So I am in a position where I need to do this in my house (found indicators outside and then, today, inside the attached garage when routing a new 20A circuit).

Because of the ease, my wife wants to do orange oil where prepping and leaving the house - with four dogs to include two Alaskan Shepards - is a major reason for this route.

For me I just want to spend my money wisely. If it matters, the house is in SoCal. Initial research shows orange oil is locally applied and if the bugs are suspected to be behind drywall or otherwise inaccessible, fumigation is the method.

So what says the collective? Anyone with enough knowledge and experience to provide pros and cons of each option?

TIA

I'd nuke 'em with enough chemicals to kill a water buffalo. Then, air it out and move back in.

and let the resudue leak out the walls for the rest of the year. lovely. even though i'm for the nuclear option. orange oil won't keep out termites when there is food on the other side.

I would use whatever the major termite companies in your area use and have a licensed company do the work.
Otherwise you are risking major structural damage repairs and possibly the value of your home.
Most insurance companies won't cover this due to your negligence.

Yeah, don’t screw around with home remedies. Hire professionals. Get a couple of bids for the work before hiring anybody.

Fumigation, it will get behind the walls and under the ceilings and kill it all.

It’s the only way to be sure

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Yeah, don’t screw around with home remedies. Hire professionals. Get a couple of bids for the work before hiring anybody.

This, have the house tented if you have drywood termites. Don't mess around with home remedies. I think the preferred gas is Vicam or something along those lines. As a plus, it will kill all other bugs that you may have. Just make a nice 3 day vacation somewhere.

If you have subterranean termites, you want to have the foundation treated with termidor. It is proven stuff and works.

I honestly, wouldn't even consider orange oil.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jimmy123x,

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I'd nuke 'em with enough chemicals to kill a water buffalo.

This made me laugh. Thanks!

BTW: That is what I did when I spotted a single cockroach in our apartment in NJ when I was in the Army. Cleared everything out, inspecting and fumigating each piece as it was removed. Then saturated every crack and crevasse with a liquid. Sprayed an aerosol into any openings. Then closed all the windows and set off 3x the number of aerosol bombs recommended. You could hardly see the opposite wall Came back after a couple days, opened the windows, aired it out, moved back in. Never saw another one.

I think we moved after we found out the entire rest of the house was lousy with them.

All, to clarify, this is California. The Orange Oil companies claim their way is safer for the environment and works just like fumigation and you don't need to move out. (Orange Oil is not a home remedy applied by the homeowner. )

Fumigation companies claim their method is best and orange oil is a warrantied gimmick (paraphrased).

I want to kill water buffalos just trying to determine if fumigation or the orange oil is the best method.

It seems like all the remedies mentioned only kill those in the house but do nothing to be rid of the subterranean colony. They will keep coming unless the colony is destroyed.

In our case, we are using a "system" called "Sentricon" which uses treated bait stations around the perimeter of the house. Termites carry the chemical back to the underground colony killing all of the varmints.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Collins:
It seems like all the remedies mentioned only kill those in the house but do nothing to be rid of the subterranean colony. They will keep coming unless the colony is destroyed.

In our case, we are using a "system" called "Sentricon" which uses treated bait stations around the perimeter of the house. Termites carry the chemical back to the underground colony killing all of the varmints.

I think where he lives they have a different kind of termite (drywood termites), similar to the ones in Florida. They require a completely different approach than subterranean termites as they don't return to the ground.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Collins:
It seems like all the remedies mentioned only kill those in the house but do nothing to be rid of the subterranean colony. They will keep coming unless the colony is destroyed.

In our case, we are using a "system" called "Sentricon" which uses treated bait stations around the perimeter of the house. Termites carry the chemical back to the underground colony killing all of the varmints.

I think where he lives they have a different kind of termite (drywood termites), similar to the ones in Florida. They require a completely different approach than subterranean termites as they don't return to the ground.

In Florida we get both drywood (flying) and subterranean termites (come up from the ground).

For drywood, they cover the entire house with a tight fitting tarp to the ground and they gas it with a gas (vicam I believe) for 2 entire days and the gas will kill anything in the house (roaches, rats, bugs, etc.). It will not kill subterranean termites because the colony is in the ground. They can also spray the entire attic with a pressurized sprayer that leaves a residue that lasts a long time, BUT drywood can eat a fair amount of wood before they get to the poison, so tenting is the preferred method. However while tenting assures a 100% kill, drywood termites could fly over from the house across the street the following week and start right over again.

For subterranean they use a pump with a pressurized wand that has a nozzle on the end that's about 3-4' long with the trigger control. They stick the wand in the ground about every 18" around the entire house, and they shoot the pressurized liquid down the entire column from about 6" to 36" with termidor (might be newer stuff now) and it kills all of the subterranean and the single treatment usually lasts for about 10 years. In areas with concrete walkways, they'll drill holes every 18" and stick the wand in there.

These two methods are pretty standard throughout the industry here in South Florida.

I'm in Texas and my only experience w/termites (2 times, 2 diff houses) required drilling holes in the foundation and injecting pesticide into the soil, done by a professional exterminator.

Did my SoCal house two years ago and went with an orange oil company.

I looked in depth at both, talked to people and this is what I found important.

Fumigation is cheaper.

Fumigation is only as good until they take the tarp off. Once gas the cooties are free to return right away.

Orange oil came with a multi year warranty and they week come out and retreat if you see something. They will also pretreat replacement wood the termites have chewed on.

The orange people spent an entire day looking for areas to treat and then a second entire day treating. They drill 2mm holes into problem areas and pressure insert the oil until it oozes out somewhere else.


No regrets at all.