe2use.com/pests/termites/arrestme.htm
Is it a real problem??? :-? I don't know but it is something to consider per Oehler's warnings about this type of contaminant.
Is it still federally mandated that you have a pest inspection certification on new builds? I know we had to pay for termite treatment in our first house, but we used a company called ABC Ecosafe (or something to that effect) that used the baits and traps rather than pesticides, and it worked just fine, and it gave us the pest control certification we needed to get the loan on the house. I wonder if something like that would work for a new building?
I don't know as I don't usually work that close with it but I do know that many things lobbied by industry and approved by codes and government are not necessarily healthy, but as long as they make a good profit...
QuoteTermites are a fact of life here in AZ too. Most homes here are built on slabs and a pretreatment is required before you pour. It is even on the inspection card that comes with your permit. No pretreatment, no approval to pour from the building department.
Ditto for NM, in most places other than the northern mountains.
20 years ago there was no pretreatment necessary. A few of the neighbors found termites in the house about 10 years ago and had them treated by pulling up the carpets, drilling through the slab, pumping in the treatment, etc. We went with a system developed by Dow (?) Bait stations around the perimeter and poison when and where termites showed up. Switched to a similar do-it-yourself system a few years ago.
But for new construction in my area ground pretreatment is necessary.
I use the do iy yourself bait treatment for my house. I have had no problems. I have a farmers pesticide license. I wonder if it allows me to buy whatever they are using for pretreatment now?
I left a 1X4 lay on the ground for two days. When I picked it up it had a little termite cave started on the underside. Those dudes are ferocius. No slack.
If you build a steel framed house, do you still have to treat for termites before you begin?
No -- you have to pre-treat with WD40 for rust beetles. :-?
Just being crazy, Homegrown. I don't know.
It depends on what you have hung on that steel frame. Termites incidentally can't just walk up to a healthy piece of wood and take a bite like carpenter bees. There has to be some moisture and related fungus problems for the termites to feed on it.
If you have a steel frame and something like sheetrock and the sheetrock gets damp, the termites will make a dandy meal on the paper exterior.
Same thing with the vapor barrier on insulation.
I only asked because I could completely see people sitting around making laws about stupid stuff like this and deciding that any home would have to be pre-treated, regardless of composition. Politicians are good at that... ;)
Well, being politicians they wouldn't likely had even known that there are different building materials in use. Or that termites don't attack concrete. :-/
But living in an area rife with termites I can see the advantages of heading them off at the pass. The termites. Maybe the politicos as well. ;D
Very likely the politician will have a close family member or friend in the extermination business who makes a donation to see that all houses including steel ones get termite treatment. If there is money to be made by mandating something there will be a politician there with his hand out to get his cut. All government is parasitic in nature. They don't produce a product. They only leach off of people or businesses who do.
I encourage friends or relatives to take advantage of the system if it is to their benefit. In fact my wife works for the Feds. I guess we just as well get our cut too. :)
Glenn, you are kind of like a termite yourself, living underground and chewing up little pieces of wood in pursuit of one project or another. ;D Seriously, do you have termite problems where you are located and do they make little tunnels on your underground structure. I was curious to know as it would seem you are particularly vulnerable with that type of construction.
Quote.....Switched to a similar do-it-yourself system a few years ago.
Can you recommend a DIY system?
Spectracide Terminate @ Home Depot
Also check out http://www.doityourselftermitecontrol.com/termites/termites.htm
thank you
Yeah, termites are almost everywhere. I recently had termite control at home but recently saw bed bug symptoms (http://helpfulforhomes.com/how-to-check-for-signs-and-symptoms-of-bed-bugs/) in our store room. So now thinking to treat them on my own. Does anyone has a good DIY method that is effective and easy?
Half the homes, maybe more, where I live are badly affected by termites.
One thing we do, which is effective once you have them under control through initial perimeter spraying, is to place bait traps around the perimeter of the house. Softwood is placed inside the traps, and I guess the termites take this poisoned wood home to their nests. These did not used to be available to consumers, but are now. They are a 1 foot tube with lots of openings. You just insert the baitwood down into the tube, and renew once a year. You could probably save a little and make these tube traps yourself.
Here's something messed up that happened to me last year - I live in an adobe home. The floor is brick on sand with just a vapor barrier between. I left a cardboard box, full of cassette tapes, on the floor in my office. Last summer I picked it up and the bottom dropped right out. Really nasty. Termites everywhere. They had also eaten all the cardboard inserts in the cassette boxes.
In the bedroom, I had a dresser by the bed. The termites came up through the brick in started in on the feet of that. Nice little piles of sawdust.
Fortunatly they do not seem to care for the adobe, but anywhere there is water, they will be attracted to.
But since I've been baiting them around the perimeter - I've not had problems.
If you place a 2x4 on the sand in the backyard. After 2 years it will pretty much be eaten and gone.
Thanks for the info. I have some wood piles outside and they go into my wood shed to dry/season over the summer. I would like to treat this area inside as it is a dirt floor steel building. Any chance I can get this at Home Depot and what is the name please?
Spectracide was the product at Home Depot. There are many other similar products now.
Thank-you !
We have the bait traps set about every 15 feet around the house perimeter. Wish I could be more definitive about the results. They do take the bait, for what that's worth, and we have refilled a few.