Welcome again from A.N.T.T.S = A North Texas Termite Specialist. We do not just do termite control we specialise in all forms of residential pest control service throughout the Dallas / Fort Worth area. This week we want to talk about those fall renovation projects that open up more problems than intended. This time of the year we always get calls from frantic homeowners saying they are working on their bathroom and the plumber found termites! This is all to common considering plumbing areas on a home are one of the best entry points for subterranean termites. We will get back to that in a while. The fall is when a lot of people and contractors start opening up walls to do a remodeling project and it’s very common to uncover unwanted pest such as rodents, spiders, fire ants etc. This is because these pest love the dark hiding places such as inside hollow walls and like it even more when there is moisture from a plumbing leak, roof leak etc. When you do open up a wall and find some pest it’s best to treat them while it’s open do not just spray with over the counter products and then close it up. In most cases the over the counter product will only kill a few of the pest but most likely spread them further into the wall. It may be best to call out a local pest control company to inspect the areas and treat accordingly. Now if you happen to find mud tubes or damaged wood that you may think is termite you definitely do not want to tackle this on your own. You really need to have a professional termite company come out and look at it. They will be able to determine if it is actually termites, carpenter ants of just wood rot. If it turns out to be one of the wood destroying insects like termites then you really want to have your pest control person treat while it’s open and be sure they use a non-repellent product such as Termidor to treat them so to not push the termites to another area of your home. Termites love coming up pipelines and cracks in your floor from under the home because their colony is way below your home and needs your wood studs for food and then they go back to the ground for moisture and to feed their family members. This is why treating while you know exactly where they are coming up is so important because they could actually have a few different other access points to your house. So if you treat a active entry point there is a good chance you can kill the whole colony. After you treat these open walls you can close them up right away and take comfort that the pest are gone. This goes the same for other pest uncovered such as mice, rats or ants. You will want to treat these uncovered pest as well. As a pest control professional there is nothing more frustrating than to receive a call from a homeowner asking you to treat their bathroom that had termites but they already closed up and repaired the damage. When we get there and all is fixed and closed up it’s a guessing game rather than knowing exactly where they were coming in ? Plus we may need to re-open a wall or drill through new tile to properly treat your pest. So remember when doing work on a bathroom, kitchen etc and you create access to a wall or plumbing area it may be wise to have it inspected and treated before you close it up and re-paint or tile. This can lower the price you get from your pest control company if we do not need to create access and it’s nice and open for us when we get there. Happy Fall to all and we will talk to you again soon. Thanks again from A.N.T.T.S

On October 16, 2011   /   Pest Control