Re: Termites!
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,898
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,898 |
I'm posting in solidarity with myrison, whose recent shower leak caused him some grief. ... This ruined my weekend. The treatment appointment is for Monday morning. All I can say is that I feel for you, and think I know just how you feel. I just got everything set up again in our media room this weekend after days of parading contractors in and out to tear out baseboard, rip up carpet and pad, cut drywall, and then trying to reverse all the damage they did... To top it off, they spent some time Friday night treating for mold (oh joy). If there is any silver lining to the mess you're facing, I can tell you that getting back into my HT after about 4-days off was almost as exciting as first receiving the speakers. On the other hand though, the downtime was awful.
Last edited by myrison; 03/30/08 03:46 PM.
Epic 80-800: HG Cherry
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Re: Termites!
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 16,441
shareholder in the making
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OP
shareholder in the making
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 16,441 |
Rick, thanks for the tips. I'm staying home tomorrow morning while the guy's over with his drill and poison. I wish I'd known to ask about the pesticide sooner. Even so, I'll ask him what he's using.
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Re: Termites!
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 6,471
axiomite
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axiomite
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 6,471 |
Good luck, Peter! Add my sympathies/well wishes, for all the good that will do against the critters. Rick, thanks for the heads up on the bait stations. That's what we have now at my house, although Orkin treated the place first, then set up the stations, and gave me a 7 year guarantee with a contract. I'm sure I'm a great revenue source for them, although I did get a little peace of mind. When I get home, I'll check to see what they treated with at the onset. I certainly get nervous about those little bugs, living as I am in the woods.
Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica.
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Re: Termites!
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 13,848 Likes: 14
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 13,848 Likes: 14 |
The bait stations did work for us in our previous home, and the critters didn't return in the 10 years we lived there. However, it looks like there is other products on the market as well. The drilling methods back then didn't help much, just scarred them to the neighbors.
M80s VP180 4xM22ow 4xM3ic EP600 2xEP350 AnthemAVM60 Outlaw7700 EmoA500 Epson5040UB FluanceRT85
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Re: Termites!
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 16,441
shareholder in the making
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OP
shareholder in the making
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 16,441 |
Good news. I checked out the Termidor website and the company that's coming over to do the treatment tomorrow is listed on their site. The treatment will run us slightly more than $500.
Thanks again for your input, Rick. I won't feel so bad about tearing a part of my living room apart knowing we'll have the best product available under our foundation.
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Re: Termites!
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 257
local
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local
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 257 |
Gosh, we are lucky to have each other here.
Rick, you're awesome.
Peter, you have my sympathy. Tom, if it's all the same to you and you don't mind much ... may I print this up in bold letters so that I can magnetize it to our refrigerator so my lovely wife of the past 26 years will read it? Your thoughts of me and her thoughts of me are not making the same connection for some reason. Rick, my brother .... you know darn well if I were capable and had the time to do so I'd go up there and do that job for Peter myself, I like doing that kind of stuff. LOL As I am renewing my termite bond in FL
Mark Pio 94,SB3,BD30,A35,Pio 48AV.Pronto 7000 controlling all. Getting ready for 22s, 150 & QS8s.
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Re: Termites!
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 16,441
shareholder in the making
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OP
shareholder in the making
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 16,441 |
The section of floor came up much more easily than I expected last night. Much easier than the trim I had to take out first. Now I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for the guy to show up.
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Re: Termites!
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,349
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,349 |
Similar story here. Several years ago, our neighbors warned us that their pest-control guy found a infestation in their home and said we might want to have ours checked out. A week later and, sure enough, a termite guy found a place where they had gotten in. Lucikly the damage was minimal, completely cosmetic, and easy (cheap) to repair. It is a horrible feeling when you realize that your home is being eaten. Horrible. The options for treatment varied tremendously. We had a company that rhymes with 'dorkin' come out, and they wanted $2,500+ to treat it. Involved lots of drilling into concrete, lots of expanding foam, and lots of scare tactics of what would happen if we didn't go with them. Another company, who's name sounds kind of like 'Termite' wanted $1,800 to do basically the same thing, but mainly to control them with the bait traps. Our neighbors had that going on when the termites were found, so it didn't really seem to help. A local pest control company wanted $500 to spray, but they insisted on using a chemical that I researched online and found out that it wasn't very effective. I researched the heck out of the various chemicals and termite control techniques, and called around to a few local pest control places to get their opinion. Almost unanimously, the opinion was to go with Termidor. Effectiveness wise, it's apparently much like Chlordane, which is now illegal. My parent's home was treated with Chlordane back in the 50's and they haven't had any termite problems. While it may be a nasty chemical that causes god-knows-what-kind of cancer, it was an exceedingly good at getting rid of termites. But anyway, the research I found about Termidor seems to indicate that it is safe when used as instructed. Of course, I'm sure Chlordane was too. It's still a chemical that can cause harm, so I would still want a professional to do it. As I recall, there are warnings about using it near wells or potatable water supplies, but that's somewhat common sense. So I had one of the afore-mentioned places do a full Termidor treatment. They did like a 'dirt-injection' of Termidor all around the foundation around the outside, and then along foundation on the inside (part of home has a dirt floor in the basement - that's where they got in). The termites dissapeared within about a week, and the neighbors commented 6-8 months later that their termites disapeared too. We have an old wooden fence in the back that had some termite damage, and they stopped munching on that too. It seems that between both of us, we killed the whole colony. 5 years later, we still don't even get crickets in our basement any longer. We had our yearly inspection a few weeks back and I talked to the inspector about how Termidor was working in general. According to him, he knows of homes that had it done 10+ years ago that have still not had any termite problems since. So apparently it can be very effective. So anyways, I can sympathize with your situation. It's one of those things that you hate to admit, 'The house has termites!' But tons of homes have them. Just be happy that you found the problem when you did. Seriously, good luck!
M80v2 | VP150v2 | QS8v2 SVS Pci+ 20-39 Emotiva UMC-1 & LPA-1 M22ti + T-Amp, in the Office
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Re: Termites!
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 6,955
axiomite
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axiomite
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 6,955 |
digging an 8" deep trench around the perimeter of the house and flooding the trench with the Termidor/water mixture ... I'm thinking a 4 gallon mixture for like 20 linear feet or something similar. Is there anything alive around the perimeter of your house???? I can joke because we don't have termite problems here. I can sympathize though as earwigs are becoming a big issue. They don't eat your house but get into EVERYTHING. If they get into your well water, it becomes unusable until treated. They take can take over a home like army ants and are not dangerous on thier own but their pincers can leave you with a mark.
With great power comes Awesome irresponsibility.
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Re: Termites!
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 16,441
shareholder in the making
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OP
shareholder in the making
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 16,441 |
I used to think earwigs were cool when I was a kid. They were all over the place in Southern California. The pincers looked scary but didn't hurt. Perhaps they get bigger up in your area?
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