Termite inspection/preventative

[RoxMonster]

TL;DR: If you live in an area with active termites (not at your house but nearby), how often do you get inspections and/or do you have a continuous preventative plan?

Last week, a man with a pest control company knocked on our door and said he was treating the house next door that had just sold as they had active termites and we are more at risk if active termites are nearby. So we had Terminix come out for a free inspection today. We do NOT have active termites; the guy said since the house next door is now getting treated, we are at an increased risk as the termites will now flee that house and go elsewhere. We also have wood siding and live in an older neighborhood with many mature trees.

He suggested a preventative treatment where they put these things in your yard and come out monthly to "feed" it. It costs almost $100 a month. Now, I do not want active termites, but this is very pricey and I'm wondering if this is truly necessary. Not a single person I know has termite prevention like this.

I was hoping I could just pay to have a pest company do a yearly inspection and if they do ever notice active ones, we would pay for treatment. But if that's not recommended, I'd consider the preventative.

What do you all do especially if you live in an area at higher risk for them?

[winecat]

I did a big treatment by a company that had a lifetime warranty if I maintained inspections. Of course, I didn't. I think I did it almost 20 years ago and just noticed earlier this year that they're back. I don't know what I'm going to do now but I'm not going to do a monthly Terminx thing.

[circa1978]

I think yearly inspection and then we have a guy who comes around at various points in the year to spray for all kinds of stuff. I was traumatized by termites as a kid when we had them at a previous house. *shudder*

[Patsy Baloney]

Oh.

Well, we’re going on 7 years now 😂

[imojoebunny]

We prefer to do the treatment that they do every 10 years for our houses, rather than do the baits that they inspect, since the termite warranty will not cover much of anything on our 100+ year old houses (we have 2 old houses, and 2 newish ones), and the baits just tell them when there is activity, do not prevent it. Lately, they have wanted to drill holes around the foundation when they do the 10 year treatment, which isn't something I want them to do, but it may be our only choice at at least one of the houses. I paid ~$1000 for the last 10 year treatment for a 3 story 2400 square foot house.

[savan]

We had our house tented/fumigated before we moved in and again 8 years later when we saw active signs of termites. That was 3 years ago so I figure we have 5-7 years before we do it again.

[devonpow]

We do a yearly inspection. They have those green stake things in the ground all around the house/backyard and they check for activity once a year - they were actually just here last week. We get a written report each year after inspection and that’s it. It’s around $250 a year I think

[goldengirlz]

We also had a one-time treatment which they told us was good for seven years. We did it when we bought the house because we had a lot of dry rot. It cost $1550, which wasn’t crazy given the risk and how long it lasts. We recently looked at a house that had $50k in termite damage! Better safe than sorry, we figured.

[RoxMonster]

Thanks for your experiences. I think we may have a local company come out and see what they think and compare prices. We have lived in this house 9 years and haven't had any inspections so far which probably wasn't good and we're probably lucky to not have them. I am also fine paying for yearly inspections. It sounds like the cost of preventative plans may just be what this is and that this is in line with other places.

[tacokick]

Are you sure the house next door is getting treated? The initial contact seems scammy to me. I’ve had workers come to the door to give me a “discount” on getting my driveway or roof work done etc saying my neighbors were having it done and it was never true.

[al dente]

I'm in a townhouse and I believe termite damage falls under our HOA. A few years ago we had to pay like $500 to have our section of homes tented, per the HOA. There haven't been any more inspections or anything since then. I often see homes tented here I think that's the main prevention method used here.

[icedcoffee]

Woah. I’ve never heard of termite tenting so I googled a picture. That’s crazy!! I have never seen that.

[lessel]

We paid about $500 to install a new termite system at our house and it’s $300 annually to maintain. Our house inspector noticed that the system the previous owners has didn’t seem up to snuff… the little green bait or pesticide thinggies weren’t as close to each other or as close to the foundation as he thought they should be. It wasn’t something he could flag on the house inspection itself, kind of outside his purview, but he just noticed it didn’t look like others he saw. We had a pest control company we’d had at our previous house come out and look and they said it wasn’t installed correctly. So we had the old company come out and dig up their system so we could have a new one installed (legally they have to do this). They came out to remove them (allegedly) but when our guy came to install he found they left 17 of the bait thiggies in the ground. I’m glad we switched because that other company seemed sketchy.

In all of that back and forth no where was there ever a monthly fee for anything. So you might want to get additional quotes.

[RoxMonster]

May 25, 2021 19:07:46 GMT -5 tacokick said:

Are you sure the house next door is getting treated? The initial contact seems scammy to me. I’ve had workers come to the door to give me a “discount” on getting my driveway or roof work done etc saying my neighbors were having it done and it was never true.

The guy was driving a company truck that he parked in their driveway and we saw him go into the backyard next door and start doing the treatment. 

Now, we didn't call him (even though he gave us his card). We called a totally different company.

[RoxMonster]

LOL the only thing I can think of with termite tenting is Breaking Bad and that is my only reference for that!

I have never seen any homes in our area tented.

[al dente]

May 25, 2021 19:17:08 GMT -5 mofongo said:

May 25, 2021 19:14:39 GMT -5 al dente said:

I'm in a townhouse and I believe termite damage falls under our HOA. A few years ago we had to pay like $500 to have our section of homes tented, per the HOA. There haven't been any more inspections or anything since then. I often see homes tented here I think that's the main prevention method used here.

Tenting is usually for treatment of active termites

Ohhhh now that you say that I think the letter said a unit in our complex did have active activity or whatever, so they were doing the whole complex. Idk I just know I was annoyed we had to pay on top of our monthly HOA for it.
That's interesting tenting isn't common everywhere I see it literally everyday which is why I thought it was prevention. Idk I clearly don't know a lot about this ha.

[tacokick]

May 25, 2021 21:18:13 GMT -5 RoxMonster said:

May 25, 2021 19:07:46 GMT -5 tacokick said:

Are you sure the house next door is getting treated? The initial contact seems scammy to me. I’ve had workers come to the door to give me a “discount” on getting my driveway or roof work done etc saying my neighbors were having it done and it was never true.

The guy was driving a company truck that he parked in their driveway and we saw him go into the backyard next door and start doing the treatment. 

Now, we didn't call him (even though he gave us his card). We called a totally different company.

That sounds okay then! I just thought I’d put it out there. It’s a common scam. They’ve parked in my neighbor’s driveway when she isn’t home and then come over to talk to me and motion to their van as “proof” they are doing work and try and get me to hire them. But my neighbor is single and tells me every time she has people out to do any sort of work (as a safety precaution) so I know they are liars.

I did understand that you called someone else but I thought if the neighbor didn’t have termites you might be working off some bad info.

Good luck!

[winecat]

May 25, 2021 21:19:22 GMT -5 RoxMonster said:

LOL the only thing I can think of with termite tenting is Breaking Bad and that is my only reference for that!

I have never seen any homes in our area tented.

They don't tent for the type of termites that we have here.   

[ellipses84]

Honestly it happens the most when people buy / sell and get full inspections where I live. We are in the land of slab-on-grade concrete foundations where people tent houses though, and might find termite damage somewhere like the garage roof rafters. I’d prefer infrequent inspections over a monthly fee. If you want to do monthly, make sure it covers other bugs and shop around. Sometimes local owned companies are cheaper.

We had an exterminator come to our door at 8:30 pm last night with the old, we’re treating your neighbor’s house excuse. DH talked to him for a while and got his info. I was so annoyed because it was late, our porch light hadn’t even been on, he was trying to get kids to bed and I was trying to catch up on work. I told DH I’d call a trustworthy exterminator my neighbors actually rec’d to me instead... I really dislike anyone coming to my door uninvited and we keep getting solicitors for things like internet who don’t even have a card or pamphlet when we ask. One blamed Covid saying the company wouldn’t let them anymore, but why make your employees go door to door?! Not to mention I’m even more suspicious you are casing my house if you can’t even prove you work for the company you say you do.

[gretchenindisguise]

May 25, 2021 19:22:42 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Woah. I’ve never heard of termite tenting so I googled a picture. That’s crazy!! I have never seen that.

I had never seen it until we moved to San Diego. It definitely made Breaking Bad make way more sense.

It seems every time a house is sold here, a tent goes up.

[minzy]

I’d be skeptical, too. Do you have any kind of relationship with the people who moved out? Is there a Facebook page for your neighborhood? I might start with either of those to get a sense of whether this is really a problem in your immediate area. (I’m not saying it’s not, and I know jack shit about termites, but I’d want to independently verify it’s a problem.) We have a lot of solicitors here (even though they’re not allowed), and it’s always, “oh, so and so family down the street is doing this pest control/lawn care/roofing project, and the deal is only good for right now, so you better sign up.” And funnily enough despite knowing many of my immediate neighbors and a ton of other people nearby, I never know “so and so.”

[Rainyday]

It’s hot and humid where I live and a lot of old wood houses, so yeah. We have a termite bond/contract we pay yearly. They come and inspect a couple times of year to see if there are active termites.
I would call around and get some quotes .
We used to use Terminix but now we use a local company.

[dirtyred]

May 25, 2021 16:14:13 GMT -5 RoxMonster said:

He suggested a preventative treatment where they put these things in your yard and come out monthly to "feed" it. It costs almost $100 a month. Now, I do not want active termites, but this is very pricey and I'm wondering if this is truly necessary. Not a single person I know has termite prevention like this.

My husband was able to buy a set up like this at some farm and feed store and did it himself.  MUCH cheaper than paying a company.  We also used some of the landscaping tips here:  spectrumpestcontrolinc.com/how-to-protect-your-property-with-landscaping-tips-to-keep-termites-out/

Biggest tip:  keep mulch away from your house's foundation.  Use rock near the foundation (10-12" wide) then mulch.

[dirtyred]

May 26, 2021 5:03:21 GMT -5 minzy said:

I’d be skeptical, too. Do you have any kind of relationship with the people who moved out? Is there a Facebook page for your neighborhood? I might start with either of those to get a sense of whether this is really a problem in your immediate area. (I’m not saying it’s not, and I know jack shit about termites, but I’d want to independently verify it’s a problem.) We have a lot of solicitors here (even though they’re not allowed), and it’s always, “oh, so and so family down the street is doing this pest control/lawn care/roofing project, and the deal is only good for right now, so you better sign up.” And funnily enough despite knowing many of my immediate neighbors and a ton of other people nearby, I never know “so and so.”

We often get pest control people doing this, and the guy, when I'm the one that answers the door, always mentions that people are seeing a lot of spiders ( I assume because he thinks I'm a woman, I'm afraid of spiders).  I always tell him I like spiders and I'd like to see more of them around my property because they eat the bad bugs.  They always look perplexed.

[ssmjlm]

I'm in a huge termite prone area, our last house and our current house we paid for an annual inspection. We actually just went through a treatment because we found some a month or so after our last inspection and they came and did something. The guy said it wasn't bad, we thankfully caught it early (no tenting). The entire treatment was free because we had paid for the annual inspections.

I hate paying for it (because I'm cheap), but it's seriously the one thing everyone says not to skip.

[icedcoffee]

May 26, 2021 0:41:26 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

May 25, 2021 19:22:42 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Woah. I’ve never heard of termite tenting so I googled a picture. That’s crazy!! I have never seen that.

I had never seen it until we moved to San Diego. It definitely made Breaking Bad make way more sense.

It seems every time a house is sold here, a tent goes up.

At first I thought my Google results were some kind of joke. 🤣. It almost looks fake!

[statgirl]

We have a local company who comes every 3 months to bait and do pest control at the same time. Our old house had a bond and an annual inspection/spray.

Run from terminix:
When we moved, we tried to take over the Terminix bond on our new house but they claimed the old owners didn’t have a bond because they missed the previous year’s treatment (I had access to the old account and the date of last treatment was shown) and then said it was too early because it had only been 8 months since the treatment (the one they had “missed”). We signed the paperwork and were told we would be billed in two months when the bond renewed. We weren’t—they billed the old owners. I called to get it straightened out, they said it was. It wasn’t, so I called again and they insisted on a reinspection. We did it. They lost the paperwork. I sent my copy. The guy who did it was promoted and quit taking my calls/emails. I gave up after two years of them not taking my money. If they were that disorganized before using the bond, they certainly weren’t going to be great if we needed to use it. Over the course of the saga, they did do basic pest control. When I cancelled that, I got three phone calls immediately asking what they could do to get me to stay. Maybe have responded to my issue effectively just once?

[RoxMonster]

May 26, 2021 5:03:21 GMT -5 minzy said:

I’d be skeptical, too. Do you have any kind of relationship with the people who moved out? Is there a Facebook page for your neighborhood? I might start with either of those to get a sense of whether this is really a problem in your immediate area. (I’m not saying it’s not, and I know jack shit about termites, but I’d want to independently verify it’s a problem.) We have a lot of solicitors here (even though they’re not allowed), and it’s always, “oh, so and so family down the street is doing this pest control/lawn care/roofing project, and the deal is only good for right now, so you better sign up.” And funnily enough despite knowing many of my immediate neighbors and a ton of other people nearby, I never know “so and so.”

I run our neighborhood FB page because I’m on the HOA LOL. The house next door has been a series of renters and now the owner decided to sell and someone bought it so I’m sure they had an inspection done and that’s when they were found.

I do remember hearing when we moved in nine years ago that termites are active in this area. Also the guy we had out yesterday said we have no active termites. But that areas with older homes (we have wood siding) and lots of trees are where they are most active. We could do nothing as we don’t have them, but I was just curious if a preventative measure was wise or just regular inspections.