Termite Control

[dollarbill]

Good day to you.
My name is William.
I was cruising looking for clues as to where the Termiwatch In-ground termite monitoring system had gone. Apart from my view of good riddance I needed to know how a nationwide pest control network could vanish overnight.
I found no real clues apart from the ACCC beating up one of the directors for false declaration of address.
I stumbled across this site and was simply aghast at what passed as inter member advice on termite control, most of which will lead to financial catastrophies or if not then later court actions against vendors.
I am not here to gather pest control jobs but rather to lay waste to myths that have somehow become concreted truths.
The greatest con job to date is the statement that in-ground termite monitors can actually 'attract' termites.
Scientific trials over the last 20 years have proven this to be 100% false.
I am hear to discuss any other notions you good people might have about termite behaviour and treatment.

This will not take the form of a live chat as I will only be checking this thread daily.

 

[dollarbill]

Just found out where Termiwatch went.

It has surfaced as the REGA system. Retails for around $200.00 for a kit of 24. They sellers are a little more honest this time around. Before it was touted as a detection AND treatment system. The unwary would install it and periodically withdraw the large bait element to examine for termite activity.
This is the worst thing you can do because it gives you almost zero chance to treat the termites. If termites were present they would be so massively disturbed that they would evacuate the monitor and mark it a no-go zone.
This type of 'monitoring only' could have been achieved with a series of small sticks...lol
How the ill informed can be taken for a ride.
The current system is touted as a detection only system.
Once you detect them you must call in a pest professional to install a detection / treatment system.
What a joke.

 

[wylie]

I stumbled across this site and was simply aghast at what passed as inter member advice on termite control, most of which will lead to financial catastrophies or if not then later court actions against vendors.

I'm curious about why you are aghast, and why you think there might be court actions against vendors?

What inter member advice are you most concerned about?

 

[jaycee]

Yes please elaborate dollarbill, will be of interest to many I'm sure.

 

[RumpledElf]

Eh? Have termites, call local termite people, they do whatever it is they do, termites promptly return 367 days later just after the warranty expired.

I think the termites and the termite folks have a deal going, personally

 

[dollarbill]

'Attraction' is what jumped out at me the most.

There seems to be a belief that termites are actually attracted to food sources. This is simply not so.
Some members have recommended a termite warranty without wondering why insurance companies ( without exception and at any price ) will not cover termite damage. Fact is that termite damage repair is classified as 'maintenance' and is not insurable.
I am tired.
If you have any specific questions I will be more than happy to give an opinion.
Sweet dreams.

 

[dollarbill]

Re: The normal termite inspection proccess.

Your standard inspection is basically 'visual'.
What most property owners are unaware of are the statistics.
Most internal termite activity is 4 years old before being discovered.
If you don't want to pay thousands for a chemical barrier ( that in most cases can't be laid correctly ) then some form of perimeter detection is advised. Waiting for the little biters to show up inside is not advised.
If a property owners has termite damage repaired and fails to disclose prior activity they can be held liable if termite activity had not ceased.
If a cover up course of action is pursued then best carry out the repairs yourself or have a 'good' friend do it. Any paper trace can come back to bite you later.

 

[craigb]

Eh? Have termites, call local termite people, they do whatever it is they do, termites promptly return 367 days later just after the warranty expired.

I think the termites and the termite folks have a deal going, personally

yes they drop two off at your front door when their diary tells them so! 367 days later , thats small town buisiness success

 

[RumpledElf]

They said the ground was too hard for the termite stuff to soak in and make a proper barrier. They're right, of course, the ground there is incredibly compacted light clay.

That house has had termites nibble on most of the wood below about 3m high. There's damage that must go back 100 years ... they come in, eat a few inches of your doorframe and then bugger off, you only notice the damage when they leave those big wads of glued-together dirt and it pushes a door out so much it doesn't shut.

Current house had most of the floor joists and some of the boards eaten some years back - got treated but obviously you can't see the joists so they didn't get repaired.

 

[jaycee]

I only know of Perth metro property.. well been out to look at a few houses in Helena Valley & Wundowie, but that's it...

As I understnad termite protectin / treatment for thee properties

1. When house is buiilt, they spray checial unbefore the conreate pad goes down, so they dont get a chance to try & get through the concrete int your house.

2. Assuming adouble brick build, once the walls are up, termites could crawl through the bricks and up the wall cavity into your house

3.a. To protet aginst this a permiter barrier is injected aroudn the house close to the brick walls, adding more chemical to the soil so they no longer can get to the bricks like they shouldnt be able to get to the concrete pad

3.b. To treat termites active in such a property, I know of trying to posion them so they poison the nest and then sealing off with a perimiter injection so they cant get back there - the aim is to kill off the nest and stop them from being able to get back in - if the properoty does not have a full perimeter barrier, one should probably consider one

I've found a skirting board about 4 metres long with most of the wood behind the paint eaten out, there was barely any markings on the skirting board - I tapped it with my screwdriver and it felt weak so I called the owner, he grabbed my screwdriver and tapped it, tapped through it and then kept following it, eaten from one end to the other..

 

[wylie]

I'm curious about why you are aghast, and why you think there might be court actions against vendors?

What inter member advice are you most concerned about?

These questions don't seem to have been addressed. I have not seen any inter member advice that is so concerning?

This is a very strange thread indeed.

 

[handyandy]

Not so long ago (about 2 years) neighbor had termites and he had one of the bait systems installed. The stations were monitored and when the little blighters established themselves the bait product was applied. It took about 6 months before all termite activity ceased.

We have since noticed that all swarming activity also ceased around the whole area.

So all up a good result for everybody as it obviously treated a wide area of the neighborhood.

I would certainly have no hesitation in using the bait station method to monitor activity and obviously get treatment when they are present. I was under the impression that the attractant of the stations was more determined by placing many not very far apart thus just in their wondering they are likely to pop up.

Cheers

 

[jaycee]

These questions don't seem to have been addressed. I have not seen any inter member advice that is so concerning?

This is a very strange thread indeed.

Yes I'm interested too, which is why I posetd my understanding to give dollarbill my example.

I'm curious as to baiting, myself I mean why would they not just turn up ANYWHERE - why not just treat them wherw you see them ? I'd have thought baiting might be used if you cant get to them where they are, but it sounds more common? Also, whats to stop getting into the house again ? They dont just eat one bit of wood at a time, so isnt there a chance they'd bypass those baits ?

Be good to hear from dollarbill's experience

 

[wylie]

I thought they entered the bait traps, took the poison back to the nest, fed it to the queen and that is the end of that.

I understand that even turning a log over in the garden can be enough to send them packing. Disturbing them is a big no-no.

We have a pest man who we know and trust and he uses whatever means or method suits the particular house or yard in question. I don't really have faith in the big companies and had them miss active termites in my first house. Of course, our trusted pest man found them within five minutes .

 

[jaycee]

I thought they entered the bait traps, took the poison back to the nest, fed it to the queen and that is the end of that.Exactly. So why install baits to attract them when they ae already operating ?

I understand that even turning a log over in the garden can be enough to send them packing. Disturbing them is a big no-no.It's called useless, they have to eat, so theyll just eat something else. If you dont kill them all off, ending the nest, you've just moved them

We have a pest man who we know and trust and he uses whatever means or method suits the particular house or yard in question. I don't really have faith in the big companies and had them miss active termites in my first house. Of course, our trusted pest man found them within five minutes .

as dollarbill alluded to, a lot of termite damage has been going one for quite some time before getting detected, which is where prevention comes in - I'm not convinced a bait station would be a deterrent, why by chac ewould the termites not bypass that lump of wood and eat something else of your house, or both at the same time ?

 

[wylie]

We have active termites in a tree right up the back of the yard of an IP. I am fairly sure our trusted chap placed baits around the base, without disturbing them, and the plan is they will wander into the baits, take the poison back to the queen. I don't think the reason for placing baits is to "attract" them to an area, but knowing they are already active in the area, to entice them to take the poison.

He had to go this way because it is a looooooong yard and his hose would not reach to the tree (there was a vehicle parked stopping him getting into the back yard).

Anyway, I would reckon that there are bits of tree lying around in lots of yards around Brisbane. I know that right near this tree the neighbours have logs lying in their yard full of termites, so we can clean our yard up and still have them march in from next door.

Is it just me, or do you think it a bit strange that dollarbill pops in every now and then, leaves cryptic messages that don't really tell us anything, and doesn't really answer any questions?

 

[RumpledElf]

Wylie: its just you. I find his posts informative, very clear who they are directed at and very easy to understand

Worst termites I had at my old house was when we were getting rid of an old, leaky tank that was damaging the wall as well as generally being troublesome. The skirting inside nearest the leak had termites, and the tankstand - hardwood railway sleepers - was reduced almost to matchsticks by termites.

New tank in its place is a polytank not a corrugated iron one, on a gravel base not timber. We just removed the skirting and rendered/plastered the hole where it was.

 

[wylie]

Wylie: its just you. I find his posts informative, very clear who they are directed at and very easy to understand

LOL. It must be that funny hat jaycee thinks I am wearing .

 

[jaycee]

We have active termites in a tree right up the back of the yard of an IP. I am fairly sure our trusted chap placed baits around the base, without disturbing them, and the plan is they will wander into the baits, take the poison back to the queen. I don't think the reason for placing baits is to "attract" them to an area, but knowing they are already active in the area, to entice them to take the poison.

He had to go this way because it is a looooooong yard and his hose would not reach to the tree (there was a vehicle parked stopping him getting into the back yard).

Anyway, I would reckon that there are bits of tree lying around in lots of yards around Brisbane. I know that right near this tree the neighbours have logs lying in their yard full of termites, so we can clean our yard up and still have them march in from next door.

Is it just me, or do you think it a bit strange that dollarbill pops in every now and then, leaves cryptic messages that don't really tell us anything, and doesn't really answer any questions?

Hi wylie, you have been calling it baiting, I've been calling it somehting else, but we are obviously talking about the same thing. What the pest controllers I worked with did was try & place the poison into the peice of wood rather then set up a bait, maybe there's benefits of doing both ways depending on the situation. That is the only way I know to effectively try & kill em off, otherwise, you're just making them run away & hide (acheiving nothing)- eg spraying thw wood with chemicals, big deal you kill off a couple 100, what about the other 1,000,000's !

Stopping them (either this lot you're treating say, or new ones later on) from coming into the house is the issue, you cannot stop em crawling into your backyard from somehwer else, and I reckon where the more danger of getting taken for a ride by someone unscrupulous is.

This is where I think those systems dollarbill was talking about baits are used, which if they are being used the way I've interpreted it, I dont think they would work work either. The impressionI got is that the baits are placed & if termite activity is noticed, they treat get treated, thus supposedly stopping them before they get into the house - yeah I dont reckon termites work that way and could quite easily bypass a bait or 5 and go traight for something else so you wouldnt know you're wood is being eaten... Finding a trust worthy operator is what I think is your best bet, as you've obviously done.

 

[Dazz]

.....or make the structural components which are expensive to repair out of something more substantial than wood....