I like the commercials where the people build their houses out of concrete or ice to prevent termite issues.

I've got a few old 454's that could make good furniture.

I would also like to take a minute to post my .02 on this subject. Up here in my neck of the woods we don't have the sub termite, atleast on my side of the water. Weird, but you go to one of the islands or East of the mountains and you will find them. Anyhow, I used to work for Orkin, but don't have experience with the subs so can't shed light on that part of the subject, but want to point out something else.

First off at Orkin I found that inspectors can and will write contracts to fit the customers (supposedly) and so may vary form one customer to another, even though the jobs may be similar. You can have to identical jobs with 2 different inspectors and may still end up with different contracts. Another point of contention is the technician. Bare in mind this isn't a highly paid job and so your at the mercy of the individual doing your job. Some truly care about the job they do and some just want a check. Unfortunatly this job requires you to take the work serious, because it is technical and does require you to stay on top of things. If you have a problem with an inspector or don't feel he's doing a good job, get another, same for technicians. Ann Wilson of the group Heart, had a contract with us and went through 3 techs before I got the account. Took me all of 2 visits to resolve the issue she had. Again it's just because I care. Whatever you do check the BBB and see how the company you choose is doing, I guarantee those doing a poor job are getting complaints against them, this is one area where people definetly complain. Shop around, but don't rule out the small guy with a good track record, often times these folks take far more pride in what they do than the big companies that have those employees looking for that paycheck.

The man who gave us the original bid used to work for terminex, and agreed they do use the best product, which his new company does also. The Sentricon system. While the new company does not offer a warrenty, he explaned that Terminex's contract has a huge loophole that pretty much protects them from having to pay for structural repair due to termites. He did explane how termites work, and it does not sound like rocket science to intall and monitor the Sentricon tubes.

I've not checked into the Home Depot product yet, but if as the homeowner, I'm on my own to repair structural damage regardless of what professional service is hired, then why pay a king's ransom if the same product is available at a store for less? As the annual maintance contract is a few hundred dollars, It seems that that is the actuall cost of the system, and the few thousand dollar first year charge is the profit they are trying to make.

If I can't get a sentricon quality product at Home Depot, then I'll probably go ahead and pay the professional company. But it does seem like a racket.

The shade tree in my front lawn may have termites, or very active carpenter ants (I know we have those around). Can I put the traps in the ground around the tree to lure/kill them, or will they just stay with/in the tree?

Here in FL we have two types of houses. Thoses with termites and those that will have termites.

I had a tree blow down in a storm last year. Full of termites. So I go to Home Depot and buy some stuff to put on the stump, etc. Well all I did was piss them off. They were all over.

Called and had Sentricon installed. After their first inspection I had many more of the stations installed. Now after one year, back to one station every 15 feet or so and NO TERMITES.

It is worth the outlay for the Sentricon system. It works.

The stuff you can buy over the counter will never be as good as the product used by a PC company. I would have to suggest going with a proffesional company.

Just an FYI - do a web search on Sentricon and see how much information is out there saying it and/or the Sentricon contractor (usually Terminex but others also) doesn't work or doesn't do the work as promised. There are several state atorney general suits that were filed and won judgements against them as well. It appears (to me at least) to be very far from a clear conlusion.


I think a personl reference from someone who has found a GOOD contractor is the best bet. I'm still looking for one.


-Greg

the first thing you need to do is accuratly identify what you have. Pesticides and their treatment are specific to each problem. Do that first and then go about finding what is best to resolve your problem. Cuz like Gearhead99 said, sometimes all you do with the DIY stuff is alter their habitat and behavior and cause them to hide. I have seen numerous people do this only to find out a year later they still had the problem, but now it is 5 times as large.