Comparing Termite Treatments

We Can Help You Decide Which is Best For Your Home

1. Liquid Treatment
2. Baiting Treatment
3. Combination Treatment

Liquid Treament

Subterranean Termites, as their name implies, live underground. Termites inside the walls of your house don’t live there. The worker termites are there getting the wood in your walls (which is their food) and are taking that wood back to the colony in the ground to share with other termites. A liquid treatment involves treating either the soil underneath and around your home or wood in the walls, at any possible termite entry point. This generally means applying a barrier along the perimeter of your house. This can also mean treating plumbing areas inside your home (areas where pipes go through your slab), and treating cold joints (areas where additional slab was added after the house was originally constructed – i.e. an addition to the house).

If a qualified individual performs the treatment, and if the right termiticide is used, then a liquid treatment will usually be the most effective treatment method and will eliminate termites from your home as much as 6 times faster than baits.

Generally, there are two primary things to consider when purchasing a liquid treatment. The first is the qualifications of the individual(s) actually performing the treatment, and the second is the chemical that is used.

Qualifications of Pest Control Professional

In the state of Texas, you may have an Apprentice, a Technician, or a Certified Applicator treating your home. An Apprentice is someone who has sent an application to the Texas Structural Pest Control Board requesting a license. They must have completed 40 hours of classroom training and on-the-job training in order to be qualified to treat your home without another licensed Technician or Certified Applicator present. A Technician is someone who has completed all the training requirements for an apprentice, taken additional classroom training, and also passed a state exam. A Certified Applicator is someone who has been a Technician for at least 6 months, actively performed pest control for at least 1 year, has passed additional classroom training, and has also passed at least 2 more state exams. In general, a Certified Applicator is going to be the most qualified individual to perform service on your home, although there are some very professional and qualified technicians. All pest control operators are required by law to carry their pest control license any time they are performing service.

Liquid Chemical used to treat your house

here are many different termiticides on the market. The quality of these termiticides and the price vary significantly. Termiticides generally fall into two categories. The first is repellent, and the second is non-repellent.

• Repellent Termiticides
  – These are designed to stop termites. In general, they do not kill termites because termites never cross the treated soil. This kind of termiticide is problematic. Although they are less expensive, they are also less effective. If there is even the slightest break (1/32”) in this barrier, termites can find it, and go right past. They also do nothing to stop termites from searching for other entry points, and they have no effect on the colony itself. The termites do not die, so the colony keeps growing.
• Non-Repellent Termiticides – These are designed to actually kill the termites. Termites cannot detect the poison, so they pass through it freely, infecting themselves, and dying. Also, because termites cannot detect the poison, the can not detect if there is a break in the barrier. This gives you better protection. There is one non-repellent termiticide that stands out above all the others. TERMIDOR has been tested for over 10 years now, and is still 100% effective on 100% of the test sights. No other termiticide available in the U.S. has research that even compares. We have used TERMIDOR for over 20 years now, and have yet to discover even one instance of it failing. TERMIDOR stays where it is applied and breaks down very slowly, but there is another quality which makes it even more effective. TERMIDOR has a “transfer effect”. This means it kills more than just the termites that physically pass through treated soil. When one termite passes through, it does not die right away. It lives long enough to return to the colony. In this process, it comes in contact with many other termites, and it passes the poison on to every termite it comes in contact with. Then all of those termites pass the poison on to others they come in contact with. The result is colony suppression. The termite colony actually shrinks in size. This is the same effect you get from most termite baits, only it takes much less time.

Baiting Treatment

If a liquid treatment is not feasible or is undesirable, baiting can be a great alternative. Baiting generally involves placing termite monitoring stations in strategic locations along the perimeter of the structure. These monitoring stations are then aggressively monitored until there is termite activity on one or more of the stations. Then the ordinary wood in the monitoring stations is replaced with poison. The termites eat the poison, share it with other termites in the colony, and colony suppression or elimination is achieved. The idea is, if there are not termites there, they cannot invade your house. This treatment method is usually more expensive than liquid treatments and takes much longer to achieve the desired results. Baiting systems do not attract termites. They rely on termites finding the bait while randomly foraging for food. Termites can easily go right past the bait.

Combination Treatment

Some companies use a combination of bait and liquid in their effort to control termite infestations. There are generally 2 types of combinations. The first is a Baiting Treatment that is complimented with liquid in areas of activity. The second is a Liquid treatment that adds baits for added protection.

• Baiting Treatment with liquid assistance – If you’re considering a baiting treatment, then we recommend some liquid assistance. This way, you can eliminate termites from the areas with activity quickly, yet still dramatically reduce the total amount of chemical used.
• Liquid Treatment with baiting assistance – This can be a good thing, if a company is using something other than TERMIDOR. Remember, Termidor has the same effect on the termite colony that most baits do, so using baits with Termidor is a little redundant and probably won’t add enough value to the treatment to justify the cost.