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Started By
Message
DIY Termite Treatment
Posted on 3/22/19 at 9:36 pm
Posted on 3/22/19 at 9:36 pm
I have had a termite contract from day one of building my house. Now the exterminator is demanding a baiting system to go forward. The quote is insane considering I can buy the same system online for $400 and also purchase the spray as well.
Does anyone in south LA have any experience in treating for termites yourself?
Does anyone in south LA have any experience in treating for termites yourself?
4
Posted on 3/23/19 at 12:30 am to LSUOFFSHORE
Slippery slope. You hire someone and they are on the hook for damage. You do it and you are on the hook.
If you treat with termidor sc or generic you won’t get termites 99.99% of the time. There’s always that slight chance. That being said I treat myself.
If you treat with termidor sc or generic you won’t get termites 99.99% of the time. There’s always that slight chance. That being said I treat myself.
Posted on 3/23/19 at 6:21 am to ronk
quote:
You hire someone and they are on the hook for damage.
They’ll find any way possible to get out of it
Posted on 3/23/19 at 9:54 am to LSUOFFSHORE
Taurus SC
TRENCH TREAT
TRENCH TREAT
Posted on 3/23/19 at 11:50 am to LSUOFFSHORE
DId they give the reason for requiring a bait system? Floating slab? Has there been termite damage before?
Posted on 3/23/19 at 8:21 pm to Johnpettigrew
quote:
DId they give the reason for requiring a bait system? Floating slab?
Floating slab and I trenched 4”x8” around the house and back filled with rocks. Said too little of the slab was exposed.
Posted on 12/2/25 at 9:46 am to LSUOFFSHORE
tell me about self treatment. my entire house is surrounded by landscape and a minimum 10" rock bed excluding where concrete flatwork abuts. How would trenching work for that? slab exposed in all areas adjacent to rock bed.
I'm trying to understand the theory of trenching. why is it required/to what depth. my beams extend 1.5'-2' below grade, i'm obviously not trenching that deep.
Or should i go with a baiting system? There are holes drilled in my driveway from previous treatments.
Thoughts?
I'm trying to understand the theory of trenching. why is it required/to what depth. my beams extend 1.5'-2' below grade, i'm obviously not trenching that deep.
Or should i go with a baiting system? There are holes drilled in my driveway from previous treatments.
Thoughts?
This post was edited on 12/2/25 at 9:48 am
Posted on 12/2/25 at 10:20 am to jmh5724
quote:
They’ll find any way possible to get out of it
Neighbors 2 houses down had a contract and got termites. Zero coverage and of course homeowners insurance was no further help. Expensive treatment, expensive policy, weaseled out of repairs.
It reminded me it was time to re-do my trench treatment. Just did the front half of the house with my 13 year old son in under 2 hours with Termador HE.
Posted on 12/3/25 at 9:41 pm to RaginCajunz
Yep, Termador HE is the one to buy.
You can order off EBay.
I have mentioned before that I use the blade end of an old pick ax.
Makes easy work of the two inch by two inch trench Termador HE requires versus other products that require a 4 x 4 inch trench.
You can order off EBay.
I have mentioned before that I use the blade end of an old pick ax.
Makes easy work of the two inch by two inch trench Termador HE requires versus other products that require a 4 x 4 inch trench.
Posted on 12/4/25 at 5:01 am to Ncook
For trenching with Termador HE, a couple of questions as I think I’ll do it myself next year.
How do you treat the driveway and patio areas that cannot be trenched? Do you just mix the 1.6oz per gallon in a 5 gal bucket and pour?
How do you treat the driveway and patio areas that cannot be trenched? Do you just mix the 1.6oz per gallon in a 5 gal bucket and pour?
Posted on 12/4/25 at 2:53 pm to meeple
can someone point out the rhyme or reason for trenching? is it to keep it against the house? what depth do you trench to? is there a min? if i dig the trench then fill with rocks, i woudl think that would stay and i can just pour over the rocks above the trenched area?
Posted on 12/5/25 at 9:10 am to meeple
quote:
How do you treat the driveway and patio areas that cannot be trenched?
Use a hammer drill and drill holes about 6 inches apart and inject the chemical of your choice into each hole. Inject until you see chemical coming up through the other holes you drilled. Make sure you save the concrete dust before injecting so you can use it to fill in the holes. Stuff paper or foam inside the holes, add water to the left over concrete and fill in the holes. You only need to do this if the driveway, sidewalk or patio is connected directly to the house as shown in the picture, there is no need to add chemical to the edge of the driveway 10' away from your house.
Posted on 12/5/25 at 9:27 am to Randall Savauge
quote:
can someone point out the rhyme or reason for trenching?
What your are doing is making a barrier between the dirt and the top edge of your slab. The chemical will not kill the termites unless they are directly sprayed with the chemical. Termites need moisture to survive. If you have termites in your house, the barrier prevents them from returning to the ground for moisture, they dehydrate and die, the ones under the ground cannot get through the barrier and move on to something else. Now if you have a roof, plumbing leak, they don't have to return to the ground.
Below is what we use to make a trench around the house, about 8-10 inches deep, fill the trench up with the chemical, spray and soak the dirt you removed from the trench and replace, that will be a good barrier to prevent the termites from getting into your house from the outside.
Posted on 12/5/25 at 9:37 am to dek81572
If you're doing this yourself and have a concrete foundation, odds are that you have a bath trap where the plumbing comes through the concrete, they are often dug out and look like the below pic. You need to gain access to this, we would cut the sheet rock on the other side of the tub or shower, most times they are filled in with a tar-like substance, take a drill and drill through the tar until you reach dirt, you can feel when it breaks through, inject the chemical directly into the hole for a minute or so to make sure you saturate the area. If the access hole is in the closet, we would use a vent grate to cover it up so it's easy to check over the years.
Posted on 12/5/25 at 9:44 am to dek81572
Anywhere there is plumbing coming through the concrete (bathroom sinks, washer, kitchen sink etc...) like in the below pic, you need to drill through the concrete and treat the soil just like the above message I posted about drilling. Termites can get through the roughed in areas around plumbing. Make sure you don't push the drill bit too far into the ground after you break through the concrete, so you don't hit one of the pipes, you never know which way the plumber ran the pipes before the concrete was poured.
Posted on 12/5/25 at 9:52 am to dek81572
quote:
Below is what we use to make a trench around the house, about 8-10 inches deep, fill the trench up with the chemical, spray and soak the dirt you removed from the trench and replace, that will be a good barrier to prevent the termites from getting into your house from the outside.
ok, i understand the barrier portion. i'm trying to understand what's the point of the trench. 8"-10" will only go down a small portion of my grade beams. Is more needed? Is any needed? There just seems to be a lot of arbitrary trench dimensions i've found online. I'm trying to figure out the "why".
Posted on 12/5/25 at 9:56 am to dek81572
If you live in a pier and beam foundation house, you need to trench around every pier and apply chemical to every one, it's a pain in the butt because you have to go under your house and crawl around. There have been a few times that I've had to dig a space under the beams to be able access the other areas of the crawl space because they were only 6" off the ground, it sucked, I was under that house the whole day digging, not to mention the cob webs and critters I've ran into under there. If your house has cinder blocks, like the pic below and there is no footing under them, they are just sitting on the ground without having concrete pad under them or hollow brick columns on the ground, you will need to drill a hole through the cinder block or brick column to treat the ground in the void space.
Posted on 12/5/25 at 10:20 am to Randall Savauge
quote:
ok, i understand the barrier portion. i'm trying to understand what's the point of the trench. 8"-10" will only go down a small portion of my grade beams. Is more needed? Is any needed? There just seems to be a lot of arbitrary trench dimensions I've found online. I'm trying to figure out the "why".
The point of the trench is to make a barrier, the chemical binds to the dirt and prevents the termites from entering through the soil, that's why you fill the trench up with chemical and also soak the dirt you dug out before replacing it. I guess the why would be because you need a continuous treated area around your house which is the most common area subterranean termites enter. There is no need to dig a trench to reach the bottom of your footings, we dug 8"-10" but 6" is standard for the industry. Filling the trench in with rocks would not be a good idea, the chemical cannot bind to the surface of the rocks and keep a long lasting barrier.
Below is what a subterranean termite tunnel looks like, like I said before, it is the most common area for them to infect your house. They are often mistaken for ant tunnels as well. There is a difference, termite tunnels are hard and ant tunnels crumble apart.
This post was edited on 12/5/25 at 10:23 am
Posted on 12/5/25 at 1:38 pm to dek81572
So how do you handle a house with rocks completely around it. No dirt couches my foundation at grade except for a small area adjacent to my back patio.
Posted on 12/5/25 at 4:03 pm to dek81572
quote:
drill and drill holes about 6 inches apart and inject the chemical of your choice into each hole.
How often should this and trenching be done?
quote:
You only need to do this if the driveway, sidewalk or patio is connected directly to the house as shown in the picture
So the driveway leads to a garage, so the corner of the driveway is next to the edge of garage. Should I drill and treat a few feet from that?
This post was edited on 12/5/25 at 4:05 pm
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