Are you wondering how to kill termites? Well, you have several choices.
You realize that these swarming pests are no laughing matter given the amount of damage they cause each year. The earlier you can detect the problem the better since some colonies can eat a good amount of wood each week.
Trees in your yard, furniture which is made of wood or contains wood, are among the things which should receive special care when you inspect for termite infestation. You should pay particular attention to dead and dying trees and tree stumps which are very attractive to invading termites. But what do you do when you discover your home and yard have been invaded?
Because some colonies can be as large as a half million and even up to a million members, it will take some time and product to get rid of them but the task can be accomplished. You will need to spread around your house a specially treated bait which will be carried to the colony by the worker termites and then consumed by the entire colony which will lead to its destruction.
If you live in the southernmost part of the country, then you might need to determine whether your home is infested with dry wood termites. If so, then you will need to employ a different strategy which involves fumigation. There is a lot of preparation required which includes having a tent or tarp put over your home and then pumping gas or insecticide into it. Of course, you and other residents will have to make alternative living arrangements for the next several days.
Assuming your house is not infested with dry wood termites, then you may resort to the use of termiticides which are sprayed around your house and yard as well as pumped into the ground beneath your house through holes drilled in your house’s foundation. A drawback to this strategy is that since it requires that the termites come into direct contact with the product, the person doing the spraying must have a pretty good idea of the location of the colony.
One other option available to you, though only if you are in the process of constructing a house, is a Borate termite treatment. What you do here is to paint the substance on all of the wood, which is not easily accessible, after the house is constructed. This is a very good preventive measure to take to avoid the costly damage done by termites.