Our village is popular for termites because almost every house has been infested. From what I remember, we had eradicated termites 3 times already. In the recent repair of our ceiling the other week, it was a heart-breaker to discover that termites were eating up the wood under the roof. So before replacing the ceiling cover, we had to buy wood to replace the small beams (I don't know if this is the correct term for the 2 by 2 wood). It took the 2 workers 2 days to clean up the ceiling of termites by using wet insecticide and later on they applied a spray for further prevention. It is scary to discover termites in the house because it can eat up the whole house.
I suspect I might have some termites, but finding out I do might freak me out, so I have resisted getting an inspection. Sooner or later, I will probably bite the bullet though. It is better to take care of a minor problem than having it turn into a major problem. This is just one of the ways that people get into trouble with termites. I understand that. I just have other things right now, I am working on.
Although they are not unheard of in Maine, like cockroaches, termites are mostly a problem for the bigger cities, of which we have few, where they can spread from house to house without getting their little butts frozen off in the winter.
If ya'll will do it right, termites are pretty easy to get rid of and cheap to boot! First you have to find a farm or ranch that has some old hickory fencing laying around and take it home. Cut it into very small pieces and spread it around your house, shop or whatever is already attracting the critters. Because the old cured hickory is so hard, when the termites get hold of it they break their little teeth on it. Afterward, since they can't chew any longer and have to gum it, they are faced with going around and collecting termite ensure or nectar, thereby helping to grow your tomatoes and such. The object of appreciation here lies in the area that if you don't grow anything then they will just have to go over to the neighbors and "bug" them and their flowers.
That's me, the good advice giver. Whenever I can step in and give some good advice that might perchance aid someone with avoiding part or all of the perils that life has to afford, that's where I will be. I mean, the world just doesn't have enough of us so I try to be available at all times. I need a motto......Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night, nor.....uh.....I think that one is taken. I'll think about it!
I recommend that you have your house inspected right away. We had termites and didn't know it. We wound up having to replace the whole living room floor, beams and everything. Needless to say, it was very expensive. Cory, our house was treated with Termidor. It is guaranteed to prevent termites for five years. I now have it inspected every year. Termites are a big problem in the southeastern US.
Termites are a fact of life in the Desert Southwest. "Combative Construction" includes building homes of block-- material of either clay, or concrete, which excludes termite permeability from outdoors. Nonetheless, the concrete floor indoors must meet the outside walls, and termites have been known to occasionally find a way in, where they build clay "tunnels" upwards inside the wall, to gain access to the wooden roof structure. I actually saw them once, the tunnel extending upwards beginning at the concrete floor/block wall juncture, the ants could be seen pasting and gluing particles of clay-like goo at the open, top end of the tube, which was then about 4 feet up from the floor! Most amazing sight! And, disgusting! Historically, almost all new construction was mandated to have the earth in the foundation trench treated with Chlordane. Chlordane was said to have a useful lifetime of 20 to 30 years, far more than the next closest termicide. EPA banned Chlordane quite a long time ago. Carcinogenic. Millions upon millions of homes containing carcinogenic material in their foundations. No real threat to the occupants, except that the stuff managed to leach into water supplies......... Every home I have bought or built, except the present one, required before closing, by law, to have a termite inspection performed. The present one did not, and it is coincidentally, a "factory-built" home, brought to it's final resting place, set into a "pit" made of concrete block. It can never be moved again. I have not had answered yet, why no inspection was required. Can it be that the wood products used are ALL chemically treated? Glory be! Frank
This cured hickory may be really effective but hickory is alien to us. I don't know if we can find that kind of wood. What we have here is pine wood which are actually firewood for the fire place that we bought as souvenir from the cold place of Baguio City. But I like the logic that the termites would lose their teeth because of the tough wood. PS. Earlier this week, we noticed a budding hive of termites on the fence in the backyard. I'm sure they are from our ceiling because the workers have sprayed on the damaged ceiling panels in the backyard. Maybe some termites survived the spray and had regrouped. But we have already eradicated the new hive.