Oh-oh. I think I have termites.

[MindPilot]

Has anyone had any experience with the alternative treatments? I'm just not real fond of the idea of tenting and soaking my house in posion for a couple days.

[mopinko]

1. are they that bad?

we treated for a mild termite infestation last year. they just drilled some holes, and shot stuff down them. the neighbors had them a lot worse, and they did the bait traps around the outside of the house.
no tents, no real "soaking".

[MindPilot]

2. Don't know yet...I just now called to have the inspection done.

It's an old house and there is some previous termite damage I've been repairing in the floors, but I haven't seen any live termites. This weekend I noticed some new pellets by the kitchen window so there is some activity.

[Longhorn]

3. We had them, too, and they just installed bait containers in the ground all around our house.

They inspect every three months and if there is evidence of termites, they replace the wood with treated wood. They take that back to their mounds or nests or whatever and that kills them off. It cost about $3000 up front plus an annual charge for the monitoring but we haven't had them again after the first few months.

[NMDemDist2]

4. we had em in PHX. they drilled into the slab and sprayed stuff in there

and sealed it up

don't bother until you find where they are getting the water, they follow pipes and such and will come up from the ground where they can get water.

It was much cheaper to get it drilled than to have traps away from the house, but the stuff was pretty nasty/stinky/toxic. the traps are less so and not in the house.

your mileage may vary depending on what type termites they are. they only tent the house if they aren't subterranean termites, the tents are for the airborne ones :puke:

[MindPilot]

5. Thanks everyone!!

My appointment is next Monday, so I'll know how bad it is then.

[Warpy]

6. I would be leery of alternative treatments.

Back in the good old days, they'd jack the house up and replace any wood thought to have termites in it. Now we can tent the house and fill it full of enough poison to penetrate the nests and kill the little bastards before they bring the place down around your ears, which I think is a great deal.

Just resign yourself to the one treatment that works, and if you can manage it, combine it with a long weekend at a spa hotel while every living thing in your house is gassed.

I don't like killing anything, either. I scoop cockroaches up and throw 'em outside, same with spiders. However, bugs like termites are enough of a threat that I'll get rid of them the best way possible, and that's tenting and gassing.

My parents had it done in Florida. They had money, so they combined it with a cruise.