I recently had a minor termite attack on my front porch, and the termite guy
came out and said all I needed was to repair the damage and have the front
porch area treated. He injected poison under the porch. It seemed to have an
effect because a few days later, earth worms started crawling out of the crack
between the porch and foundation.

I plan to seal the crack with some silicone sealant, I assume this will help
prevent termites crawling up through this crack again???

that was a few months ago. Recently I was working on a couple of wooden
vegatable garden boxes (about 6' x 10' in size, 1.5' tall), and I found some
termites living in the wood. I used some over-the-counter termite poison to
treat the areas where I saw termites, they seemed to die quickly when contacted
by the poison, but I assume there are still more living under the ground there.
I also have a few fence posts that are rotted under the ground, maybe sign of
more termites.

My question is, should I be concerned that my property is infested with
termites and have the whole perimeter of the house and fence treated? Or is
it normal for old wood sitting around like these vegetable garden boxes to have
occasional termites? The pest guy said that other than my front porch, the
house is well designed and termites are unlikely to find their way into the
house, especially if i keep an eye for termite evidence and have him come out
every couple of years to take a look.

Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Paul

In article ,
says...
My question is, should I be concerned that my property is infested with
termites and have the whole perimeter of the house and fence treated? Or is
it normal for old wood sitting around like these vegetable garden boxes to have
occasional termites? The pest guy said that other than my front porch, the
house is well designed and termites are unlikely to find their way into the
house, especially if i keep an eye for termite evidence and have him come out
every couple of years to take a look.


The termite colony will be a number of feet under ground coming up to feed
on your porch. The same colony will have many feeding tubes all over the
property so the same colony on your house can be in your fence, feeding on
the wood left on the ground, the neighbors house 100 feet away. Also the
thought now is the average acre of land will have 7-14 established termite
colonies, so all those areas you have found termites might also be several
different colonies. The one downfall with only treating your porch will be
they can show up elsewhere on the house, or maybe there already in an part of
the structure you can't see. The treatment stops the point of entry, but they
can just bypass the area treated. (depending on what was used for treating)So
just keep an eye out for anything unusual showing up.
--

It is said that the early bird gets the worm,
but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!

and if the original problem was caused by the termites crawling up through the
crack between my porch concrete and the foundation, will it help to seal the
crack with silicone sealant? Should I seal all the cracks around the house
between the sidewalk and foundation?

thanks,
Paul

I don't believe that there is a "minor" termite attack. It's sort of
like being a little bit pregnant. You have them or you don't. Treating
the area around a porch will just cause them them to move a bit and
direct their attention elsewhere. It's easier to treat the entire
property before significant damage has been done than to wait until
they've become entrenched. Too bad the "govies" don't like chlordane
anymore. It worked very well back when the Dept. of Agriculture
recommended using it against termites. It was a 20 year fix.

Get your local termite exterminator in with today's wimpy insecticides.
It's better than nothing.

RB

Krystonia5 wrote:
I recently had a minor termite attack on my front porch, and the termite guy
came out and said all I needed was to repair the damage and have the front
porch area treated. He injected poison under the porch. It seemed to have an
effect because a few days later, earth worms started crawling out of the crack
between the porch and foundation.

I plan to seal the crack with some silicone sealant, I assume this will help
prevent termites crawling up through this crack again???

that was a few months ago. Recently I was working on a couple of wooden
vegatable garden boxes (about 6' x 10' in size, 1.5' tall), and I found some
termites living in the wood. I used some over-the-counter termite poison to
treat the areas where I saw termites, they seemed to die quickly when contacted
by the poison, but I assume there are still more living under the ground there.
I also have a few fence posts that are rotted under the ground, maybe sign of
more termites.

My question is, should I be concerned that my property is infested with
termites and have the whole perimeter of the house and fence treated? Or is
it normal for old wood sitting around like these vegetable garden boxes to have
occasional termites? The pest guy said that other than my front porch, the
house is well designed and termites are unlikely to find their way into the
house, especially if i keep an eye for termite evidence and have him come out
every couple of years to take a look.

Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Paul

In article ,
says...
and if the original problem was caused by the termites crawling up through the
crack between my porch concrete and the foundation, will it help to seal the
crack with silicone sealant? Should I seal all the cracks around the house
between the sidewalk and foundation?



They can gain access on any crevice the size of a pencil mark, depending on
how practical it is to seal all cracks and then to keep the sealant over the
years from separation/drying out. Other places of concern will be interior
side of the foundation wall for some types of slabs and homes with crawl
spaces, plumbing and bath trap penetrations in slabs....on your earlier
question on treating the fence, my personal preference would say no. Though
you could protect the fence from termites you would still have deterioration
from the weather and would need to replace the slats in about the same number
of years. You might as well save the money for that.
--
It is said that the early bird gets the worm,
but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!

The modern "baiting" types of insect control work real well too. Termador is one
brand name. They have the same active ingredient at a lessor concentration than
the one you put on your dog to control fleas.


"RB" wrote in message ...
I don't believe that there is a "minor" termite attack. It's sort of
like being a little bit pregnant. You have them or you don't. Treating
the area around a porch will just cause them them to move a bit and
direct their attention elsewhere. It's easier to treat the entire
property before significant damage has been done than to wait until
they've become entrenched. Too bad the "govies" don't like chlordane
anymore. It worked very well back when the Dept. of Agriculture
recommended using it against termites. It was a 20 year fix.

Get your local termite exterminator in with today's wimpy insecticides.
It's better than nothing.

RB

Krystonia5 wrote:
I recently had a minor termite attack on my front porch, and the termite guy
came out and said all I needed was to repair the damage and have the front
porch area treated. He injected poison under the porch. It seemed to have an
effect because a few days later, earth worms started crawling out of the crack
between the porch and foundation.

I plan to seal the crack with some silicone sealant, I assume this will help
prevent termites crawling up through this crack again???

that was a few months ago. Recently I was working on a couple of wooden
vegatable garden boxes (about 6' x 10' in size, 1.5' tall), and I found some
termites living in the wood. I used some over-the-counter termite poison to
treat the areas where I saw termites, they seemed to die quickly when contacted
by the poison, but I assume there are still more living under the ground there.
I also have a few fence posts that are rotted under the ground, maybe sign of
more termites.

My question is, should I be concerned that my property is infested with
termites and have the whole perimeter of the house and fence treated? Or is
it normal for old wood sitting around like these vegetable garden boxes to have
occasional termites? The pest guy said that other than my front porch, the
house is well designed and termites are unlikely to find their way into the
house, especially if i keep an eye for termite evidence and have him come out
every couple of years to take a look.

Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Paul

is Termidor available to the general public?


The modern "baiting" types of insect control work real well too. Termador is
one
brand name. They have the same active ingredient at a lessor concentration
than
the one you put on your dog to control fleas.

In article ,
says...
is Termidor available to the general public?

No, even the pros have to be certified through BASF before they can buy it.
I have yet to have a call back on any home that I have treated with it since
it came to the U.S. market.

--
It is said that the early bird gets the worm,
but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!

"Michael Daly" wrote in message
...
On 14-Mar-2004, (Krystonia5) wrote:

My question is, should I be concerned that my property is infested
with
termites

Yes. If you have termites in your area, you should never let any wood
remain in contact with the soil. Around here, they recommend 18" of
concrete/brick/whatever between the soil and the first piece of wood
in your house.

Unless it is pressure treated. Then any wood that goes below the ground
or in contact with should be covered with roofing tar to prevent rot.


I'f you're rebuilding your porch, put it on concrete columns/pads and
don't rebuild it identically to the previous.

Any other wood on you property will become infested unless you treat
the whole area. I'd prefer not permitting contact to only relying
on treatment. Treatment will last for a number of years, but how
long depends on many factors.

Never bring into your house any wood that has been left outside
on the ground. That includes planters, firewood etc. That's a
good way of getting termites into your house.

Mike