No matter what you call them, ants are aggravating. "You find ants tricky to get rid of? Funny, so do we."įire ants. Plus, "they won't work if the termites have an alternate food source-like your home."ĥ. "They rely on the termites finding the baits," he says. (Dow AgroSciences, which markets Sentricon, one popular system, claims 98% effectiveness provided enough stations are used and they are serviced properly.) Harold Scheer, owner of a pest control company in Oklahoma City, Okla., says the problem with bait systems is that they don't attract termites. Pretty cool, but do the systems work? A study by Texas A&M University of 75 homes using such baits found that, after one year, only 50% of infested homes had fewer termites. The tubes need to be checked monthly by a technician for termite activity, and the total treatment can cost at least $1,200. Ideally, termites nibble at poisoned wood in the tubes, then return to their colonies to share the killer bait with other termites. For instance, exterminators will place about 20 small green tubes around your yard.
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Just use Raid."īaiting systems geared to terminating termites have become quite elaborate in recent years - and expensive. "Don't bother with those expensive baits. He was told by Terminix that the damage was considered "old." Spence disagreed, contending that because Terminix had had the service contract since 1987, shortly after the buildings were completed, any damage had to be "new" damage and the exterminator was responsible for paying for repairs.Ĥ. He then found similar damage at five other buildings in the complex. Last July, Spence, president of his condominium complex in Ormond Beach, Fla., noticed that termites had eaten away chunks of wood holding up a picture window. Gold, an entomologist at Texas A&M University, says, "I don't know anyone who can look at a two-by-four and say which is new damage and which is old." Most exterminators usually take it to mean damage in an area that didn't have termites before your home was treated. But for many customers, trouble arises when trying to define just exactly what "new" damage is. The protection guarantees offered by most pest control companies, such as Orkin, Massey Services and Terminix, offer to pay for "new" termite damage. "We don't pay for damages we should have prevented." (An inspection generally will cost between $40 and $150.)ģ. And to be on the safe side, consider getting a second inspector's opinion. To avoid a fate similar to Brown's, do two things: Get pest control records regarding the house, going back several years, from either the sellers or their exterminator, and make sure the inspector you hire checks for conditions conducive to wood-destroying organisms, such as areas with high amounts of moisture (for instance, basements or around chimneys) or where wood is in direct contact with soil. Adam Jones, vice president of quality assurance at Massey, says the "real estate inspection is based on a visual inspection only, and we didn't see any live activity or damage on that day, but that's not to say that there wasn't any." (Brown sued Massey and the home's previous owners in Brevard County court, but the case eventually was ruled a mistrial because of a court error.) But shortly after moving in, while preparing to re-carpet a bedroom, Brown discovered damage to the finished floor, which led him to find more damage and live termites elsewhere.
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Before closing on the home in 1998, he received a report from the inspector, Massey Services, that noted a prior termite treatment in the home but no current infestation. Kevin Brown thought the house he was buying in Cocoa, Fla., was termite-free. Terminix claims "technicians did return several times.but the homeowner was not at home." Garg has since switched to a new exterminator, but says of Terminix, "They claim, 'no bugs, no hassles.' But there were thousands of bugs and tons of hassles." While Garg's $45-a-month service contract guaranteed "unlimited free re-service.between regular visits," Garg says calls for extra treatments went ignored. They subsequently returned for two more regular monthly treatments - but the ants never went away. Garg quickly called a local Terminix franchise, whose technicians came and sprayed her home. "It was disgusting," she says of that May 2000 morning when ants attacked her Cerritos, Calif., home. Too bad Anju Garg wasn't imagining things. Now, in the kitchen, you find them crawling in and around your cereal boxes. You rush to the bathroom, and they're zipping around the tiles. Imagine waking up one morning.with ants crawling through your sheets. "Your bugs will come back - but we might not."