Male: Over the years, we’ve talked a lot about how you protect your home damage from floods, earthquakes and fires. But today, we’re going to cover something that does more damage than all of those combined. Over $1 billion a year and it’s not covered on your homeowner’s insurance policy. I’m talking about termites and we have a termite expert with us, Ron Dawson. Ron thanks for joining us.
Ron: Glad to be here.
Male: Tell me about how much damage termites can really do, I know they can live for a long time.
Ron: Well the queen termite can live up to 25 years.
Male: 25 years so they can start some big colonies.
Ron: They can start some colonies. As a matter of fact, there can be up to 14 colonies per acre, each with one to five million termites.
Male: That’s a lot of termites than you’re talking about in just one area. So they could really go through the house in no time.
Ron: They go through the house in no time as a matter of fact they can do irreversible damage in less than three years.
Male: Ron what are some of the signs we should be looking for to make sure we don’t have a termite problem.
Ron: I brought some wood samples, let’s take a look.
Male: Okay.
Ron: We found this next to the house and this contained termites, termite damage.
Male: You can actually see the little termites on it.
Ron: Right.
Male: And it’s wet so I guess moisture can lead to some.
Ron: Moisture is definitely an attraction for termites. But what you want to look for, you want to look for much shelter tubes. This much shelter tube is constructed from mud and from an acid substance that termites secrete.
Male: Then you can actually see the little tubes, so they were crawling through this.
Ron: They crawl through this, these are termite highways laid into the house.
Male: Okay, so if you see this up on the side of the house, going in to your home, there’s a problem.
Ron: That’s a problem. But what you want to look for, you want to look for the much shelter tubes about this size that laid in to the house and anywhere along your foundation wall just check it, and try to find these tubes. That the thing you want to look for is damaged interior, look door frames, window sills, beams, and look for paper thin damage through a sheet rock.
Male: Okay.
Ron: Most importantly though in spring time look for signs of swarming termites.
Male: And what are swarming termites? What is that?
Ron: Well termites mate in the spring time and they swarm and so when you see swarming termites, usually you find black bodied termites with white wings and you’ll see the wings scattered on window sills and on the floor.
Male: And so after you see that you do have a problem.
Ron: You got a serious problem.
Male: Well Ron, what can we do to help prevent this?
Ron: Really in order to prevent termites around your house, you have to eliminate the moisture in the wood.
Male: Okay. What do you mean about moisture?
Ron: Well any sort of moisture that water that cools up next to the foundation could be a bad drainage problem that needs to be corrected.
Male: Okay, so make it drain away from the house?
Ron: Correct.
Male: How about the wood?
Ron: Any sort of wood that is next to the house has to be removed. We’ve found these wood pieces next to the house, they’re loaded with termites. They’ve got to go. Wood piles, limbs, any sort of wood, debris, could be a cardboard box. Everything has to be removed away from the house to prevent attraction from termites.
Male: Okay so pick up the trash. Do you see any problems around this house?
Ron: I did.
Male: Okay, well let’s go take a look.
Ron: Let’s go. Mike well here is some of the termite damage that we found along this fence.
Male: Yeah, they have really torn it up haven’t they?
Ron: They really have eaten it up. The problem here is that the soil is in contact with the fence. So the number one thing we want to do is we want to remove the earth-wood contact. We want to dig the soil down below the fence to expose the wood. Secondly, what we want to do is we want to apply the terminate, termite and carpenter ant entry.
Male: Okay and how do you put it on?
Ron: Basically, we just spray it directly onto the wood.
Male: And this is going to keep the termites off the fence.
Ron: This kills the termites on contact and also kills the others.
Male: Okay and how long is it good for? How often should we apply it?
Ron: This treatment will last one to two years but you may need to reapply more often only if termites appear.
Male: Okay now spectracide terminator also has a foam product I’ve heard to keep them out of the house, how does that work?
Ron: Well the terminate foam actually comes in a can and we apply it into cracks and curves along the foundation. It kills the termites, it expands in the void or in the crack but it kills the termites on contact and repels others.
Male: Okay and how often should that be applied?
Ron: The sign--every one to two years or as termites reappear.
Male: Well Ron when we are talking ways of prevention, one I had a question on spectracide terminate bait stake, tell me how this works?
Ron: Well the bait stake contains a slow act ingredient that the termites actually feed on. They carry it back to the colony, feed it to others, and they all die.
Male: Okay and so we put this in the ground and they’re going to come in these little holes.
Ron: That’s right.
Male: Eat this as food and kill the colony.
Ron: Actually the bait stakes are placed on the ground every two to three feet away from the house, every 10 feet around the perimeter of the structure.
Male: Okay.
Ron: And check every two to three months.
Male: And to see how much have been eaten to see if you got a problem or not?
Ron: Just replace them as they got eaten up.
Male: So just bury it down, cover it up.
Ron: Cover up the soil and you’re good to go. Spectracide terminate termites. They work as a great early prevention tool also as an early warning tool for subterranean termites. Placed in the soil around the house, they work as a great barrier but they should never be used as a sole means of termite prevention or protection. If you have an active infestation, always consult a professional.
Male: That’s still a great first line of defense.
Ron: It’s a great tool.
Male: Yet a very affordable when we’re talking about the investment that we have in our home.
Ron: Absolutely.
Male: Ron thanks for all of the help. I appreciate it.
Ron: It’s a pleasure.
Male: For more information on keeping your home safe from termites, visit terminates website at spectracideterminate.com
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