If you live in Georgia there is one thing that is for sure – your home WILL get termites if it is not properly protected. It’s not a matter of if, rather a matter of when. Being that your home is most likely your largest and most important investment, it’s important to know what options you have in regards to treating it.
There are basically three options that you have in regards to protecting your home. Your first option is to do a liquid termite treatment. Your second option is to install termite bait stations. Your third option is to do a liquid / bait combination treatment.
Liquid Termite Treatment
The first type of treatment I mentioned is a liquid termite treatment. The liquid only treatments are often thought of as the old way of doing things. The idea behind this type of treatment is to create a liquid barrier all the way around the home, which should prevent termites from entering your home no matter where they come from.
With a liquid termite treatment, a small, narrow trench is dug all the way around your home. A liquid termiticide is applied to this trench. It is then back-filled with dirt. Small holes are drilled in concrete patios, porches, and garages. This is done so that the liquid termiticide can be placed into areas where a trench can not be dug. The holes are then filled in with cement. Depending on the layout and construction of your home, some homes also require that holes are drilled in the block or brick near the foundation. If this is required, liquid termiticide is then injected into these holes. The holes are then filled with a mortar or cement-type of material.
With a liquid termite treatment there is an initial treatment price. The price varies depending on the size of your home. Starting the second year, there is an annual renewal fee associated with the treatment. This fee covers your yearly inspections, and also a re-treatment if necessary. If your home qualifies, this fee can also cover repairs associated with new termite damage to your home.
There are various termiticides available on the market today. Some have been proven to be much more effective and better then others. Some of the products are rated for about 5 years, while others are rated for 7. Some last a little bit longer. This means that the manufacturer only guarantees their product for that amount of time, and that the chemical can start to break down after the guaranteed amount of years. After 5 years or 7 years, depending on which product you go with, you will have to pay to have another treatment performed on your home.
There are a few problems with doing a liquid only treatment.
1) There are a lot of homes that cannot be adequately treated and do not meet the minimum state standards due to construction related inaccessibility issues.
2) A liquid only treatment requires drilling into concrete, block, brick, stone, etc. This means that the technician may need to drill unsightly holes into your brick home, your stamped concrete driveway, your blue stone swimming pool deck, or your tile porch. Most people are not too keen on the idea.
3) As part of the liquid treatment, liquid is placed into the ground around the perimeter of the home. This perimeter can be disturbed and broken during the planting of gardens, trees, and shrubs, etc. The breaking of this barrier is undetectable, thus leaving your home vulnerable.
Bait Stations
The second type of treatment I mentioned is to have termite bait stations installed around your home. You have probably seen bait stations installed around homes at some point in time or another. They are placed into the ground per the manufacturers specs, usually about 20 feet apart. When installed, they are circular in shape with a cap on them, and have a section that protrudes into the ground. A technician should be coming by your home 4 times a year (1 time for certain brands) to check the stations for any termite activity. If there is activity found in any of the stations, the technician will then place active chemical into that particular bait station.
Bait stations are an excellent product, as long as they are used in conjunction with the liquid, such as with the liquid / bait combination treatment. With the liquid / bait combo treatment, you get the best of both worlds.
I do not recommend bait stations as a standalone product.
Liquid / Bait Combination Treatment
The last type of treatment available is the liquid / bait combo treatment. The liquid bait combo is just that…a combination of the above two treatments. This is the type of treatment that we prefer and recommend.
Our bait stations are checked four times a year, which means that any termite activity would be detected much quicker than it would with a once a year liquid inspection.
In addition, if a bait station is removed or disturbed for any reason, it is much easy to detect, and thus replace, as opposed to the liquid only barrier being disturbed. In this particular case, the bait station almost acts as a backup. With the liquid only treatments, it is pretty much impossible to tell if it has been disturbed or not.
Please contact us if you have any questions about our liquid treatments, or any of our other services for that matter. We look forward to providing you with great service and consistently exceeding your expectations of us!