A few words about termites, termite control and termite inspections

Termites are a fact of life in Florida. You may have heard the saying:

There are two types of houses in Florida: those that have termites, and those that will.

Some might even argue that there should be a third type: those that will get termites again.

Learn More About Termites
Two types of termites are found in Florida: Subterranean termites and Drywood termites. They both look about the same (although Drywoods are larger), and they both eat wood for food.

But that's where the similarities end. The habits of each are completely different, so each type of termite calls for a completely different treatment. Because a treatment for Subterranean termites does not work for Drywood termites, and vice versa, it's crucial your pest control company correctly identify the termites in your home so that the proper termite treatment is applied to protect it.

Subterranean Termites
Subterranean termites live underground, so control efforts deal with treatments to the soil under and around buildings. Traditional treatments use chemicals mixed with water that are applied to the soil to kill or repel termites around the structure. Newer methods attack the termite population around a building by feeding bait to worker termites who then share it with the rest of the colony. As the workers consume more bait and spread it among the colony, they die, and hopefully the queen dies too. In this way, your structures are protected by killing the colony rather than by the wholesale applications of chemicals around your buildings.

Traditional liquid treatments usually eliminate termites from inside structures much more quickly, which stops the termites from causing additional damage. Although baiting systems take longer to control termites in any one area of a structure, the end end result is just the same as that of liquid treatments--with much less active ingredient being applied around your home.

Econo Plus uses both methods to control subterranean termites. In some cases, we're able to spot treat specific areas to immediately stop termites from feeding on your house, and then by using a baiting system, attack the colony outside to provide long term protection for your home.

Call our office or fill out our contact form if you would like more information about our subterranean termite treatments.

Drywood Termites
Drywood termites are quite different. Drywoods are able to live in just about anything that contains wood. Wall studs, paneling, furniture and even cardboard are all able to sustain drywood termite infestations. Drywood termites are characterized by the distinctive "pellets" that fall from their galleries.

Pellets are usually the first sign that drywood termites are in your home.

Even though the visible signs of a drywood termite infestation might be relatively new, the actual infestation might have been going on much longer. And it is a good bet that when you first see signs of drywood termites, they are probably active in other areas of your home.

The best method to control drywood termites is tent fumigation. Tent fumigation wipes out any known infestations, but gets any unknown or unseen colonies that haven't yet made their presences known.

Although many "no tent" type treatments have been developed over the past few years, in our opinion, the risk of missing unknown infestations is just too great to justify the apparent convenience of these treatments. More likely than not, you'll be calling that company back over the next few years so they can spot-treat these areas of "new" infestation.

Trouble is, these "new" infestations may not be new at all. So meanwhile, these termites have been eating your home since the very first treatment. In our opinion, it's a mistake to assume that because you can't see them, you don't have them.

Call our office or fill out the contact form to get more information about a tent fumigation to rid your home of drywood termites.

Even if you don't see live signs of a termite infestation in your home, you might like a professional opinion anyway. In that case, call or e-mail us to come check your home right away.