How to Trench for Subterranean Termites the RIGHT Way. Everything you need to know. How and why. 

What? I can't believe you did that. That was incredibly generous of you. Nobody has ever donated that much money before. I don't even know what to say here. I never expect people to donate any money at all to my channel, but I can tell you that it does go on long way toward improving the quality of my videos. This is almost enough to purchase a small monitor that I need to look at while I am shooting videos. Right now I have no idea what the camera is seeing because I am in the front of it and I have no videographer operating the camera. Therefore, I want to place a small monitor, that is about the size of a cell phone, on the camera tripod, so that I can see what the camera is seeing. This will save me a lot of time reshooting when the camera has my head chopped off or something. Thanks to you, I can now afford to buy this monitor, so thank you so much for that. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Thank you so much for those kind words and for the tip. Both are very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Your are very kind for helping out your neighbors like that. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

That is so thoughtful of you to take the time to write such a nice comment. It makes me happy that I was able to help you. I always love to see photos. You can send them to guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. I'm glad that it all worked out for you. Be well my friend.

I'm in Australia too where do you get the termite killer granules Bayer? Is there a similar product here in WA

I'm so sorry that I'm only getting to answer this right now. For some reason, RU-vid did not send me your comment until this morning. They do that sometimes and I have had them hold comments for as long as 3 years already. If ever you ask me a question, and you do not get an answer within a few days, then please email me. The granules are only available in the US. You have different species in Australia, and not all of them behave the same way. Some species where you are require a more aggressive treatment. So, you need to identify the species to figure out how to treat properly. I am so sorry that I cannot be of further assistance. Be well my friend.

I wish i could tell everyone i know: WATCH GUY'S videos before you call a TERMITE PRO!!!! Appreciate your upmost honesty And straight forward and thourough explanations. The information om ur channel is a treasure chest of value. flawlessly thorough & everything i was seeking online after finding out i had termites!!! i did a hundred google searches and read a hundred useless articles that never explained what i wanted to know. I wish i could have found your channel sooner. 100% Liked & Followed.

Thank you so much for those kind words and for your support. Very much appreciated and humbling. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much. That was so thoughtful of you. I am so happy that I was able to be of assistance to you. Also, thank you for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much. That is so kind of you to say. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Yeah. Me too. Sometimes all you've got is spraying the piers because the house is super close to the ground. In those cases, I will also just trench around the entire house too. Hey. You do the best you can. I'm happy for you that you moved on. That's a lot of work to be doing every day. Particularly in the summer. Way too hot. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words and the tip. Both are very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much. That was so kind of you. I will use that money toward buying more equipment and making more videos. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

That is very kind of you to say. Thank you so much. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. What a nice thing to say. That is so kind of you. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Be well Wendy.

You are very welcome. Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

How you handle that will depend on the species. Figuring out the species is actually pretty easy and I have a video on how to do that. I will provide you with a link below. After watching this video, you should be able to identify the species. Just get back to me after you watch it and let me know what you found out. At that point, I can tell you exactly what you need to do. Let me know if you have any problems identifying the species, but I do not think that you will. It is much easier than you may imagine. Also, please tell me where you live. Location matters. Be well my friend. Video on how to identify termite species: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dIs_a0nfVjg.html

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. You can do this. Probably even better than the pros. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Also one more thing, I did recently spray Bifen I/T around the house for mosquito and bug control before I had found out about the termites. Would that be an issue for trenching or using the granules on the ground?

@@andrewmellencamp4588 If you live in North Texas, then the pest controllers are probably correct that you have subterranean termites, because drywood termites are not known to exist that far north. However, termites in the attic is a red flag, and you need to check to make sure that these guys are not Formosan termites. Try to dig out a specimen with a red head and then watch my video on how to identify termite species. If you find out that they are Formosan, then I need to explain how to go after them. Just use a flathead screwdriver to dig into the wood in the attic and get out a specimen with a red head. Put it in a jar and let it die. Then you can have a good look at it. For me to be able to tell the best way to treat this, I would need to see photos of all sides of the property, from the house to the property line, and to the street. After I take a look at it, I will be able to tell you if you need to drill the concrete or if this is something that you can take care of yourself, with either the granules or by trenching. You can send the photos to guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. Please remind me of your RU-vid name when you send the photos, so that I know who you are. I am somewhat surprised that they want to spot treat this problem. I usually advise homeowners to do both an exterior treatment and a spot treatment inside the house, but most professionals do not spot treat for subterranean termites. I think it's a great idea, so I am happy to see that there are some pros out there that have finally figured it out. Anyway, spot treating is super easy to do, so you certainly do not need a pro to do that. In fact, most of the pros do not do it correctly anyway. To spot treat subterranean termites, you need to buy a fipronil foam. I will provide links for two products that you can choose from. Drill holes in all damaged areas, that are 4 inches apart, and drilled about halfway through the wood. Inspect for exit holes in all the walls and woodwork. If you are seeing exit holes in the wall, then there is most likely a stud behind the exit hole. Get a stud finder and locate the stud where it meets the ceiling and drive a small nail into the stud a couple of inches below the ceiling. Attach a weighted string to the nail and that will show you where the stud is. Then drill the holes 4 inches apart along the entire length of the stud, about 3 inches deep. Do the same thing for woodwork, except only drill the holes halfway through the wood. If you think that there is a 2 x 4 behind the woodwork, then drill a 3-inch-deep hole every 8 inches. The holes only need to be wide enough to get the applicator tip of the foam can into the hole. After the holes are drilled, then shoot the foam into each hole for about 5 seconds or until you have foam either coming back out at you or coming out the other holes that you drilled. All the holes should have foam either going into them or coming out of them. This will contaminate their food source and they will take the fipronil back in the colony and spread it around to the other termites. Most of the time, subterranean termites are going to be building mud tubes somewhere. You will most likely find these mud tubes going up the exterior or interior of your foundation and you may find them along joists and even in the attic sometimes. If you have a slab home, then you may find them going up the outside of the house on the slab and even the side of the house. If you can find the mud tubes, then you can treat them as well. Just scrape off about a 2-inch section of each mud tube down to the bare surface. Then, shoot that foam into each side of the mud tube and also apply a little of it on the surface where you removed it. The termites will rebuild the mud tubes and bring the foam back to the colony to spread around to the other termites. Also, if you can find the mud tubes, this is a very good way to determine when the infestation is gone. If you scrape off that 2-inch section of a mud tube, you can see if there are any live termites in the tube. Again, the termites will rebuild the tube and go about their business. Do this every two weeks after you finish all your treatments. Apply the foam to the mud tube every time you do it. At the point you are no longer seeing live termites and they stop rebuilding the mud tube, then your infestation has been eradicated. Spot treating alone is kind of like throwing a Hail Mary pass. Sometimes it will take out the whole colony, but it is a good idea to treat the outside with either the granules or trenching. Hopefully, you will be able to use one of those methods, and I will let you know after I see the photos. Meanwhile, you can go ahead and do the spot treatment. Don't forget to spot treat the attic too. The Bifen IT you sprayed should not pose any problems with termite treatments. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. FiPro: www.solutionsstores.com/fipro-foaming-aerosol Termidor Foam: www.domyown.com/termidor-foam-p-3528.html

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Navigator SC is the same thing as Taurus SC or Termidor SC, so you are good to go. The only reason I don't mention Navigator SC is because I have not used it and I do my best to only recommend products that I have actually worked with. Navigator SC has the same exact concentration of fipronil, so there should be no difference. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions Understood! Thanks again!

@@Intentionaltia You are very welcome. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

That is so kind of you to say. Thanks for watching. I know you are a fan and that is so humbling and so much appreciated. You are a super person. Be well Steven.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Thanks for sharing that story. Very interesting. The good news is that you only needed the pro to do the concrete, so you saved a lot of money there. The bad news is that you are no longer protected if you did the treatment in 2006. If it were me, I would install monitoring stations around the house. You can make them yourself for under 50 cents each. I will give you the link to the video. It sounds like you have dense soil, so termite granules may will not work for you but you can do a test to see. If the ground passes the test, then you should use the granules too. For the granules to work you need to have dirt around most of the house and that dirt needs to be porous enough to allow water to seep into the ground fairly quickly. To find out if the dirt around your house is porous enough, just dig a small hole next to the house that is about 4 inches deep, 8 inches long, and just the width of the shovel. Fill the hole with water and watch to see how fast it drains down into the ground. If it seeps into the ground fairly quickly, then the granules should work just fine. However, if it just kind of sits there, then the granules would not be a good choice, and you should just use the monitoring stations. Make sure that you buy the correct granules. You need the ones that have imidacloprid as the active ingredient. A lot of the Home Depot and Lowes stores no longer sell the correct granules, but you can get them from Amazon. I will give you a link to them. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to make monitoring stations: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gye27aXHRsY.html Video on how to use termite granules: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H7rW_TSBHJ4.html Termite granules: www.amazon.com/dp/B000RUIJYM?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-t1_k0_1_7&amp=&crid=6U9ASK6AJN8D&amp=&sprefix=termite

Thank you so much for those kind words and for subscribing. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Always my pleasure. Be well Charity.

Thank you so much. That was so kind of you to do. Very much appreciated. Be well Ron.

The termites will most likely find the wood blocks, but it is a good idea to get them a couple of inches deep. I like monitoring stations better though because you just need to look at them to see if there are termites. If you treated in 2019, you should be good until at least 2024. Probably longer than that. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions I am constantly looking for bugs in my yard; termites, carpenter ants, and Lantern flies and emerald ash beetles included :-)

Okay, there's a lot to unpack here. If you trench around the house, then there's probably no need to do a spot treatment. These guys are obviously subterranean termites, so the trenching should do the job all by itself. While you could treat the damaged areas, it is probably not necessary. The treatment takes up to 12 weeks to be effective because we need to give the termites time to bring the termiticide back to the colony. You can monitor the progress with the mud tube. Two weeks after you finish trenching, just scrape off about a 2 inch section of the mud tube. See if there are any live termites in there. Then wait a few days to see if they rebuild it. Do this every two weeks until there are no more termites and they are not rebuilding the mud tube. At that point, your infestation is most likely gone. I cannot promise this for certain, but there is a very good chance that the treatment you do on the house will also eliminate the infestation in your garden. That is because subterranean termites never colonize in your home. They always colonize in the ground someplace and there is a very good chance that the colony attacking your house is the same colony that is attacking your garden. When you treat the house, that will take out the entire colony, so that will also treat the garden. Now, this is not a sure thing because there could be two colonies, but the odds are that there is only one. I am kind of getting the feeling that you are reluctant to use pesticides in the garden, so let's see if the house treatment will get it done for you. If it doesn't, then the best thing to do is to apply the granules directly over the areas where you are seeing with termites. Farmers do this all the time, and it will not present any health hazards. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Thanks for that nice comment. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those very kind words. You know, more and more, I am hearing one horror story after the other about professional pest controllers. I'm really finding it difficult to wrap my head around it. While it is true that termites do like water, the air conditioning unit that they said was causing the termite problem was not actually causing the termite problem. The termite problem was caused because there was a colony of subterranean termites located somewhere within a 300-foot radius of your home. It is certainly true that having wet ground is helpful to the termites, but, in all likelihood, they would have attacked your house anyway. If the treatment was properly done in 1997, then there would have been no reason for you to remove that window air conditioning unit. Clearly, the company that treated without digging a trench around your home did not do the job correctly. I wouldn't even want to venture a guess on what that person actually treated with. In any case, that treatment is not going to work. If you are finding winged termites in your home, then, in all likelihood, you do have an active infestation of subterranean termites. There are actually two ways you can come at this. Of course, you can dig a trench around your home as I described in my video and that will most likely be 100% effective. The other option is to try a much easier and less expensive approach. You can simply apply termiticide granules around your home and then water them in with a garden hose. I know, this sounds too easy to be true. However, this method of treating subterranean termites works about 95% of the time. That is a little less than the 100% that you get with trenching, but it is way easier to do and it is generally worth taking the risk. So, if you don't mind, I would like to give you just a bit of advice. Go around your house and look for mud tubes. You will usually find them on the exterior of the house and they will be coming up from the ground on your foundation. If you don't see any mud tubes on the outside of the building, then, if you have a crawl space, go under there and look for mud tubes under the house as well. If you do not find mud tubes under the house, then go up in the attic and see if you can find any up there. Most of the time, you are going to find mud tubes in one of these places. If you can locate at least one mud tube, then that will allow you to monitor the activity of the termites. So, go ahead and treat with the granules instead of trenching the house. I will provide you with a link to my video on how to properly treat with granules. After you do the treatment with the granules, then wait about four weeks and break open a two-inch section of the mud tube and look to see if there are any termites in it. If you see termites, then wait another two weeks and do it again. If there are active termites, they will rebuild the mud tube. It can take up to eight or nine weeks for the granules to work, so be patient. Just scrape off a two-inch section of the mud tube every two weeks and check for activity. If you are still seeing activity after 10 weeks, then you are going to need to trench. However, if there comes a point where there are no more termites, and they stop rebuilding the mud tube, then your infestation has been eradicated and there will be no reason to trench. The granules only cost about $50, so it's not much of an investment to save a whole lot of backbreaking trenching. Don't worry about waiting 8 to 10 weeks for this to work because subterranean termites are very slow eaters and will do almost no more damage within that relatively short period of time. Now, you should know that trenching will last five to ten years, with seven years being the average. However, the granules must be applied every year. If you apply the granules every year, then you will never have another subterranean termite infestation. Now, it is very important to purchase the correct granules and I will put a link below to the exact product that you need. I hope that helps. If you give the granules a try, please let me know the result. Be well my friend. Video on how to treat subterranean termites with granules: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H7rW_TSBHJ4.html BioAdvanced Termite Killer 700350A granules: www.amazon.com/BIOADVANCED-700350A-Perimeter-Treatment-Granules/dp/B000RUIJYM/ref=sxts_rp_s_1_0?adgrpid=1342504832925931&content-id=amzn1.sym.14b5a3ec-ddf3-42f1-bf1e-8515f8d25a34%3Aamzn1.sym.14b5a3ec-ddf3-42f1-bf1e-8515f8d25a34&cv_ct_cx=termite+killer+bioadvanced&hvadid=83906755322577&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=72390&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83907333654521%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=29859_14561483&keywords=termite+killer+bioadvanced&pd_rd_i=B000RUIJYM&pd_rd_r=7862750f-c143-42e6-9f12-4d642ac9349f&pd_rd_w=ZEivb&pd_rd_wg=snR54&pf_rd_p=14b5a3ec-ddf3-42f1-bf1e-8515f8d25a34&pf_rd_r=CFJW2B034TAAS4HZNTJ8&psc=1&qid=1655478271&sr=1-1-f0029781-b79b-4b60-9cb0-eeda4dea34d6

@@GuysPestSolutions I appreciate that you took time out of your day to write back to me and to help with my situation, it means a lot to me. I had never heard about termites until I moved to the US from Italy in 1993, over there our houses are built out of stone and concrete so we don't have this worry. I work this week-end, but next week I will go on a hunt for termite tubes like you instructed. If I don't find termites tubes in the crawl spaces or around the house, or up in the attic, I am thinking about treating with the granules anyway because I have found termites in my Back yard, they had infested a few of my fence boards only about 10-15 feet away from my house. I will keep you updated with developments. Appreciating you for being such a kind human being, have a fantastic day!!

@@baba-sm1fm Always my pleasure. Keep in mind that, even if you do not find the mud tubes, you still may have termites. Most of the time you will find mud tubes somewhere, but not always. If you don't find mud tubes, the granules may still work, but you will have no way to monitor to see if they did. All you can do is wait to see if the termites swarm again. So, in the absence of mud tubes you may want to trench to be sure you got them. The granules work about 95 percent of the time, but that is not a sure thing. There is still some risk. Personally, I have never had them fail on me, but they can fail if the soil is too dense. If the soil around your home absorbs water easily, then you will most likely be okay. An easy test you can do is to simply pour some water on the ground next to the house. If the water leaches into the ground right away, then you are probably fine, but if the water just puddles and does not leach much, then trenching may be best. Welcome to America. Italy's loss is definitely our gain. I am Italian as well, but I was born in the US. My grandparents immigrated in the early 1900's. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions Grazie Paesano!

@@baba-sm1fm Always my pleasure. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Be well my friend.

I'm glad my video was of assistance to you. Please let me know if you have any questions. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions You are so generous. Our home is old and already been treated for the spectrum of wood pests. I'll review your videos and hopefully with that knowledge will keep them at bay. The only one that's a major concern is the Formosa termite! Those already been detected in nearly cities. Hopefully, will never need to deal with those. Thank you so much for sharing

@@Bigum99 Watch out for drywood termites too. They literally fly to your house and colonize in the wood. If you live in Florida, then you should be doing a preventive treatment for them, as well as subterranean termites. I treat my home with granules for subterranean termites and I also do the preventive treatment for drywood termites as well. I will give you links to the videos. Be well my friend. Drywood termite prevention video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-neNsmVbj8Pc.html Subterranean termite granules video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H7rW_TSBHJ4.html

@@GuysPestSolutions thank you so much

@@Bigum99 You are very welcome. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. In your case, I recommend treating all the wood, from the top of the roof to the foundation, with Bora-Care. It's the only product worth using. Mix it one to one with water and not one to five. You can use cold water. It works just fine. It's expensive, but it penetrates almost all the way through the wood, while the other products only coat the surface of the wood. This will render the entire house 100% termite proof forever. It will also prevent other wood destroying pests as well. If you treat all the wood, inside and out, then no other termite treatment will be necessary ever. Some people will tell you to just treat a few feet up from the foundation, but doing that will not prevent other wood destroying pests, such as carpenter ants and carpenter bees. Also, termites can find their way further up the building by constructing mud tubes to higher elevations in the building. This is why you must treat all the wood in the entire structure. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Bora-Care: www.solutionsstores.com/boracare Bora-Care video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Rmr_aEodyhg.html

@@GuysPestSolutions Thank you very much for your response. Regarding the mix ratio, I have been finding ratios from 1:1 to 5:1 (as I'm sure you are well aware) and I am very confused on scenarios where you would use a ratio other than 1:1. Under what circumstances would you use a 5:1 ratio?

All I can tell you is that in my personal opinion you always want to go with 1 to 1. The manufacturer claims that 1 to 5 will work to prevent termites, but I don't trust it. After the house is completed, it's too late to find out that 1 to 5 didn't work. You can't go back and redo it because the shingles are on the roof, the siding is up, the drywall is installed, and so forth. So, you want to get it right the first time. Let's say it takes 20 gallons of finished product to do the entire house and a gallon costs about $80. At 1 to 5 it will take 4 gallons to make 20 gallons of finished product or about $320. If you mix it 1 to 1 you will need 10 gallons to make 20 gallons of finished product or about $800. The difference comes to $480. So, on a brand-new home, are you going to skimp $480, and risk that it doesn't work? One termite treatment by a pro will probably cost 3 times that much. Next to the cost of building the house, $480 is a grain of sand on the beach. Some people have car payments that are more than that. Heck, that's less than you will spend to buy a water heater. So, do you want to spend your days wondering if the treatment is going to work or do you want to sleep soundly at night knowing for sure that your house is fully protected? In my view, if you need to cut costs somewhere, then spend $1000 on a new refrigerator instead of $1500. You can always upgrade the refrigerator later on. After the house is finished you cannot upgrade the Bora-Care treatment. Anyway, that's the way it seems to me. I have used Bora-Care many times and I always go 1 to 1. Again though, that is just my personal opinion and I have no studies to back it up. I just don't like taking chances. I guess gambling isn't in my nature when it comes to pest control. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions Point well taken Gus! I am not a gambler in any regard, not just pest control. I will put my big boy pants on and open up my wallet and do it right. I will have you to thank for that and really appreciate all that you do. Thank you again sir! Do you have an easy way to calculate how much I will need to cover all of the linear lumber as well as all of the sheeting on the roof?

Sorry for the typo, Guy not Gus!!

You are very welcome. Be well my friend.

I would be happy to assist you with that. I always try the granules first before trenching. Termite granules are an effective and easy solution for subterranean termites, but for the granules to work you need to have dirt around most of the house and that dirt needs to be porous enough to allow water to seep into the ground fairly quickly. To find out if the dirt around your house is porous enough, just dig a small hole next to the house that is about 4 inches deep, 8 inches long, and just the width of the shovel. Fill the hole with water and watch to see how fast it drains down into the ground. If it seeps into the ground fairly quickly, then the granules should work just fine. However, if it just kind of sits there, then the granules would not be a good choice, and you should consider trenching. The time of day does not matter much to the granules, but it could matter to you. I recommend doing the treatment at first light, before it gets too hot. That will be easier on you and the water will not evaporate as quickly. You need the water to melt the granules and allow the pesticide to leach into the ground, so cooler is probably better. You may want to lightly water them in three or four times. It sounds like you already know that you need the correct granules. They must use imidacloprid as the active ingredient. A lot of the Home Depot and Lowes stores no longer sell the correct granules, but you can get them from Amazon. I will give you a link to them. Keep in mind that all termite treatments can take up to 12 weeks to work. That is because you need to kill termites slowly in order to take out the entire colony. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Termite granules: www.amazon.com/dp/B000RUIJYM?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-t1_k1_1_6&amp=&crid=157C3RV0MY0AK&amp=&sprefix=termit Video on how to apply termite granules: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H7rW_TSBHJ4.html

Carol, im curious, the bait onGuard runs around 699. But was not told about monthly indirection fee to monitor if decide to do in Florida. Curios to that fee? S ok glad found his videos to treat homes either way!

@@daryltalley8242 I was quoted $400 for initial bait stations with a $30 a month monitoring fee, renewable after one year at $360 with continued monthly monitoring of $30 a month

@@GuysPestSolutions Hi Guy, So I dug a hole about 4" deep by 6" long....filled with plain water and it took about 6 min for the water to seep down. Is this what you would say is fairly quickly ? Also, once I sprinkle the granules, do I water them or just leave them on the surface? I GET NO rain at all where I live in the desert, so how do the granules sink into the dirt ?

@@daryltalley8242 I'm not a big fan of bait stations because the bait does not kill termites. It only stops them from reproducing. A termite worker can live up to 2 years, so this can be a very slow process. Also, there is no guarantee that the termites will find the stations. You can install monitoring stations yourself that will alert you to the presence of termites, so that you can treat them before they get to your house. You can purchase them commercially for about $15 each, or you can make them yourself for about 50 cents each. When the termites find the stations, you can then use a bait station to kill the termites. Again, up to a 2 year process. The good news though is that I have developed a bait station that will kill the termites in about 12 weeks. I will be posting the video on how to make these yourself as early as Sunday and no later than a week from Sunday. The way it works is you install the monitoring stations. When one goes off, you install one of the bait stations that will eliminate the colony in 12 weeks instead of 2 years. If you subscribe, you will be notified when the video posts. I will give you a link to the video on how to make monitoring stations and a link to a place to buy them. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to make termite monitoring stations: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gye27aXHRsY.html Where to buy monitoring stations: www.solutionsstores.com/red-eye-termite-monitor

If you trench around the patio, then they will pass through the termiticide on their way under it. The idea is that you need a continuous barrier from the street, around the house, and back to the street. No drilling required in most cases. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Thank you for subscribing. Greatly appreciated. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much Andre. You really didn't need to do that, but it is greatly appreciated. Just getting to know you and your wife was more than enough compensation for me. You are super people and enjoyed our conversations. I will put the money toward buying some better video equipment. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for reaching out to me. I want to congratulate you on doing several things correctly. The first thing you did right was to get more than one estimate. As you have now discovered, treatment options and pricing can vary wildly in this industry. You have now also discovered that not all pest controllers know what they are doing. You also got it right by contacting me, because I have been doing this long before most of them were even glimmer in their mother's eye. There aren't too many situations that I have not seen and there's usually a very easy way to take care of subterranean termites without spending a lot of money. This is especially true if you live in New Jersey. The truth is that you only have one species there that is of concern, and they are ridiculously easy to treat in most cases. To give you the correct treatment for your house I need to see some photos of it. You know. A picture is worth a thousand words. Please send me photos of all sides of your house. It would be helpful to see the property from each side of the house to the property line. I am looking for sidewalks, driveways, porches, landscaping, and all that sort of thing. How you do the treatment is dependent upon all of these factors. You can send photos to guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. I would like you to relax about the situation because the species of termites that you have happen to be very slow eaters and it takes them a very long time to do any significant damage. So, you do have the luxury of time to get this right and to do it in the most cost effective way possible. The situation with the sprinkler water hitting the house could have created a problem with termites. They are attracted to water, so it is never a good idea to have water continuously hitting the house. That is also why it is never a good idea to have landscaping any closer to the house and 24 inches. A lot of people do it, but it's generally because they do not understand the pest control considerations. Anyway, that is a situation that we often do need to work around. When you send the email, please remind me of the situation. I receive an insane number of emails everyday, and most of them are regarding termites. So, it is very easy to get people mixed up. I kind of remember the jobs based on the problems. Still, I get so many emails about termites that I usually need to reread them every time I make a response to refresh my memory. Make sure that you remind me that you are from New Jersey. Location matters because different species are known to exist in different areas of the US. I look forward to receiving your email. Again, please relax, because you have time to deal with this. It is not an emergency. So, let's take a breath and get this right the first time. I promise that I will get you through it. Be well Ashley.

@@GuysPestSolutions thank you!!! You are the best! I just sent you an email!

@@AshleyCourt-kn4yd You are very welcome. I have your email and I briefly looked at it. I am a little pressed for time this morning and I want to do a good job answering your email, so I may need to write it a little later today. As you can see from other comments, I like to do a thorough job answering questions. I promise that you will hear from me today. I would do it right now, but I have a disabled son that requires a lot of care and it's time for me to get him up and ready for the day. It takes a couple of hours to pull his care together in the morning, but I will respond to your email just as soon as I have that taken care of. So sorry for the delay. Be well Geordan.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much. That was very kind of you. I will use the tip to make more videos. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Trenching lasts 5 to 10 years, but it should only be done if you have an active infestation of subterranean termites. When you use Taurus SC as a surface spray, it only lasts about 90 days. So, it lasts a lot longer when you bury it. Please let me know where you live and if you have an active infestation. Location matters because different places have different species. I can then tell you the best way to go about treating. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions Hi Guy. Great info - thank you so much! I reside in Fayetteville, NC, an area notorious for termites and its sandy soil. Thankfully, I don't have an active termite infestation. Also, I haven't observed any termites in my lawn-though I'm not sure I'd recognize one if I saw it! My home, constructed on a concrete slab in 2017, is located in a neighborhood where I never see pest control vehicles. This leads me to believe that termite and general pest problems might not be prevalent among my neighbors. However, the fear of termites looms large here as many worry about the severe structural damages they can cause, potentially leading to costly repairs. Your videos have been enlightening. They suggest that while termite infestations should be taken seriously and treated promptly, they are manageable and not as catastrophic as I previously feared. And seeing you implement inexpensive preventative measures is reassuring! I appreciate your expertise and look forward to your suggestions on how to protect my home against termites.

​@@dayslayer7871 If you have sandy soil, the termite granules applied every year should do the trick. For the granules to work you need to have dirt around most of the house and that dirt needs to be porous enough to allow water to seep into the ground fairly quickly. To find out if the dirt around your house is porous enough, just dig a small hole next to the house that is about 4 inches deep, 8 inches long, and just the width of the shovel. Fill the hole with water and watch to see how fast it drains down into the ground. If it seeps into the ground fairly quickly, then the granules should work just fine. However, if it just kind of sits there, then the granules would not be a good choice, and you should consider just using monitoring stations. Make sure that you buy the correct granules. You need the ones that have imidacloprid as the active ingredient. A lot of the Home Depot and Lowes stores no longer sell the correct granules, but you can get them from Amazon. I will give you a link to them. Since you do not have an active infestation, you may want to also consider using monitoring stations around your home. I use both the granules and the monitoring stations. I will give you a link to my video on how to make them for under 50 cents each. I put them around my entire house for less than $25. You can also purchase commercial ones for $15 each. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Termite granules: www.amazon.com/dp/B000RUIJYM?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-t1_k1_1_6&amp=&crid=157C3RV0MY0AK&amp=&sprefix=termit Video on how to apply termite granules: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H7rW_TSBHJ4.html Video on how to make monitoring stations: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gye27aXHRsY.html Commercial monitoring stations: www.solutionsstores.com/red-eye-termite-monitor

The rain will not affect the treatment. Not much fun digging in wet dirt, but other than that you should be fine. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Unfortunately, you cannot use the previous holes that were drilled in the concrete. To treat a concrete patio like that you need special injection equipment because the treatment is done under pressure. You can't just drill the holes and pour in some Taurus SC. So, just trench around the patio and you will be fine. The most important thing is to treat the backfill dirt well. Make sure you get it nice and wet, like I show in the video. Please also watch my video on how to identify termite species. Some states have Formosan termites that are very aggressive and may require an additional inside treatment. There is a map in that video that will show you where Formosan termites are a problem. Please let me know if you live in the red or orange areas on the map and I will guide you further. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to identify termite species: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dIs_a0nfVjg.html

There is a good chance that they are eating your house. Trenching should take care of them, unless they are Formosan. You didn't tell me where you live and location matters. Please watch my video on how to identify termite species. There is a map in that video that shows where Formosan termites are a problem. Please get back to me if you live in the red or orange areas on the map. Be well Naddy.

@@GuysPestSolutions Good evening Guy, thank you for getting back so quickly! I live in the West Texas Panhandle (Amarillo). I am not sure what species I have exactly.

@@naddyice5399 You live far enough north that I'm guessing that you have a common variety of subterranean termites. It is possible to have Formosan termites in Amarillo, but it is far more likely that you do not. If you can obtain a specimen with a red head, then you can tell for sure. I recommend that you do a thorough inspection of your house for termites. Look for mud tubes around the perimeter of the house, under the crawlspace, and in the attic. If you don't see any mud tubes, then you may have dodged a bullet. If you find mud tubes, then you need to trench the house. If not, then just treat the mulch. Buy Taurus SC and mix it in a watering can at 0.8 oz per gallon of water. Then water the mulch with it really well. Get everything nice and wet. I hope that helps. Be well Naddy. Taurus SC: www.domyown.com/taurus-sc-termiticide-p-1816.html?sub_id=1817

@@GuysPestSolutions Hello Guy! Thank you so much for the advice. I took a picture of them and tried upload it in a comment but I think RU-vid blocked that comment.

@@GuysPestSolutions I will try to link the termite photo one more time: i.imgur.com/LNuWwXZ.jpg

Yes, that is one of the limitations to the granules. If they do not leach into the ground, then they're not going to work. So, if you have soil that is very dense, then you would probably be better off to trench the house. Trenching is a lot more work, but the good news is that it lasts 5 to 10 years and you don't have to do the trenching all in one day. Unless you have an active infestation, you can take your time and just work on it every Saturday if you like until you get around the entire house. I find that trenching goes pretty fast, but I have a tendency to get a bit tired after doing one side of the house. Of course, I am 72 years old, so I'm not the man I used to be. Lol. Good luck with it and thanks for watching my videos. That is very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

If you live in Northern California, then you do have Formosan termites there. These guys are subterranean, but they also have the ability to colonize in your house. They are the only species of subterranean termites that have this ability. Also, Formosan termites are very destructive. Other species of subterranean termites are very slow eaters, and it takes them a long time to do any significant damage. That is not the case with Formosan termites. These guys are very fast eaters and can do a lot of damage very quickly. They are known as "super termites" because of their ability to do so much damage in a very short period of time. Therefore, I recommend that you try to obtain a specimen that has a red head. If you can acquire one of these, then I can identify the species for you. The other option is to call a pest control company and ask for a free inspection. When they arrive, tell them you would like to know the specific species and exactly how they plan to treat for it. I do not recommend that you sign anything. Just thank them for their time and let them know that you are going to get several estimates. If you can tell me the species or you can get me a photo of a termite that has a redhead, then I can give you and effective treatment plan. I would not be surprised if these turn out to be Formosan termites. Most species of subterranean termites start eating low in the building and you normally see them on the lower part of the walls or in the floors. With Formosan termites it is fairly common to see them build mud tubes up to the roof and then start eating in the attic and ceiling areas. The fact that you are seeing mud tubes coming from the ceiling is very concerning. While it is possible for other species of subterranean termites to attack this way, it is far more likely that these are Formosan termites. Due to the aggressive nature of this species, I would urge you to either get that photo of a termite or get the building inspected without delay. Treating Formosan termites is somewhat different than treating any other species of subterranean termites. However, in all cases, you do need to trench. If you are living in a trailer, that is on piers, then you need to trench around each pier. If these are a species other than Formosan termites, then that is all the treatment that is required. You can spot treat the damaged area with a fipronil foam, but it's not absolutely necessary. However, if these are Formosan termites, then you also need to look for "cartons" that may be located in the walls or even the ceiling. We can talk more about that after the species is identified. For now though, it wouldn't hurt to begin trenching. You can obtain the Taurus SC and a fipronil foam from domyown.com. I will place links below. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Taurus SC: www.domyown.com/taurus-sc-termiticide-p-1816.html Termidor foam: www.domyown.com/termidor-foam-p-3528.html

@@GuysPestSolutions I pulled down part of a mud tube last night and looked at them with a magnifying glass. The solder didn't seem to have crossed mandibles and the head was rectangle shaped. When I poked at it, it was aggressive though. I can find another solder and send a good pic to you. What is the best place to send it? I will do that today when I get home from work. Thanks for your help so far

@@GuysPestSolutions I can get pics to you. What email should I sent them to?

@@bigfranksworld You can send the photos to guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. It sounds like you may have gotten lucky and all you need to do is trench around the piers. In addition to trenching, you can also spot treat to give the trenching a bit of a boost. This is not necessary, but it helps. Just scrape off about a 2-inch section of each mud tube down to the bare surface and shoot a fipronil foam into the tube in both directions. Then shoot some of the foam on that 2-inch bare spot as well. The termites will most likely rebuild the mud tube and they will carry the fipronil back to the colony and share it with the other termites. This is exactly how the trenching works. I will give you a link to the foam. Treating termites is a slow process. You do not want to kill them too quickly or they will not have time to bring the poison back to the colony. Therefore, all these sorts of treatments take between 2 to 12 weeks to work. This is not a problem though because subterranean termites are slow eaters and will do very little damage in this relatively short period of time. You can determine when the infestation is gone by using the mud tubes. Again, scrape off about a 2-inch section of a mud tube, every two weeks, and see if there's any activity inside the tube. If there is, then treat the tube with the fipronil foam again and let the termites rebuild the tube. Then check again in another two weeks. When you no longer see any activity in any of the mud tubes and the termites are no longer rebuilding them, then the infestation is gone. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Fipronil foam: www.solutionsstores.com/fipro-foaming-aerosol

I am so sorry to hear that you're having a problem finding a reliable pest control company. I've been hearing more and more stories lately of pest control companies that are, well, not competent. I find that incredibly saddening because these folks are giving the industry a really bad name. I don't know how some of these people managed to get a license. Anyway, most of the time, you are better off simply doing your own pest control. Treating for subterranean termites is super easy and you don't usually need to even trench. I have found that, about 95% of the time, I can totally eliminate a subterranean termite infestation simply by using termiticide granules and it only costs about $50 to do an entire home. If you feel like the pest control company you hired did not do the job correctly, then you may want to take out an insurance policy by applying these granules around your home. I will provide you with a link to my video on how to do it and also a link on the correct product that you need to purchase. You need to be careful when purchasing this product because there are two versions of it and one of those versions does not work. Home Depot and Lowe's no longer sell the correct version and so I am now recommending that you order it from Amazon. Unfortunately, drywood termites are quite different than subterranean termites and this is one of those times when you cannot really treat it yourself. That is because the only way to totally eliminate a drywood termite infestation is to tent the entire house and fumigate. Of course, the problem with fumigation is that the gas they use offers no residual action. That means you can get re infested with drywood termites the moment the tent comes down. Therefore, to prevent this from happening, you must treat the exterior of your home every three months with a pesticide. I have a video on how to do that and I will place a link below. Unfortunately, you cannot hire a pest control company to do this for you. That is because almost no pest control companies will do this type of treatment. Don't worry though, the treatment is super easy to do and it is perfectly safe. I also have a video that outlines all of your treatment options for drywood termites. This video will go over all your possible options to treat the problem, but I have to tell you that the bottom line is that the only sure way is fumigation. So, if you have a company that is busy spot treating for your drywood termites, then I have to tell you that it's kind of a waste of money. There are a lot of pest control companies that will do these spot treatments, but the problem is finding all the galleries. Even the best and most skilled pest controllers are most likely going to miss galleries. All of this is explained in the treatment options video. I feel bad about giving you more videos to watch, but knowledge is power. The more you know about these things, then the more money you are going to save and the more effective you are going to be at resolving these issues. Learning about this stuff is going to keep you from getting ripped off and it is going to save you thousands of dollars in the end. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. How to treat your house with termite granules video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H7rW_TSBHJ4.html BioAdvanced Termite Killer 700350A granules: www.amazon.com/dp/B000RUIJYM?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-t1_ypp_rep_k0_1_6&amp&crid=1BU67Q3WPAZMS&amp&sprefix=bioadv Drywood termite prevention video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-neNsmVbj8Pc.html Drywood termite treatment options video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iD6NTU16-XQ.html

@@GuysPestSolutions Will watch and learn and do what I can myself. Very much appreciated. Thank you!

@@JohnSmith-jf3pj You are very welcome. Be well my friend.

I'm sorry, but you have been misled. I am not aware of any law in Alabama or any other state that requires a homeowner to have a termite bond. Alabama requires termite exterminators to purchase a surety bond as part of the application process to obtain a professional services license. The bond protects the public if the exterminator violates the provisions set forth in Alabama Statute 2-28-10.1. So, while the pest control company must be bonded, that does not mean that their customers must have any sort of termite bond. If you are selling a house, then most lenders do require a termite inspection. If the house is found to have termites, then the lender will generally require that the problem gets treated prior to the closing. I am planning to do a video on this topic sometime this year. If you know of a specific Alabama Stature that requires a termite bond, then please share that information with me. I would love to read it. I don't think you will find one though. Pest control companies that tell customers that a termite bond is required and then charge them for it are actually committing fraud. So, my advice to pest control companies is to always take the high ground and be honest. My advice to homeowners is to get more than one estimate and always check information that is provided by any company, regardless of the service being purchased. All of the products you mentioned are fine for treating termites. I usually recommend Taurus SC instead of Termidor SC because it is less expensive. Premise 2 works differently than Termidor SC or Taurus SC and uses imidacloprid as the active ingredient instead of fipronil. It's still a great product. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for that comment. I don't usually have people telling me that I'm funny. I do make an effort to try to inject a little bit of humor now and then, but I think most people tend to miss it. It's always great when somebody gets my sense of humor. You definitely put a smile on my face and you made my day. Be well my friend.

I have a video that talks about trenching vs bait stations. I will give you the link to it. I am not a big fan of using bait stations for an active infestation because they can take up to 2 years to work and sometimes they don't work at all. That is because the bait does not kill any termites. They use an insect growth regulator that simply prevents the termites from breeding. Termite workers can live up to 2 years. All of this is assuming that they actually find the bait. Sometimes they miss the bait entirely, which may have happened in your case. Pest control companies like it because it is fast and easy to do and they can charge big money for it. Then they can rip you off with an annual maintenance fee every year for the rest of your life. Trenching is way more effective and will kill off the entire colony in under 12 weeks. It only costs about $100 to do yourself and it is almost a sure thing if you do it correctly. So, my advice is to trench the house yourself and fire the pest control company as soon as the contract period ends. The trenching job will last 5 to 10 years, with 7 years being the average. It all depends on soil conditions and things like that. You do not need to dig the trench all at the same time. You can literally do 10 feet a day after work. I helped a single mom in NJ that did it herself with her two teenage daughters. They just did about 10 feet after work and school every day until it was finished. They were 100% successful. It's really not that hard and you can take your time with it. I'm turning 74 this month and I'm still doing this sort of thing. Of course, my wife keeps reminding me that my brain and my body may not be on the same page when it comes to the sorts of work that I should still be doing, but it's not bad if I take my time. Start on the wall that is closest to the infestation and then work your way around the rest of the house. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Trenching vs bait stations video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jrPrr5DdB_g.html

@@GuysPestSolutions Thank you so much for this comprehensive answer. It has been a nightmare trying to find consistent information on how to treat them when they have already entered the house, even on youtube. I brought up trenching to our pest control company and they brushed it off. I do get the sense they are stringing us along. They never mentioned how long the bait stations would take to eradicate the colony. I will take your advice and check out the video you mentioned. Thanks again!

@@ouchydoom You are very welcome. Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. If you read the contract for the baiting system you have, you will most likely find language in it that will tell you that it can take a long time for baiting to work. Some contracts will even tell you that it may not work at all. Even though the company will usually not explain this to you, is it almost always stated in the contract. If you have a damage warranty in the contract, it will most likely not cover previous damage. Most of the time, they will tell you that the damage you are seeing was caused before the baiting system was installed, so they don't pay. You can't even take them to court over it because the contract almost certainly contains an arbitration clause. I am planning to make a video on termite bonds and warranties sometime this year. A lot of people pay an annual fee so that they can be protected against termite damage, but it's a total waste of money. I am very happy that you now understand the truth. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for reaching out to me. I will do my best to assist with this. I'm just a little bit confused though. I would like you to clarify something for me. Are you saying that your house was built on tree stumps? I have never heard of that before. If this is the case, then it would be helpful for me to see some photos of what you have going on. You can send photos to guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. if you send photos, please explain one more time in the email what is going on. Also, please give me your RU-vid name. That way I can read your original comment again. I would also like to know where you live. When it comes to termites, location matters, because different areas of the world, or even the US, have different species of termites. Different species of termites behave differently, so it is important to understand exactly what you are dealing with before you start to treat. Finally, I always answer questions within 48 hours, but RU-vid does not always allow me to do it. I don't know why they do it, but sometimes they delete my responses before people get to read them. Other times, RU-vid does not send me comments from people at all, or they delay sending them for months. So, if you do not hear from me within 48 hours after you make a response, then you need to send me an email. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

You are very welcome. Thank you so much for those kind words and for the tip. Both are very much appreciated. Please let me know if you have any questions. Be well my friend.

Please tell me where you live. Location matters. I want to make sure that you are not dealing with an aggressive species that may require more than just trenching. Most of the time you are not, but I would be a terrible pest controller if I didn't check. A lot of slab homes are built in the south, like Florida, which is Formosan termite territory. That species is found in southern coastal states, California, and Hawaii. Please let me know and I will tell you if this is a concern. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions South Louisiana.

Okay. That is NOT what I wanted to hear, but I did suspect that this was the case. Most slab homes are in areas where Formosan termites exist. You happen to live in the Formosan termite capital of the world. So, you definitely need to check to make sure that you are not dealing with these guys. Please watch my video on how to identify termite species. Don't worry. It's not that hard to do. I will give you a link to the video. Please get back to me if these are Formosan Termites because these guys are bad. Really bad. They are often called super termites because of how fast they eat and unlike other species that cannot colonize in your home, these guys can. So, you need to take extra steps with Formosan termites. Be well my friend. Video on how to identify termite species: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dIs_a0nfVjg.html

Ok Guy, I had to work late, so I didn't get a chance to inspect the mud tubes to inspect the termites, but my exterminator came out and talked to my wife and told her that it was formosan termites. He wants to drill holes around my shower and pump poison around the shower...I'm worried about him hitting a water line. I'm no expert, but I think whatever he is doing isn't working because this is the 4th time in 5 years that he has been here. They just keep moving over to the next room. He claims that that is different colonies. That's why I want to treat the whole house. What do you think I should do? Thank you for all the info, I really value your opinion.

@@jamesaucoin131 What you are describing is NOT the right way to treat Formosan termites. It may help, but you are correct that he may drill into the pipes. Also, this treatment alone will probably not get it done. Formosan termite colonies are very large and hard to take out. Please watch my video on how to treat Formosan termites and get back to me with any questions you may have. I will give you the link. Video on how to treat Formosan termites: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xDtGUWxMrRw.html

I'm sorry to say that you cannot do the drilling and rodding yourself. You can drill the holes, but the treatment needs to be done under pressure. You can't just pour in the pesticide. Rodding is a lot easier, but you need special equipment to do it and it's expensive to purchase. So, that is best left to the pros. Trenching through hard dirt isn't easy, but you can do just 10 feet at a time. If you do 10 feet every day after work, it will be done before you know it. Also, if you can see where the mud tubes come up from the ground, you can place a bait station right there and you may be able to avoid trenching altogether. Please watch my video on how to make bait stations. It doesn't always work, but it does work most of the time. If the termites start eating the bait, then it's a done deal for them. If they don't take the bait, then you can always trench later. I will give you a link to the video on how to make them. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Bait station video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-r05Z-aUJehw.html

I like FiPro the best, but it is only sold by Solutions Pest & Lawn. Unfortunately, they will not ship to all states. So, if you cannot get FiPro, then go with the Termidor Foam. DoMyOwn.com will ship almost anywhere but NY. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

There is a lot to unpack here. Texas is a big place and species varies depending upon where in the state you live. I need to know where you live, and I need to know more about the frass. Was the frass kind of like mud and you needed to scrape it off or was it more like very tiny pellets that can be easily moved with your finger? If it is like tiny pellets that can be easily moved with your finger, then most likely neither of the treatments offered will work. If it's more like mud, then trenching would be the way to go, but you still need to know the species because all of Texas has Formosan termites, and they often require interior treatment. I would also like to know more about the floor where the hole is. Is that a wood construction floor or is it a concrete slab? You need to be careful before hiring a pest controller, especially if you are getting an estimate from a national company. They often send out salespeople who have no field experience at all. Oftentimes they get the species wrong or they don't understand the difference between different species of subterranean termites. So, I recommend that we do just a bit more investigating before deciding on a treatment plan. I would be happy to assist you with this and my service is always free. Treating the wrong way will waste money and not get the job done. So, it's important to get it right the first time. Here's the thing though, I am on vacation, and I only get internet some of the time. I will be back after June 11, and I will be able to fully walk you through everything after I'm home. I think it would be worth your while to wait for me because it's not that long. So, please answer my questions and I will get back to you just as soon as I can. Meanwhile, please try to relax. I promise that it's going to be okay. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions Thank you so much for your help. To answer your question, I live in East Texas. The frass I mentioned may have been wrong terminology. The dirt was on the wall... so.. perhaps.. I should say that a tube was beginning to form. It was more like pallets, like coffee grinds but mixed with light and dark color. I swiped and it all fell away( not like fresh dirt). The one on the floor in my bedroom under carpet was just like pile of dark dirt. I do have concrete slab. Since i disturbed the pin hole, I do not see any dirt building back up. On top of all this, I see one or two dead carpenter ants inside every other day. I saw them crawling out in the yard by trees, but i think they are encroaching. Enjoy your trip!!

​@@Jo-bk6vy I am in a hotel room with a very slow internet connection. I will be home on June 11 and then I can give you my full attention. Please try to take a photo of the frass and send it to me at guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. Get as close as you can and try to focus in really well. I will try to identify it for you. If the floor is concrete, then these are probably subterranean termites, but you may also have something else going on as well. Carpenter ants often invade buildings where termites are located. Let's make sure we get this right. When you say east Texas, is that North or South? Please give me a city that you are close to. Thanks. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions Hope you had a safe journey. I sent you an e mail with photo as you requested. Thank you!

@@Jo-bk6vy I think I just responded to your email, but I'm not entirely sure. Please let me know if I didn't respond yet and I will look for the email. I answer a lot of emails every day and I'm just getting to June 12. I had them backed up from May 29th. I'm making progress, but the emails keep coming in, so I am about 5 days behind right now. I was 12 days behind at one point, so that's progress. I should be caught up this week sometime. It's crazy. I sit here almost all-day answering emails and RU-vid comments. It will be nice to get caught up. Be well my friend.

That's what I call a tough row to hoe. No pun intended. That's a hard way to earn a living. I'm happy to hear that you went on to better things. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions I greatly appreciate the info you give. I worked for a company building swimming pools in the early 70's and once the hole was dug the rest was all manual.

@@allanmccullough8550 You sound like a hard worker. I hope life is a bit easier for you these days. Be well my friend.

Please tell me where you live. Also, please break open that mound and see if you can obtain a specimen that has a red head. If you can, then you can send a photo to guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. I would like to have a look at it. A 7-inch mound in the house is unusual behavior, so let's see what the species is. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions I live in Glendale Arizona and I see them in the backyard they make flat mud leyers on dry vegetation and they are very small with a white body and dark head I don't know if is red but I didn't find any inside the mud tube.I used bioadvanced 700420a foam spray and put it in the crack on the floor.thanks for your awesome videos and help.

@@gonzouno1 Let me be perfectly honest. This one has me a bit confused. I can tell you that the termites you are seeing outside are most likely Agricultural termites. The thing that is confusing though is that these guys do not attack houses. They mostly prefer to eat dry, dead grass. It is very common to see above ground termite tubes on lawns in Arizona. So, without actually seeing this, my guess is that the ones you are seeing outside are not a threat to your home. Well, if that is the case, why are you seeing this 7-inch mound coming up your floor? That is behavior that we don't see with termites in the US. At least, I never have. So, we really need to figure out the species here. If I lived anywhere near you, then I would do an inspection to figure it out. Since that is not possible, then I recommend that you call a pest control company and ask for free inspection. After the inspection, ask the inspector to note the specific species on the estimate and ask for a written treatment plan. It is very possible that what is going on in the house is not termites at all and they could be ants. If that is the case, then the treatment is going to be much different. Show the inspector the mud tubes outside. I'm pretty sure that he is going to confirm that these are Agricultural termites. If that is the case, treating them is very easy and I will explain that after the inspection. Meanwhile, they are not a threat to your home. The important thing right now is to figure out what caused that mound that was coming up from the floor. The product that you used to treat it may or may not have resolved the issue. It would have been best to leave that mound alone until we figured out what it was. That would have made the inspection process much easier. Without that, the inspector is going to have to do a full inspection of your home. I don't think you should ignore this because it could be something serious. Please let me know what you find out and then I can tell you exactly how to treat it. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions thank you very much you are an awesome person and I will follow your recommendation.

@@gonzouno1 Happy to be of help. I hope this turns out to be nothing serious and I suspect that will be the case. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much. That is very kind of you to say. Since you live in Florida, you have very sandy soil, so the granules should work well for you. I don't think you need to trench. I live in Florida too and the granules have never failed me. However, should the granules let you down, then you can always trench. Be well Cortney.

I am so sorry that your mom passed. If you have termites in trees, then they could be Formosan. They are the only species that will eat live wood. If you do have them, then you have a serious problem. Please watch my video on how to identify termite species. If these guys are Formosan, then please watch my video on how to treat them. Sometimes a less aggressive species will invade trees that are already dying, so you could get lucky, but you need to check. Formosan termites can destroy a house in a matter of months. Be well Maria. Video on how to identify termite species: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dIs_a0nfVjg.html Video on how to treat Formosan termites: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xDtGUWxMrRw.html

That is so nice of you to say. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

It is very helpful then you told me where you live. There is a very high probability that you have an infestation of subterranean termites. They do not colonize in your house, but they like wet wood. They always colonize in the ground, usually within at 300 foot radius of your home. So, let's talk about how to treat them. There are two options for treating subterranean termites yourself. The easiest way is to use termite granules. It costs less than $60 to do and it only takes about an hour. The application is so easy that a child can do it. The other option is to trench around the entire building, including the driveway. It takes about a day for most people to trench around an average sized building and it only costs about $100 to do the job. Trenching lasts for 5 to 10 years, but the granules should be applied every year as a preventive measure. For the granules to work you need to have dirt around most of the house and that dirt needs to be porous enough to allow water to seep into the ground fairly quickly. To find out if the dirt around your house is porous enough, just dig a small hole next to the house that is about 4 inches deep, 8 inches long, and just the width of the shovel. Fill the hole with water and watch to see how fast it drains down into the ground. If it seeps into the ground fairly quickly, then the granules should work just fine. However, if it just kind of sits there, then the granules would not be a good choice, and you should consider trenching. Make sure that you buy the correct granules. You need the ones that have imidacloprid as the active ingredient. A lot of the Home Depot and Lowes stores no longer sell the correct granules, but you can get them from Amazon. I will give you a link to them. You can give any subterranean termite treatment a bit of a boost by doing a spot treatment. If at all possible, spot treating for subterranean termites should not be the only approach to eliminate an infestation. An additional exterior treatment should also be done with either granules or trenching, whenever possible. Spot treating alone may totally eliminate the infestation with no other treatments, but it's not a sure thing. To spot treat subterranean termites, you need to buy a fipronil foam. I will provide links for two products that you can choose from. I like the FiPro the best because it's a little less expensive and I like the applicator tip better, but the Termidor Foam also works very well. The FiPro is not available everywhere. If you can get one of these foams, then drill holes in all damaged areas or areas where you think there is activity, that are 4 inches apart, and drilled about halfway through the wood. If you are seeing exit holes in the wall, then there is most likely a stud behind the exit hole. Get a stud finder and locate the stud where it meets the ceiling and drive a small nail into the stud a couple of inches below the ceiling. Attach a weighted string to the nail and that will show you where the stud is. Then drill the holes 4 inches apart along the entire length of the stud, about 3 inches deep. Do the same thing for woodwork, except only drill the holes halfway through the wood. If you think that there is a 2 x 4 behind the woodwork, then drill a 3-inch-deep hole every 8 inches. The holes only need to be wide enough to get the applicator tip of the foam can into the hole. After the holes are drilled, then shoot the foam into each hole for about 5 seconds or until you have foam either coming back out at you or coming out the other holes that you drilled. All the holes should have foam either going into them or coming out of them. This will contaminate their food source and they will take the fipronil back in the colony and spread it around to the other termites. It typically takes several weeks for any termite treatment to be effective. That is because you are using slow kill products. If you were to kill the termites too quickly, then they would not have a chance to bring the poison back to the colony and share it with the other termites. If you don't kill off the entire colony, you will not end the infestation. Therefore, you must kill off subterranean termites very slowly. So, I would give this at least 12 weeks before I would decide that something went wrong, and the process didn't work. Hiring a professional to trench your house is pretty much going to take about the same amount of time to kill off the colony. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to apply termite granules: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H7rW_TSBHJ4.html Termite granules: www.amazon.com/dp/B000RUIJYM?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-t1_k2_1_4&amp=&crid=2GLEQCE9S5RV&amp=&sprefix=term FiPro: www.solutionsstores.com/fipro-foaming-aerosol Termidor Foam: www.domyown.com/termidor-foam-p-3528.html?pdpv=2

@@GuysPestSolutions I cannot thank you enough for the great advice! I'm going to try using the granules as most of my house is surrounded by dirt (some under rock) and maybe go hog wild next yearc and full on trench. Thank you again

@@tysontomko You are very welcome. The granules have always worked for me. Be well my friend.

Can you send me photos of all of this? I really need to look at it to determine the best way to go after these guys. My email is guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. Send photos of al sides of the house from the house to the property line and photos of the area in the basement where you are having a problem. Please allow a couple of days for me to look at everything and answer the email. Don't worry. Even though there is a lot of damage, this species actually east very slowly. There is a lot of damage because the infestation has been there for a long time. I hope that helps. Be well Shirley.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. The Taurus SC is not toxic to children or pets after the job is completed and the fill dirt has dried. You do not want pets getting into the liquid pesticide. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

I am not too familiar with termites in the Caribbean, but I can tell you that all termites that fly are swarmers. They are the kings and queens that are coming out of an existing colony and looking to start a new colony. You didn't say where in the Caribbean you live. I'm guessing that different locations may have different species, but it is a safe bet that you have both drywood termites and subterranean termites. I think some places in the Caribbean even call drywood termites "Caribbean termites." I'm pretty sure you have conehead termites as well. Anyway, if they are subterranean termites, then they only colonize in the ground, so those swarmers are trying to find a nice, soft spot of ground where they can dig in and start a colony. That could be right next to your house, and they may use your house as a food supply. If they are drywood termites, then they will fly directly into your house and find their way into the wood via cracks and crevices around windows, doors, the eaves, and so forth. So, you cannot treat the swarmers. You need to treat the colonies that are created by the swarmers. If you are seeing swarmers, then there is either a colony close by or already inside your house. In either case, you should get an inspection done by a qualified pest control company or you should inspect yourself. Just look for mud tubes around the house going from the ground up. They may also be in the crawl space or attic. If you see mud tubes, then you have subterranean termites. Also look for frass on the inside of the house, on the floor around the walls, particularly under windows. Frass looks a little like sawdust or small pellets. If you see frass, then you have drywood termites. After you have determined that you do have an infestation, then get back to me and I will help you figure out how to handle it. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

You can give any termite treatment a bit of a boost by doing a spot treatment. If at all possible, spot treating for subterranean termites should not be the only approach to eliminate an infestation. An additional exterior treatment should also be done with either granules or trenching, whenever possible. Spot treating alone may totally eliminate the infestation with no other treatments, but it's not a sure thing. That is because subterranean termites live in the ground and not in your house. They travel to and from the colony, that is most likely located within a 300 foot radius of your home. Trenching or the granules will provide a higher dose of the pesticide and ensure that you are not getting attacked from another side of the house as well. To spot treat subterranean termites, you need to buy a fipronil foam. I will provide links for two products that you can choose from. I like the FiPro the best because it's a little less expensive and I like the applicator tip better, but the Termidor Foam also works very well. The FiPro is not available everywhere. If you can get one of these foams, then drill holes in all damaged areas, that are 4 inches apart, and drilled about halfway through the wood. If you are seeing exit holes in the wall, then there is most likely a stud behind the exit hole. Get a stud finder and locate the stud where it meets the ceiling and drive a small nail into the stud a couple of inches below the ceiling. Attach a weighted string to the nail and that will show you where the stud is. Then drill the holes 4 inches apart along the entire length of the stud, about 3 inches deep. Do the same thing for woodwork, except only drill the holes halfway through the wood. If you think that there is a 2 x 4 behind the woodwork, then drill a 3-inch-deep hole every 8 inches. The holes only need to be wide enough to get the applicator tip of the foam can into the hole. After the holes are drilled, then shoot the foam into each hole for about 5 seconds or until you have foam either coming back out at you or coming out the other holes that you drilled. All the holes should have foam either going into them or coming out of them. This will contaminate their food source and they will take the fipronil back in the colony and spread it around to the other termites. Most of the time, subterranean termites are going to be building mud tubes somewhere. You will most likely find these mud tubes going up the exterior or interior of your foundation and you may find them along joists and even in the attic sometimes. If you have a slab home, then you may find them going up the outside of the house on the slab and even the side of the house. If you can find the mud tubes, then you can treat them as well. Just scrape off about a 2-inch section of each mud tube down to the bare surface. Then, shoot that foam into each side of the mud tube and also apply a little of it on the surface where you removed it. The termites will rebuild the mud tubes and bring the foam back to the colony to spread around to the other termites. Also, if you can find the mud tubes, this is a very good way to determine when the infestation is gone. If you scrape off that 2-inch section of a mud tube, you can see if there are any live termites in the tube. Again, the termites will rebuild the tube and go about their business. Do this every two weeks after you finish all your treatments. Apply the foam to the mud tube every time you do it. At the point you are no longer seeing live termites and they stop rebuilding the mud tube, then your infestation has been eradicated. It typically takes several weeks for any termite treatment to be effective. That is because you are using slow kill products. If you were to kill the termites too quickly, then they would not have a chance to bring the poison back to the colony and share it with the other termites. If you don't kill off the entire colony, you will not end the infestation. Therefore, you must kill off subterranean termites very slowly. So, I would give this at least 12 weeks before I would decide that something went wrong, and the process didn't work. Hiring a professional to trench your house is pretty much going to take about the same amount of time to kill off the colony. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to apply termite granules: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H7rW_TSBHJ4.html Termite granules: www.amazon.com/dp/B000RUIJYM?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-t1_k0_1_7&amp=&crid=39LQH28BN6B0V&amp=&sprefix=termite FiPro: www.solutionsstores.com/fipro-foaming-aerosol Termidor Foam: www.domyown.com/termidor-foam-p-3528.html

@Guy's Pest Solutions Guy, thank you for sharing your experience with all of us. Thank you for your response, it's very much appreciated! You're the best!!

Thanks again

@@PaulB-iw4wg You are very welcome. Be well my friend.

Drilling holes like that in the exterior of the brick would not be consistent with common pest control practices. I have learned over the years to never say never in pest control. Just when you think you've seen it all, someone comes up with something new. That being said, I can think of no reason why at pest controller would wish to do that. Pest controllers have been known to drill holes through concrete block, but it is typically done on the inside of the home for foundations. So, this would certainly not apply to you. I do not claim to be an expert with regard to brick veneer, but my best guess is that the existing weep holes were found inadequate for some reason. I can think of no other reason for drilling holes every 24 in apart around the building. I find it very strange that you have seen this on more than one building. If it were me, I would call a contractor that specializes in installing brick, and ask if they have ever seen it before. In any case, I think this is more related to a construction issue rather than a pest control issue. If the holes were drilled to allow moisture to escape, then it would be unwise to fill them in. That being said, those are very large holes and do present the opportunity for pests to enter. Therefore, it may be wise to push some Stuf-Fit into the holes to prevent pests from entering. This will allow moisture to escape, but it will prevent pests from getting in. This material is made out of copper, so it will not rust. I'll give you a link to it. I'm so sorry that I cannot be more assistance. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas. Be well my friend. Stuf-Fit: www.amazon.com/Stuf-fit-Copper-Mesh-Control-30/dp/B00149P89E/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=stuffit%2Bcopper%2Bmesh&qid=1703443094&sr=8-3&th=1

There are two options for treating subterranean termites yourself. The easiest way is to use termite granules. It costs less than $60 to do and it only takes about an hour. The application is so easy that a child can do it. The other option is to trench around the entire building, including the driveway. You can remove the gravel or mulch and then trench or you can try the granules. For the granules to work you need to have dirt around most of the house and that dirt needs to be porous enough to allow water to seep into the ground fairly quickly. To find out if the dirt around your house is porous enough, just dig a small hole next to the house that is about 4 inches deep, 8 inches long, and just the width of the shovel. Fill the hole with water and watch to see how fast it drains down into the ground. If it seeps into the ground fairly quickly, then the granules should work just fine. However, if it just kind of sits there, then the granules would not be a good choice, and you should consider trenching. Make sure that you buy the correct granules. You need the ones that have imidacloprid as the active ingredient. A lot of the Home Depot and Lowes stores no longer sell the correct granules, but you can get them from Amazon. I will give you a link to them. You can give any termite treatment a bit of a boost by doing a spot treatment. If at all possible, spot treating for subterranean termites should not be the only approach to eliminate an infestation. An additional exterior treatment should also be done with either granules or trenching, whenever possible. Spot treating alone may totally eliminate the infestation with no other treatments, but it's not a sure thing. To spot treat subterranean termites, you need to buy a fipronil foam. I will provide links for two products that you can choose from. I like the FiPro the best because it's a little less expensive and I like the applicator tip better, but the Termidor Foam also works very well. The FiPro is not available everywhere. If you can get one of these foams, then drill holes in all damaged areas, that are 4 inches apart, and drilled about halfway through the wood. If you are seeing exit holes in the wall, then there is most likely a stud behind the exit hole. Get a stud finder and locate the stud where it meets the ceiling and drive a small nail into the stud a couple of inches below the ceiling. Attach a weighted string to the nail and that will show you where the stud is. Then drill the holes 4 inches apart along the entire length of the stud, about 3 inches deep. Do the same thing for woodwork, except only drill the holes halfway through the wood. If you think that there is a 2 x 4 behind the woodwork, then drill a 3-inch-deep hole every 8 inches. The holes only need to be wide enough to get the applicator tip of the foam can into the hole. After the holes are drilled, then shoot the foam into each hole for about 5 seconds or until you have foam either coming back out at you or coming out the other holes that you drilled. All the holes should have foam either going into them or coming out of them. This will contaminate their food source and they will take the fipronil back in the colony and spread it around to the other termites. Most of the time, subterranean termites are going to be building mud tubes somewhere. You will most likely find these mud tubes going up the exterior or interior of your foundation and you may find them along joists and even in the attic sometimes. If you have a slab home, then you may find them going up the outside of the house on the slab and even the side of the house. If you can find the mud tubes, then you can treat them as well. Just scrape off about a 2-inch section of each mud tube down to the bare surface. Then, shoot that foam into each side of the mud tube and also apply a little of it on the surface where you removed it. The termites will rebuild the mud tubes and bring the foam back to the colony to spread around to the other termites. Also, if you can find the mud tubes, this is a very good way to determine when the infestation is gone. If you scrape off that 2-inch section of a mud tube, you can see if there are any live termites in the tube. Again, the termites will rebuild the tube and go about their business. Do this every two weeks after you finish all your treatments. Apply the foam to the mud tube every time you do it. At the point you are no longer seeing live termites and they stop rebuilding the mud tube, then your infestation has been eradicated. It typically takes several weeks for any termite treatment to be effective. That is because you are using slow kill products. If you were to kill the termites too quickly, then they would not have a chance to bring the poison back to the colony and share it with the other termites. If you don't kill off the entire colony, you will not end the infestation. Therefore, you must kill off subterranean termites very slowly. So, I would give this at least 12 weeks before I would decide that something went wrong, and the process didn't work. Hiring a professional to trench your house is pretty much going to take about the same amount of time to kill off the colony. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to apply termite granules: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H7rW_TSBHJ4.html Termite granules: www.amazon.com/dp/B000RUIJYM?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-t1_k0_1_7&amp=&crid=39LQH28BN6B0V&amp=&sprefix=termite FiPro: www.solutionsstores.com/fipro-foaming-aerosol Termidor Foam: www.domyown.com/termidor-foam-p-3528.html

@@GuysPestSolutions Appreciated the detailed reply. Now I reember the pest control guy who did the trench around my house took short cuts by digging shallow and narrow trenches and diluted chemical less than the 0.8 oz (per gallon) ratio. So I am planning to retreat it by myself after watching the videos. Another question is that what should I do if I found termites under the bark mulch in the front yard?

@@dougs3866 Probably the best way to treat the mulch is to simply apply the granules over the top of it and just water it in. You know the termites are very close to the surface because they're eating the mulch, so treating that mulch with the granules will probably take out the entire colony. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

I have never tried doing that, but it is possible that you plan will work. I think the success of it will depend upon how porous or dense the soil is and the species in question. You know, if you loosen up the dirt with a cultivator, it may not be so hard to just trench it. You can certainly give it a try if you like. I love experimentation, but keep in mind that the termites are busy eating your house, so there is some element of risk. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Water lines are usually deeper than 6 inches, so they seldom present a problem. You would just dig the trench right over it. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

Are you installing the French drain under the crawlspace or on the outside of the building? It sounds like you were doing it under the building, which is okay, but if you do it on the outside of the building, then you don't want to get too close to the house, because that will prevent you from doing termite treatments. I do not necessarily agree with the pest control companies you spoke with about not treating the exterior of the building with a termiticide. I can't help but wonder if they dug any test holes to see if they were able to do a trenching treatment. It's pretty simple really. You just dig holes in several places around the building that are 6 inches deep. If you hit water, then do not trench. If you do not see water, then there is no reason not to trench. The termiticide will bond with soil, so it will not be going anywhere. If your well is not within about 8 feet of the house, then I would not be concerned about it at all. So, if I were you, I would get a shovel I just dig a couple of test holes on each side of the building. If your house fails the hole test, then I would be happy to give you the procedure to spot treat the termites. For spot treating to be effective, you must do it correctly. Please note that the red eye stations should not be used for an existing infestation. They were designed as a preventive measure only. While they do a wonderful job preventing subterranean termites, they are not a good choice for treating an active infestation. That being said, if you spot treat for the termites, and if it is successful, then installing monitoring stations around the house would be a very good idea. As luck would have it, I am currently in the process of doing the postproduction on a video that will show you how to make your own monitoring stations out of disposable water bottles for under $0.50 each. The red eye stations cost about $15 each, so that is the savings of about $14.50 per station. If you make them yourself, which is super quick and easy to do, you can probably place them around your entire house for under $25, and you can locate them at 4-foot intervals, instead of the 8-foot intervals that you need to use with the red eye stations. That means the termites are way more likely to find them. I expect to have this video released sometime next week. If you subscribe to my channel and click on that little notification bell, then you will get notified when the video is posted. I hope that helps. Please let me know if the test holes fail, and you need guidance on how to do the spot treatment. Be well my friend.

You can retrench immediately. If you have already trenched once, then doing it again should be pretty easy digging. The biggest mistakes people make are not treating the backfill dirt and not treating both sides of the driveway and around patios. A lot of the time, you can get away with not treating the backfill, but it's not a sure thing. It depends on the ground conditions. I know pest controllers that never treat the backfill. So, I don't know that I would redo it if that is the problem. I would wait 12 weeks to see if it worked. It can take up to 12 weeks for trenching to be fully effective. If you still have termites after 12 weeks, then I would redo it. Otherwise, just make sure that you have treated around all the concrete, and you should be good to go. If you did something else incorrectly, then let me know, and I will advise you further. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Let me start by saying that Termidor SC is the exact same thing as Taurus SC. The only thing is that Taurus SC is a bit less expensive. These products are not insect growth regulators, so they do not prevent the termites from reproducing. They are designed to work on the nervous system of the termites and kill them outright. However, these products are purposely designed to kill slowly because we want the termites to bring these materials back to the colony and share it with the other termites, including the queen. Subterranean termites must return to the colony fairly often to bring food back to the other termites and to obtain the moisture that they need to survive. Most species never colonize in your home. They always colonize in the ground. Your home just happens to be their favorite restaurant. Subterranean termites only travel a couple of inches below the ground and so you only need a 6-inch deep trench, regardless of how deep the foundation is. When the termites travel to and from your home they will pass through this barrier and they will carry the pesticide back to the colony. This should kill off the entire colony within about 12 weeks. No more colony, no more termites, no more infestation in your home. Both FiPro add Termidor Foam are pretty much the exact same thing. They work exactly the same way as Taurus SC or Termidor SC. The only difference is that the foam expands to several times its original size, and this allows it to get into a lot of different nooks and crannies that liquids cannot penetrate. You did not tell me where you live, and location matters. In some areas of the country you also have Formosan termites or Western subterranean termites. These guys are also subterranean, but unlike other species of subterranean termites, they do have the ability to colonize in your home. Therefore, if you're dealing with these guys, not only do you need to trench, but you may also need to do a treatment inside the house, which may require removing some of the drywall. As the name implies, Western subterranean termites only exist in western states. They are most active in California, but they are active in other states as well. Formosan termites are typically found in southern coastal states, California, and Hawaii. If you tell me where you live, then I can let you know if you need to check further for one of these species. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions I live in northeast Ohio but I'm thinking of my parents' house in western PA. Termites got into the concrete block foundation wall below ground and worked their way up into the sill plate at the top of the foundation wall and ate their way through it going 3 feet and making a 90 degree turn with the sill plate. There were no mud tunnels on the outside wall. If termites got into the concrete block well below the 6" trench, would the Taurus SC poured in the trench run down the foundation wall and get to the termites? In 1997, they had Terminex put bait stations around the yard and termites NEVER once hit a station and for 10 years and they saw signs of termites every spring, especially swarmers. Then in 2007, they came out with the Termidor, drilled holes and sprayed and never saw signs of termites again. In their case, would pouring the Taurus SC in the 6" trench go all the way down to the foundation wall and be enough or would they have to dig deeper than 6" or pour more than the 4 gallons in the trench per 10 feet? Also, if I don't have termites, it seems that putting bait stations every 4 feet around my house is like inviting termites to come and target my house. If they find food there, then they signal for more termites to come in the direction of my house. What do you feel about that thought? Thank you :-)

​@@keepitsimple8 Thank you for sharing that additional information. It is very helpful. Let me start by saying that both in Ohio and Pennsylvania, you only have subterranean termites that do not colonize in homes. So that makes it pretty easy. The Taurus SC that you pour into the trench is probably not going to run down to where the problem is, but the termites do not generally travel that deep anyway. So, they will still pass through the barrier even if it is only 6 in deep. Most of the time, when termites reach a foundation, they head up toward the surface and start building a mud tube. However, the termites do not always get the memo that this is how they are supposed to behave, so they sometimes go down, or even to the left or right. When they do that, then they look for openings in the foundation where they can get in, and they use that opening to find their way to a food source. Therefore, in this scenario, simply digging a 6-foot trench around the house is still going to work. However, in rare cases, the termites may have established a colony just outside the house, and that colony may be very deep in the ground. When this happens, it is possible that the termites are coming straight up from the ground to that opening in the foundation. In that scenario, trenching around the house would not work. The problem is that you have no way of knowing which one of these things is the case. That being said, I can tell you that it is very unusual for the colony to be that close to the house. It is almost always the case that the colony is somewhere within a 300 ft radius of the house and the termites are simply going in the wrong direction when they reach the foundation. It is not all that uncommon to see this happen. Therefore, my recommendation would be to trench around the house. There is probably around a 98% chance that this will solve the problem. However, it wouldn't hurt to spot treat any areas where there is either damage or mud tubes. To spot treat subterranean termites, you need to buy a fipronil foam. I will provide links for two products that you can choose from. I like the FiPro the best because it's a little less expensive and I like the applicator tip better, but the Termidor Foam also works very well. The FiPro is not available everywhere. If you can get one of these foams, then drill holes in all damaged areas, that are 4 inches apart, and drilled about halfway through the wood. If you are seeing exit holes in the wall, then there is most likely a stud behind the exit hole. Get a stud finder and locate the stud where it meets the ceiling and drive a small nail into the stud a couple of inches below the ceiling. Attach a weighted string to the nail and that will show you where the stud is. Then drill the holes 4 inches apart along the entire length of the stud, about 3 inches deep. Do the same thing for woodwork, except only drill the holes halfway through the wood. If you think that there is a 2 x 4 behind the woodwork, then drill a 3-inch-deep hole every 8 inches. The holes only need to be wide enough to get the applicator tip of the foam can into the hole. After the holes are drilled, then shoot the foam into each hole for about 5 seconds or until you have foam either coming back out at you or coming out the other holes that you drilled. All the holes should have foam either going into them or coming out of them. This will contaminate their food source and they will take the fipronil back in the colony and spread it around to the other termites. Most of the time, subterranean termites are going to be building mud tubes somewhere. You will most likely find these mud tubes going up the exterior or interior of your foundation and you may find them along joists and even in the attic sometimes. If you can find the mud tubes, then you can treat them as well. Just scrape off about a 2-inch section of each mud tube down to the bare surface. Then, shoot that foam into each side of the mud tube and also apply a little of it on the surface where you removed it. The termites will rebuild the mud tubes and bring the foam back to the colony to spread around to the other termites. Also, if you can find the mud tubes, this is a very good way to determine when the infestation is gone. If you scrape off that 2-inch section of a mud tube, you can see if there are any live termites in the tube. Again, the termites will rebuild the tube and go about their business. Do this every two weeks after you finish all your treatments. Apply the foam to the mud tube every time you do it. At the point you are no longer seeing live termites and they stop rebuilding the mud tube, then your infestation has been eradicated. It typically takes several weeks for any termite treatment to be effective. That is because you are using slow kill products. If you were to kill the termites too quickly, then they would not have a chance to bring the poison back to the colony and share it with the other termites. If you don't kill off the entire colony, you will not end the infestation. Therefore, you must kill off subterranean termites very slowly. So, I would give this at least 12 weeks before I would decide that something went wrong, and the process didn't work. Hiring a professional to trench your house is pretty much going to take about the same amount of time to kill off the colony. I never recommend putting bait stations around your house if you do not have an active infestation. In fact, I never recommend putting bait stations around your house even if you do have an active infestation because they kill way too slowly for my liking. However, I do think it is a good idea to put monitoring stations around the house. Monitoring stations are not the same thing as bait stations. What the professionals typically use are bait stations and that bait is designed to attract termites. I don't know that I want to put anything around my house that is going to attract termites. Monitoring stations do not work the same way as bait stations. The monitoring stations use wood and that wood does not give off the same sort of attractant that is used in commercial baits. If you are using wood in the station instead of a bait, then the termites need to get very close before they find it. When I say very close, I am talking about probably somewhere within 10 feet. So, if you place these things every 4 feet around your house, then there is a very high probability that the termites will find them, if they are in the area. They will not be attracted to them unless they are reasonably close to your house. If the termites are traveling reasonably close to your house, then that is the sort of thing you want to know about, because they could attack your house instead of the monitoring stations. Bait stations on the other hand may attract the termites from quite some distance away, and that is why I don't like to use them. If you use monitoring stations, and you check them at least once a month, then there is a good chance that you will catch the activity before the termites attack your house. There's no guarantee of this, but it sure beats not knowing at all. If the termites are attacking one of the stations, then you can simply place a bait station next to it. If the termites attack that bait station, then there is s a good chance it will take out the entire colony and your house will never see a termite. The professionals almost always install bait stations instead of monitoring stations. That is because they do not want to come out every month to check them. If they install bait stations, they figure the stations will just go on working all year, and so they only need to inspect once a year to replace the bait. If you make the monitoring stations yourself, they will have a little orange dot at the top. If that dot disappears, then you have termites. So it only takes a couple of minutes to walk around the house and look for the dots. It is very quick and easy to do. If you see a dot that is missing, then simply remove that station and check to make sure that there are termites in it. Occasionally one of the stations will go off by accident because the stick may not have been long enough to stay in place. If there are termites in the station, simply put it back where it was and then install a bait station next to it. If there are no termites in the station, then simply replace it with a new one. All monitoring stations have a problem with mold, and termites do not like mold. So always pull up one of the stations every year to check for mold. If the station does not have any mold, then you are good for another year. If the station does have mold, then check a few more of them around the house. If several of them have mold, then start to replace all of them. Mold is a problem for the commercial stations as well. Anything you put under the ground in a dark and damp environment is subject to mold. The good news is that the monitoring stations only cost about $0.50 to make and is very easy to make them as well. They literally install in seconds. So homemade monitoring stations are a quick and easy thing to do that will alert you to the presence of termites, and give you an opportunity to treat them before they start eating your house. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. FiPro: www.solutionsstores.com/fipro-foaming-aerosol Termidor Foam: www.domyown.com/termidor-foam-p-3528.html Video on how to make monitoring stations: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gye27aXHRsY.html

That is generally no problem, but I want to qualify my answer before I provide it. Whenever someone asks a question like this, I get a certain image in my mind of what pavers look like, but that image may not be what actually exists. So, the answer really is that it depends. I would love to see a photo of it. If you like you can send one to guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. Without actually seeing it, I can tell you that, in most cases, you can simply trench next to the pavers. How well that works depends upon things like, how wide they are, how far they extend out from the house, and things like that. Also, are there mud tubes going up the side of the house? Is there a crawl space or unfinished basement? If so, are there mud tubes coming up from the ground under the house? Finally, location matters. Where do you live? Certain areas of the US and other countries have some species of termites that do not behave the same way as most species that are found in the US. For example, if you live in certain areas of Louisiana, some red flags are going up really fast for me. So, if you provide more information, I can give you a definite answer. You may want to email me, so that I can provide you with individualized attention. I will work with you to make sure that you get it done correctly. Don't worry. My service is totally free. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions Thank you for a quick answer. I live in Arizona. w am responding to this tread because many of my friends has similar problem. Photo will be sent in a couple hrs. It is still dark here.

@@arts1052 Okay. I will read your email and get back to you. Be well my friend.

Are you talking about inside the house or outside? Please explain exactly where you are having the problem because the treatment may be somewhat different. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions I see them inside the house more in my garage

@@corylee1800 Wood boring beetles in the garage are very easy to treat. Just buy a gallon of Bora-Care and mix it one to one with water, in a 5 gallon bucket, using an electric drill and a paint mixer attachment. Mix it until it has the consistency of water, and then pour it into a one gallon pump-up garden sprayer. Then, simply spray all the wood in the garage. You need to get the wood wet, but there is no need to get it dripping. Please note that they recommend mixing Bora-Care with hot water, but I can tell you from experience that cold water works perfectly fine. Also, buy the cheapest sprayer you can find because this stuff can clog the sprayer really quickly and it can be hard to clean out. So just by a $10 sprayer and throw it away when you finish the job. This is a permanent treatment and you never need to reply the Bora-Care. You can only apply Bora-Care on wood that has not been finished in any way. Most of the time, the wood inside a garage has never been finished. Treating these guys inside the house is different. If they are in untreated wood that has not been painted, stained, or sealed in any way, then you can use the Bora-Care. However, if the wood has been finished in some way, then you need to inject a fipronil foam into all the holes until the foam is either coming out at you or coming out of the other holes. You should have foam either going into or coming out of every hole. This will eliminate any activity in the treated areas, but unlike Bora-Care, this is not a permanent treatment. All you did was kill off the existing infestation. If the problem persists, then retreat it one more time with the foam, and then apply Talstar P on any surfaces where you need to prevent the problem from happening again. Just mix the Talstar P one ounce per gallon of water and apply it with a pump up garden sprayer. You can also apply it with a hand held pump sprayer like the kind that Windex comes in. Walmart sells them for about $1.20 each. The Talstar P is not a permanent application either, so you need to reapply it every 90 days. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Bora-Care: www.domyown.com/boracare-p-100.html Fipronil foam: www.domyown.com/termidor-foam-p-3528.html Talstar P: www.domyown.com/talstar-professional-insecticide-p-97.html

Thank you so much for those kind words. We have some stuff to unpack here, so let me start by saying that you seldom see termites, dead or alive. That is because they will die if they are exposed to the air, so they typically stay inside the wood or inside mud tubes that they build. It would be someone unusual to find one outside of the wood, even if it's dead. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is it make sure that this was a termite and not something much different, such as a carpenter ant. You probably disposed of the specimen already, but the next time you see something like that take a look to see how many body parts it has. If it appears to have only two body segments, then it may well be a termite. However, if it appears to have three body segments, then it is probably something like an ant. Also, termites are typically a cream color, unless they are swarmers. Wood can be damaged for other reasons besides termites. For example, you could be looking at dry rot, or perhaps damage from something like carpenter ants. Typically, wood destroying pests eat with the grain of the wood, but dry rot will destroy the entire structure of the wood. If you have confirmed that these are actually termites, but you are not seeing any activity, then it is possible that one of your neighbors killed them for you. Most species of subterranean termites do not colonize in your home. They only colonize underground, and they typically attack more than one food source at a time. If the colony attacked your neighbor's home and they had it treated, then that treatment probably took out the entire colony, so your home will no longer be infested. Nevertheless, sometimes termites can attack one part of the house, and for reasons known only to them, they may decide to abandon that food source in favor of another one in a different part of your house. Therefore, if you know that you are looking at termite damage, yet you are not seeing termites, red flags do need to go up. You would be wise to do an inspection of the rest of the house to see if there's any activity in other areas. Look for mud tubes that are coming up from the ground around the entire perimeter of the house. If you have a crawl space, go under there and look for mud tubes as well. They could be coming up from the ground, or they could be running along the floor joist as well. You should also check the attic as well because some species will travel into the attic before they start to eat. It would also be wise to look around the house to see if you can find any mud along the baseboards or damage. Check all the walls and look for tiny holes that may be no larger than 1/8 of an inch wide, and they may be filled in with mud. While you are checking the walls, also look for sagging or discolored paint. You should also check the ceiling as well. If you do not see anything like this, then you are probably okay. Still, it wouldn't hurt to do a preventive treatment around the house. The easiest way to do this is to use termite granules. For the granules to work you need to have dirt around most of the house and that dirt needs to be porous enough to allow water to seep into the ground fairly quickly. To find out if the dirt around your house is porous enough, just dig a small hole next to the house that is about 4 inches deep, 8 inches long, and just the width of the shovel. Fill the hole with water and watch to see how fast it drains down into the ground. If it seeps into the ground fairly quickly, then the granules should work just fine. However, if it just kind of sits there, then the granules would not be a good choice, and you should consider monitoring stations. Trenching will work too, but it's a lot more work. Make sure that you buy the correct granules. You need the ones that have imidacloprid as the active ingredient. A lot of the Home Depot and Lowes stores no longer sell the correct granules, but you can get them from Amazon. I will give you a link to them. If you confirm that you do not have an active infestation already, you may want to also consider using monitoring stations around your home. I use both the granules and the monitoring stations. I will give you a link to my video on how to make them for under 50 cents each. I put them around my entire house for less than $25. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Termite granules: www.amazon.com/dp/B000RUIJYM?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-t1_k1_1_6&amp=&crid=157C3RV0MY0AK&amp=&sprefix=termit Video on how to apply termite granules: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H7rW_TSBHJ4.html Video on how to make monitoring stations: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gye27aXHRsY.html

Thank you so very much for providing this information. It's very insightful and extremely helpful... I appreciate you, big time 🙏🏾😊💯

@@nolidcreations You are very welcome. Thank you so much for those kind words. Very much appreciated. Be well my friend.

Thank you so much for those kind words and for the question. You see, pesticides come in two basic flavors. There are repellent pesticides and nonrepellent pesticides. As the name implies, repellent pesticides repel bugs. That is to say, the bugs know somehow that it is a poison for them, and they avoid it. In the case of termites, they will not cross a nonrepellent barrier. When the reach it, they will go in another direction. Nonrepellent pesticides are also just like the name implies. These do not repel bugs. In fact, the bugs cannot identify this material as a poison to them and they will walk right over it. In the case of termites, they will pass right through it and then bring it back to the colony to share with the other termites. Then it's lights out for the entire colony. No colony, no infestation. Subterranean termites always return to the colony, so if they contact this material, then it's game over for them. The bottom line is that nonrepellent pesticides will wipe out the colony, but repellent pesticides will not. With repellent pesticides, you are trying to put a shield around your home that the termites cannot cross, but you are not trying to kill off the colony. The problem with that strategy is that, if there is any area that was not treated, then the termites could find it and still gain entry. By allowing them access to your house, they will not have enough time to do any serious damage before the entire colony is dead. Case in point. I found a 4-inch-long mud tube one day going up the side of my house. I broke it open to see what was inside and it was empty. The termites never even made it to the wood. The colony was wiped out by the time they were able to build a 4-inch-long tube. It is a common practice for pest controllers to use a repellent pesticide for prevention and a nonrepellent pesticide to treat an active infestation, but does that really make a lot of sense? The repellent pesticides are generally cheaper to buy, but is it really worth the savings? I think you are better off spending a few extra bucks to do the job right. An entire house can be treated with a nonrepellent pesticide at today's prices for about $120. So, it kind of makes sense to me to always use a nonrepellent pesticide for termites. I hope that clears it up. Be well my friend.

Termite granule may work in your case. I just responded to a question you posted explaining how to find out if the granules will work for you. Do that perk test. If you pass it, then the granules should get it done. If you fail the perk test, then get back to me and I will guide you further. Be well my friend.

DoMyOwn.com will ship to most states. Here's the link. Be well my friend. www.domyown.com/taurus-sc-termiticide-p-1816.html?sub_id=1817

Unfortunately, the preferred method to treat a house that is on piers is to treat each individual pier as if it were its own foundation. If you are trenching, then you would trench around each pier. Of course, the problem with many pier homes is that they were built so close to the ground in some places that you cannot get under there to treat some of the piers. When you run into that situation, then you need to treat around the piers that you can reach, and then you need to treat around the perimeter of the entire building as well. It is important to understand that subterranean termites colonize in the ground and never in your house. If you have a pier home, then that usually means you have dirt under it. Therefore, it is possible for the termites to colonize directly under the house. That is why we like to treat around each pier. Subterranean termites always return to the colony fairly often to obtain the moisture they need to survive and to feed the other termites in the colony. If you treat around each pier, then it doesn't matter if the colony is directly under the house or not, because they will need to encounter the termiticide on their way to and from the food source. If you cannot treat around one or more of the piers, then that may present the termites with an opportunity to make their way into your house by exploiting the fact that a particular pier, or piers, we're not treated. So, the best you can do is treat the ones that you can treat and then treat around the perimeter as well, hoping that the colony is outside the footprint of the house. If you can see a pier, but you cannot access it, you can shoot a pesticide onto the pier by using a hose end sprayer. Please watch my video on how to treat your yard with a hose end sprayer. Just use the sprayer that I recommend in the video and mix the pesticide as I recommend in the video. Put the sprayer into stream mode and just shoot it onto the piers about every 60 days. This will not treat an existing infestation, but it will prevent new termites from taking that root of entry. While you're at it, it wouldn't hurt to spray the other piers as well, even if you treated them with granules or trenching. If you have enough space under the house to work, then you can treat all the wood with Bora-Care. You should treat the floor joists on all sides, and the subflooring. That means you need to remove the insulation, treat the wood, and then replace the insulation. It's a lot of work, but this will render that wood termite proof forever. I will give you a video on how to use Bora-Care and a link to the product. Always mix it one to one with water. The label will tell you one to five is okay, but don't believe it. You should do this in addition to the trenching. The Bora-Care lasts forever, but the Taurus SC only lasts 5 to 10 years for trenching. The Bifen XTS used for spraying with a hose end sprayer only lasts about 60 to 90 days, so I would do that every 60 days. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video on how to treat your yard with a hose end sprayer: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wifoTU5dmp0.html Bora-Care video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Rmr_aEodyhg.html Bora-Care: www.domyown.com/boracare-p-100.html?co_var=3

To answer that I need to see photos of it. You can send them to guyspestsolutions@gmail.com. Please remind me of the problem when you send the photos. I get a lot of termite email. I am behind on email, but I will get back to you within a couple of days after you send the email. You would not believe how many emails I receive every day and I take all the time necessary to answer each one fully. I will do the same for you. Be well my friend.

When you are dealing with a wooden deck, the preferred method of treatment is to trench around each of the support posts. You should also treat along the side of the house, underneath the deck. I also recommend treating around the stairs where it meets the ground. Oftentimes this is not possible because the deck is too close to the ground to access the support posts or the side of the house. If this is the case, then the best you can do is to treat around the entire deck. This will usually get it done, but keep in mind that there is dirt under the deck, so it is possible that the termites could have established a colony directly under the deck. This is somewhat uncommon, but I do need to mention that it is a possibility. When that happens, trenching around the deck is not going to be effective. There are ways to go after them if they are colonizing under the deck, so let me know if this is the case, and we can talk about ways to treat it. Again, this is an unusual situation, so I would begin by using a standard treatment to see if it works. Keep in mind that it can take up to 12 weeks to eliminate a subterranean termite colony. It is the same amount of time if the pros to it as well. I hope that helps. Be well my friend.

You have some different species in Australia than we do in America and they can behave quite differently. Trenching does not work for all species. For example, you may have drywood termites, which would explain why you are not seeing mud tubes. We do have drywood termites here too, but yours are somewhat different. You also have termites that travel deep underground, so trenching may not work for those guys. I am surprised that the pros were not able to fix the problem. If you had a pro treat it before, take a look at the contract and see what the species is. I don't know if I can be of help or not, but I can have a look. Also, please tell me exactly where you are located. Thanks. Be well my friend.

@@GuysPestSolutions Thanks for your reply Guy your a gentleman and I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to reply and help your a legend! They have been there for many years, this previous professional inspection was done by whom was managing the property previously so I dont have these records unfortunately. I found a huge mound (over 1 meter high), located about 40 meters from the house, we destroyed by digging down until we couldn't find any more of their nest and sprayed with gasoline (realise I should have first poisened the nest with fipronil) we have obviously missed the Queen as they have come back. I took photos at the time of doing this and have identified them just now from the photos as Coptotermes, can clearly identify this as the species from the photos, I will verify this is the same species found in the house structure as well. I have inspection camera and drill and will look inside all the walls and bait the structural timber around the entire area they have damaged, by drilling holes and foaming along the timber anywhere I can. I will also use fipronil solution sprayed into all the crevices between house and cement slab inside and out and trenching around the house as well I originally stripped of the flakes of trimming they have eaten around the home so I hope this hasn't made it worse, I realise I should have poisen them first before disturbing anything. I thought they had gone but upon removal of trim found some inside, they have been here for many years so it's an existing problem I'm trying to fix. The professionals left bait rod stations around the perimeter of the house which indicates they are subterranean (10 meters apart) I cleaned them all out and put new quality rods in them as well but observing them nothing has been effective there as they must have gone around the traps it seems. I know with perserverence and some helpful advice I will get control of the situation, I want to be able to manage this situation myself so I can monitor it and understand how to do it before I start to repair the property. I will do annual maintenance such as spraying and granual bait around spread around the permiter of the house. I have detailed images of everything if I can send through, any help is greatly appreciated and happy to pay for your time. Thanks again Guy!

@@ab_crypto Coptotermes is a genus of termites in the family Rhinotermitidae. There are over 70 species of Coptotermes in the world, and many of them are economically important pests. Coptotermes termites are known for their ability to cause significant damage to wood and other cellulose-containing materials, so you need to take these guys seriously. Most likely, you have the Australian subterranean termite (Coptotermes acinaciformis). These guys are known to cause significant damage to wood and other cellulose-containing materials. The problem I have is that I have never encountered this species and I am not familiar with their method of attack. I spend a lot of time sometimes in my videos explaining how differents species operate because, if you don't understand how a species functions, they you may not be successful in eliminating it. Most people don't' care about that stuff. They just want to know how to treat it, but it is so very important to understand the enemy. If you know how they are coming at you, then you can formulate a logical treatment plan. In this case, I possess little or no understanding of how they operate, but I suspect that they are much different than what I am used to. For one thing, termites in America do not build mounds like these guys do. Since they operate differently, this could be the reason the bait stations are not working. The bait stations work off the idea that the termite colony is located outside the footprint of the house and the termites are only going to travel a few inches below the ground. When they search for food, they will find the stations. This species may not work like that. I really don't know, but they may operate much deeper and then come straight up because they are mound building. I did my best to research how to treat these guys effectively, but I am not coming up with anything useful. I suppose that is because this species does not exist here. So, my best advice is to search the web for treatment methods. If that fails, then ask a pest controller to look at the property and provide an estimate and treatment plan. If the plan is bait, then you already know that won't work, because it didn't. So, try to find someone that has a different treatment plan. My thinking is that I would use a bait, but not around the perimeter of the house. We know that they are subterranean, which means the colony is underground. If you can find the colony, then you can apply a bait directly in that location or treat it with fipronil. I would probably go with the bait first, hoping that they will take it to the main colony and share it with the other termites. You could also bait and use fipronil at the same time though. Spot treating places where you are seeing them may work, but it will depend upon their behavior and how many you are poisoning. So, if you see another mound pop up, then that is where I would go after them. For now though, treating area of activity is a good plan. I am so sorry that I cannot be of more help. Be well my friend.

​​@@GuysPestSolutionsThanks again Guy, I will do some more research on the species and how they attack and go back and bait the nest area. 👍

@@ab_crypto You are very welcome. I hope it goes well. Be well my friend.

It sounds like you do have an infestation, so trenching is a good idea because these guys are subterranean. You can treat the attic with bora-care if you like. Mix it one to one with water. You can also spot treat any areas where you are seeing activity with a fipronil foam. To spot treat subterranean termites, you need to use a fipronil foam. I will provide links for two products that you can choose from. I like the FiPro the best because it's a little less expensive and I like the applicator tip better, but the Termidor Foam also works very well. The FiPro is not available everywhere. If you can get one of these foams, then drill holes in all damaged areas, that are 4 inches apart, and drilled about halfway through the wood. If you are seeing exit holes in the wall, then there is most likely a stud behind the exit hole. Get a stud finder and locate the stud where it meets the ceiling and drive a small nail into the stud a couple of inches below the ceiling. Attach a weighted string to the nail and that will show you where the stud is. Then drill the holes 4 inches apart along the entire length of the stud, about 3 inches deep. Do the same thing for woodwork, except only drill the holes halfway through the wood. If you think that there is a 2 x 4 behind the woodwork, then drill a 3-inch-deep hole every 8 inches. The holes only need to be wide enough to get the applicator tip of the foam can into the hole. After the holes are drilled, then shoot the foam into each hole for about 5 seconds or until you have foam either coming back out at you or coming out the other holes that you drilled. All the holes should have foam either going into them or coming out of them. This will contaminate their food source and they will take the fipronil back in the colony and spread it around to the other termites. Most of the time, subterranean termites are going to be building mud tubes somewhere. You will most likely find these mud tubes going up the exterior or interior of your foundation and you may find them along joists and even in the attic sometimes. If you have a slab home, then you may find them going up the outside of the house on the slab and even the side of the house. If you can find the mud tubes, then you can treat them as well. Just scrape off about a 2-inch section of each mud tube down to the bare surface. Then, shoot that foam into each side of the mud tube and also apply a little of it on the surface where you removed it. The termites will rebuild the mud tubes and bring the foam back to the colony to spread around to the other termites. Also, if you can find the mud tubes, this is a very good way to determine when the infestation is gone. If you scrape off that 2-inch section of a mud tube, you can see if there are any live termites in the tube. Again, the termites will rebuild the tube and go about their business. Do this every two weeks after you finish all your treatments. Apply the foam to the mud tube every time you do it. At the point you are no longer seeing live termites and they stop rebuilding the mud tube, then your infestation has been eradicated. After you use one of these methods, you may want to consider installing monitoring stations around the house. This is not necessary, but it is very easy to do, and you will know immediately if you have termites in the area. If one of the stations goes off, then you can treat the termites right at the station, before they try to attack your house. This way, you are protected by either the granules or the trenching, and you have the peace of mind knowing that there are no termites in the area. You can make these stations yourself out of used water bottles for about 50 cents each. I have a video on how to do that and I will give you a link to it. These stations have a little orange dot on the top of them. When the dock disappears you either have termites or the station has malfunctioned. Either way, you can check to see if there are active termites, and if there are, then you can treat them right there. Now, let's face it, we are making these things out of used water bottles, so it is possible that one of orange indicators can move to the side and disappear, even though there are no termites. That's not really a big deal though because these things are very fast and easy to make and install. So, just keep a few on hand should you need to replace one. After they are installed, just walk around the house every couple of months to see if there are orange dots missing. It couldn't be easier. It typically takes several weeks for any termite treatment to be effective. That is because you are using slow kill products. If you were to kill the termites too quickly, then they would not have a chance to bring the poison back to the colony and share it with the other termites. If you don't kill off the entire colony, you will not end the infestation. Therefore, you must kill off subterranean termites very slowly. So, I would give this at least 12 weeks before I would decide that something went wrong, and the process didn't work. Hiring a professional to trench your house is pretty much going to take about the same amount of time to kill off the colony. I hope that helps. Be well my friend. Video and how to make termite monitoring stations: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gye27aXHRsY.html Video on how to use Bora-Care: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Rmr_aEodyhg.html Bora-Care: www.domyown.com/boracare-p-100.html FiPro: www.solutionsstores.com/fipro-foaming-aerosol Termidor Foam: www.domyown.com/termidor-foam-p-3528.html