Anyone had termite treatment lately? Environmentalist vs home owner battle here help me decide.

My conscience and the very essence of who I am tells me to go with the less environmentally destructive treatment. Fears about having a roof over my head push me the other way, and strongly push my husband that way. So I'm looking for people to back me up on the less environmentally damaging option, really. And just talking about it through this post will help me think it out. I don't have anyone else I can do that with, unfortunately. Mom was my best friend, and her mind is slipping rapidly away. She can't handle much more than weather conversations anymore.

Our home has a serious termite infestation. We actually knew about it two years ago, but were unable to get our hands on the $2000 the estimates for the treatment told us we would need. We found the termites within a month of my husband's diagnosis of chronic kidney disease, and he had to retire early, costing us loss of retirement income of over $1000 a month PLUS we now pay $1525 a month for health insurance until he reaches Medicare age next year. I can't work either, so this was all pretty devastating. Additionally, my elderly parents began have serious problems within the same 30 day period, requiring ever more assistance over the past two years, AND my adult son with bipolar became very unstable and required hospitalization. All that made having a roof over our heads a secondary concern, and funding impossible. Finally we have some resources to handle this, and so I had four companies come out and do an estimate again. The fourth comes tomorrow.

Two years ago I did get estimates, and there was only one treatment plan offered by two companies, for about $1800. Now there are two different options to choose from, or perhaps, a blended option. I'm leaning towards the latter.

The original option, and the one proposed as the primary choice by two of the three companies that have come out, is
dumping hundreds of gallons of insecticide all around the border of the home. This chemical provides effective treatment for about 7 years with one treatment and no need for follow up. Termites that do cross the barrier and munch on your home then return to the main nest with the poison on them and so decimate not only themselves but some portion of the nesting population (which can be millions) as well. The advantage is peace of mind for 7 years that any damage done to the home will be minimal. The lack of peace of mind comes from having hundreds of gallons of pesticide produced and squirted into the soil and of course the water table. Judging from experience with our basement, there is a small reservoir of water under our home (that fills up with heavy rains and then finds avenues into our house at times). So without doubt this stuff is going to go into the water table and not have a positive impact. Because of the position of the sun and trees in our yard, the best place for me to plant my strawberries and vegetables is close to the border of the house. I couldn't do that anymore with hundreds of gallons of pesticide there.

There is also a newer baiting treatment. Little cylinders of bait are set up around the home, inserted into the ground around the house. The termites 'eventually' find the bait, and take it back to the nest. This poison is supposedly ultimately more destructive of the inhabitants of the nest. It prevents the critters from successfully molting so that they are crushed inside their exoskeletons. Over time, this method appears to have a more devastating impact upon the colonies (which everyone admits can never be eliminated completely.) The problem with this process is that it can take up to half a year for termites to find any of the bait set ups, and then it takes up to another half a year for the pesticide to have an impact. So, pretty much my house would be a free lunch for another year. But hundreds of gallons of pesticide would not be dumped into the environment. Instead, it would be only in the bait system, accessible only to the termites and whatever eats termites (ants for one thing, and then of course, birds eat ants, etc. etc.) But it is not spread all through the soil. The bait trap system requires that every few months new bait be put in the bait cannisters, and either a yearly fee of about $300 be paid, or that it be paid monthly. Dow Chemical (puke) retains ownership of the cannisters, and any inability to pay the fee means the cannisters are removed, and so there goes your protection, unlike the barrier system that will be there no matter what. And the termites will ALWAYS be in this neighborhood, as they are throughout a great deal of Pennyslvania. They will be back.

With both options, there is also some treatment inside the home in areas which have obvious termite activity. They would drill small holes in the support beams that have mud tubes, and spray foam inside. An enormous percentage of termite activity is not able to be observed at all until something collapses, though.

We had a termite swarm about two months ago, indicating that the termites have been here for 3-4 years now. Can we afford another year of their munching without losing our home? For a little over two years now, I've gone to sleep at night knowing our house has been being eaten away by millions of slimy little things. Over the past few months, some flooring has begun to sag, although when we look at the basement ceiling, we can't see any damage (there are apparently three layers...the support beams, then another horizontal layer, then another thin horozontal layer of something, then the actual kitchen/bath laminate flooring or the oak floors. Perhaps it is just the layer immediately under the flooring). For all we know, our roof could be being eaten as well. I could wake up or not wake up one morning with the ceiling on my bed.

I don't anticipate that 15 years from now either my husband or myself will still be in this plane of existence. But my children, and grandchildren, and all the rest of the world will be. And I hope the bunnies and the chipmunks and even that darn groundhog who has once again burrowed next to and probably under my home, will all still be here. And the birds. Even without the water table pollution, the termites get the poison, ants and whatever else eat the termites, birds eat the ants and whatever else, etc etc. Sigh. Things like this make me realize that the one species that needs to be extinct is us.

I guess you can see I really prefer the bait option, but I also want to sleep at night and not worry about having the house collapse. We have also had more and more frequent earth tremors in our neighborhood over the past few years. This past year it seems like every few weeks. Nothing like having your house shake, or the ground about it boom and shake, knowing that pests are eating your home and weakening it. No, there is no fracking in our area though we live in Pa.

I'm glad I've had so many estimates (and one more to come). If I understood correctly, one company was offering to do a hybrid type of treatment. In that case, they would use primarily the bait system, and treat inside of the house, but also dump some chemicals in the mid-section of the back of the house where the termites clearly have been entering the house. I THINK I understood that correctly. That is also, unfortunately, the area of the house where water drainage comes and fills up that little reservoir under the house. But perhaps this option would give me sufficient peace of mind while also minimizing the environmental impact. I guess I will call that company back to make sure I understand what he meant by treating the outside area where they are entering, and then get new estimates for a similar treatment from all the companies.

And I guess I should fork out to have a home inspector come through to see what actual damage has been done so far to see if another year of this assault would leave our home sufficiently intact. Thanks DU, I just thought of that by having the opportunity to type all this out here. My husband is all for dumping the chemicals everywhere, and I need some additional info to get him to support a less environmentally destructive course.

By the way, the differences in the estimates was rather severe. Terminex came first. The sales person said to me near the end of his visit, by the way, what made you choose Terminex. I said I haven't. Three other companies are coming by to give estimates. He looked horrified. He said Terminex is always higher than other people. Then he gave me an estimate of $1500 plus $349 the following year for two years of baiting system protection. Orkin gave me a $1950 cost for the chemical dump method, and then for bait $1750 plus $300 per year maintenance, and threw in a one time free pest control for other pests. I think we have carpenter ants also now...but one treatment for that isn't effective, and I don't care about the spiders and other critters and don't want poison everywhere. Erhlich blew me away with a $2480 bid for the chemical dump. He knew I had other bids but didn't even ask what they were. I showed him anyway. And then I asked about the bait system, and said since that involves so much less labor, how come the costs are about the same? Then he gave me a bait estimate of only $865 with $300 for inside treatment, of $1165, plus $27.56 per month ever after. But he didn't specify how many bait cylinders they would put about the house. So when I ask again for estimates on a hybrid course of action, I have to make sure they specify how far apart the bait cylinders will be. One company said every 12 feet. Maybe the $865 is every 20 feet; I don't know. He was a rather sloppy sales person.

Well, that's it for termites 101. Now please beat me up and make me feel good about protecting the environment. (Hm, that sounds masochistic).



On edit: Of course, when I advised a few of the sales reps I was an environmentalist, they all swore the chemicals are 'safe'. I chewed that up pretty good for them. What a crock.