Mike Brown has 19 years in the termite business with
11 years as the owner of Twins Pest Control and Termite Company.
Mike is also a certified Home Inspector (past 3 years,
Registration # HI-0426
) and can be contacted at 334-562-3791 or email:
twins318@mon-cre.net
Mike, what are some things a home owner can do to help
prevent
termites? |
Jim, A home owner needs to keep a check around their
homes at least once a month. This could be only a simple walk
around and looking at the foundation for anything "out of place".
Keep all wood and wood products away from the foundation.
Keep flower beds below
slab line and weep holes (breathing holes). If it is not metal,
glass,
plastic, or brick then termites may have an easy meal. Keep all
landscape
timbers away from the foundation and divert water away from structure.
|
From your experience how much damage can termites cause if they
are in a home and how quickly does damage occur, overnight, in a month,
a year? |
Termites don't eat like everyone thinks - really they eat very little.
They say that a normal colony eats about 1 pound of wood a year.
That's about 6 inches of a 2x4. They do more scaring damage
than structure damage. The real concern, when termites do a
lot of damage is if there is a moisture problem in the same area.
Than
they will go like fire, or if they are left alone for a longer period
of
time. |
I hear a lot about bait treatments, what are they and are they
effective?
|
The baits are the so called golden egg. What are they? They
are a container with a piece of wood and no initial poison placed
around and in proximity to the structure. After they discover
from
a regular inspection of the wood, active termites, will they replace
that
station with a poison stick of wood of container to kill the termite
colony.
Only time will determine the effectiveness of this system.
This
system may be an alternate procedure especially in places where
chemical
barriers cannot be established. My concern is with the
reason
a termite would leave a home where they may be active for a piece of
wood
external to the home.
|
In California you see whole houses are covered with a huge "plastic
bag"
and some sort of chemical is pumped into the bag, why is that not seen
in this area? |
The Plastic Bag - is a treatment not used much in this area. This
is a rather dangerous treatment and should only be used if there is no
other
way to treat the home. This treatment is used for powder post
beetles
(inside) the structure and dry wood & formosan termites which are
not,
as of yet, in our area. Powder post beetles are found
heavily
around lake and river property.
|
In the 70's and 80's chlorinated hydrocarbons (DDT, chlordane, etc.)
were withdrawn from use and just recently chlorpyrifos (Dursban) was
also
taken off the market. What has been your experience in homes
which
have had treatments with these no longer used products and what can we
expect
in the future?
|
The homes with the chlordane treatments are mostly still hanging in
there
against termites with a few breakdowns. The homes with the
Dursban
treatments are breaking down rather quickly. We have seen in a
few
cases where the Dursban home breakdown in some places in less than a
year.
There are a few products on the market - for which we have hopes but
have
not stood the test of time.
|
Any final ideas for us to consider?
|
Be sure to know your termite person or company. If you need a
home
treatment make sure the license holder for that company is there on the
job site during the treatment. Have your own termite inspection
performed
on the property you are consider before buying. The best surprise
is no surprise when it comes to a home and termites. Termites
will
not eat your house up today, tomorrow, or next week; take your
time
and find a company you can trust.
|
Thanks Mike, for your expertise and time both are greatly
appreciated.
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