Termites damage wood in homes.
The best way to treat termites is to hire a professional exterminator. However, the newer baiting method of termite control is much less difficult than older methods. Baits are small tubes full of paper, wood or cardboard and a slow-acting pesticide. The termites eat the bait and bring it back to the colony, where other termites ingest the pesticide and are killed. Baiting requires time and commitment, but it can kill most of a termite colony if done properly. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Label the outline of your home with the dimensions. Also note the location of any wet areas on your property, such as outdoor spigots and mulch beds.
2. Wear gloves to protect you from the poison in the baits. Place baits per manufacturer's instructions, usually one every 10 feet about a foot from the foundation. Don't place baits in soil previously treated with pesticide. Use the drawing of your home's outline to mark where each bait is placed.
3. Place additional baits in areas favorable to termites, such as around infested trees, under water spigots, near tree stumps and by piles of wood. Be sure to mark these on your drawing, too. Termites can't smell or see the baits, they will just come upon them by chance, so the more you place, the better the chances of termites finding them.
4. Monitor your baits. In a notebook, write out a schedule for checking your baits every two weeks. If you find termite activity in a bait, add more baits around it and replace empty baits. Sometimes it takes months to find termite activity, especially if you don't place the baits during warm weather months, when termites are most active.
5. Replace baits with wood sticks once you stop seeing activity in them for at least two months. Write a new schedule for checking the wood sticks at least once a month. The sticks allow you to continue monitoring the area to see if termite activity picks up again.
6. Arrange to have a termite inspection done to ensure that your termite problem is under control.
Tags: termite activity, find termite, find termite activity, schedule checking, wood sticks, your baits, your home
