Termite treatment/DIY or pro?

Hi, we had termites swarming, then found the termites in a windowsill, which had some old wood stored underneath outside. We pulled out the windowsill and spot treated there, but we are wondering if we should try to do the Termidor thing ourself, or hire a professional. We live in Houston, and the house is about 33 years old. More than half of our house has about 18 inches river rock, maybe 4 inches deep next to the house. The area where we got the termites is mostly dirt. Another question, if we do it ourself, should we go around the entire house, and should we trench the area that has rocks, and what about the patio(covered) and front porch, driveway area? Thanks in advance!

 

It sounds like you would have minimal masonry (patio, porch, driveway) drilling; I’d consider skipping the drilling unless it’s close to where the termites were. If you want to drill the masonry I’ll address that in another reply. Where garage door trim meets blacktop driveway, is there enough of a gap/crack to where you could just slowly spray/pour Termidor into same?

Termidor is a non-repellent termiticide so after application the termites won’t even know it is there and will continue living and working in the treated area. With non-repellent termiticides missing an area isn’t as big of a deal.

The river rock: are the rocks already in a trench? IF so, just treat into it as if the rock isn’t there. If no trench then yes you have to pull the river rock back to make a trench. River rock are a pain in the neck in this respect; we charge as if we are hammer drilling when we see river rock.

Is your house on a slab, crawl space, or basement? I see you are in Texas so I’m assuming the soil is rather porous as opposed to our northeastern clay soil?

If so, then that works in your favor, especially if you have a basement or crawl.

 

Thanks so much for your reply. The house is on a slab, no crawl space, and no basement, maybe in north Texas, but not in Houston. When we put the river rocks around the perimeter, we dug down about 4-6 inches and then put the river rocks in. I guess it is like a trench, but we dug a space of 4-6 inches down and 18 inches out from the house. So it is a lot of rock. Soil is pretty porous, the area around the one window where we found the termites is on the side and back of the house. There is more shade, so we never got much grass to grow there, so it is pretty much all dirt. It will be easy to trench there. There is a crack near the garage door where we could pour, and the front porch/sidewalk is pavestone, should we just pour there as well? The back covered patio is about 20X20, and I think the original smaller patio, which we enlarged, was almost like an extension of the foundation. There is rock around the patio as well. Do we need to treat where the concrete patio meets the house? So it sounds like you think this is something we could handle?

 

Yes I think you can safely and reasonably attempt this. Be aware however that should you sell your house your diy treatment probably won’t suffice; you will need a certification of treatment.

With the river rock I would pull back the rocks immediately against the house perimeter and pour the correct volume into that since you already have a trench. Remember to apply correct volume-that is important.

When you treat into the cracks where you pour/spray you wlll be compromising on the volume. Repeated treatments in these areas would be a good idea. If you want to drill, use 1/2” or 5/8” masonry bits with hammer drills and drill 4-8” away from house perimeter and 12-16” apart. Now without termite treating tools it may not work to simply pour Termidor into the holes, using a funnel or however. There is always resistance when treating into drilled holes so eqpt that seals at the top and applies with pressure is necessary. I’d suggest skipping the masonry except for treating cracks/gaps/crevices.

No point in going around the patios; treatment needs to be against house perimeter as much as possible. If you have any tree stumps in yard I would treat into and around them as well.

 

A lot of people dose it themselves. It's very simple in theory. But I would recommend to choose a product carefully. Termidor is kinda toxic. Altriset is way more environment friendly. I would recoment to read the instruction on the bottle on both product. They give a lot of info on what to do in xyz situation.
Good luck.

 

The toxicity of Termidor is slight; it has a “caution” label as opposed to “warning” or “danger” which are the three levels.

In fact, the active ingredient in Termidor is fipronil, which is the active ingredient in Frontline and other flea/tick treatments that are placed directly onto pets.

Altriset is at the low-end of the toxicity spectrum, making it very safe. The low toxicity of any chemical does not mean it is “safer” to make a mistake though.
Altriset is new enough that it does not have nearly the track record that Termidor has; time will tell and I’m hopeful.

Modern day insecticides work well because of their chemistry and mode of action as related to the insects ability to absorb/ingest the insecticide. Some are so specifically related to density of nerve receptors that some insects are not harmed while effective control is obtained in the target insect.

Modern day chemistry is resolving the negative impact of long ago chemistry.