TERMITE TACTICS : When Bugs Worm Their Way In, There’s More Than One Way Out

Allen and Marilyn Soule knew they had problems when they spotted sawdust on Allen’s garage workbench and he hadn’t been sawing anything.

The dust was frazz--termite droppings--and as a result of the infestation by the pesky pests, the Soules will be spending about $650 later this month for a visit from an exterminator.

The Huntington Beach couple wasn’t particularly unlucky--they’ve lived in their house for all of its 24 years, and this is the first time they’ve had to deal with termites.

And because they did what an increasing number of homeowners are doing and selected an alternative treatment that avoids fumigation, the cost is about half as much.

That can be good news for a lot of Southern California homeowners, because if you live in the Southland for any length of time, your home is almost certain to be infested with termites at least once--it isn’t unusual, termite control specialists say, for a house to be hit every two or three years.

That’s because termites, like tourists at Disneyland on the Fourth of July, are everywhere.

“You can’t eradicate them; you can only control them,� says Ron Bates, owner of Absolute Termite Control in Foundain Valley.

And even if we could wipe them out, we shouldn’t.

Termites have a larger role in the scheme of things than simply making life miserable for people whose homes they pick for an entree.

“They are an essential part of the whole chain of nature,� said Brian Olson, general manager of the Bugman, a Fullerton pest control company. “They are the ones who grind fallen trees back into mulch so the forest can renew itself. Actually, we’re the ones invading their territory.�

The fact that there aren’t many forests in the Southland doesn’t deter the little bugs--the tens of thousands of wood-framed homes we have built over the years make Orange County and the rest of Southern California a veritable smorgasbord for termites.

Add to that the fact that, until very recently, none of the commonly used treatments for termites had much residual value and it becomes easy to see why there are nearly 20 pages of pest control company ads in the Pacific Bell Yellow Pages.

But people still get angry when, a year or two after buying a new home or after having an existing house fumigated, they find the pulpy tan frazz or the darker piles of fine pellets that mean termites are back at work.

“An awful lot of people really think it is possible to prevent termites,� said Lauren Schaap, manager of the Orange branch office of Truly Nolen Exterminating Inc.

“It’s not.�

But it is possible to lessen the chances that they’ll find your house tastier than your neighbors’.

And this is a good time to develop your termite awareness--periods of warm weather after a rain are a prime migrating time for termites, which come in two forms: dry wood and subterranean.

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Termites get into homes and other buildings in two ways--they are already in the lumber used to build a structure or they fly or are blown in after swarming out of their home colonies.

Swarming occurs in warm periods when the biological alarm clock in a particular colony goes off.

The alarms sound as the population reaches critical mass--which can be as few as 5,000 dry wood termites, which live and breed in wood, or as many as 120,000 subterranean termites, which make their homes under the ground so they’ll have a constant source of moisture. (They build mud tunnels to reach the wood that they eat.)

When a colony gets big enough, the members begin swarming--although not in the huge clouds associated with swarms of bees. Also unlike bees, each termite swarm contains a multitude of fertile egg-layers, or queens.

It takes just one queen and a few breeding males to start a new colony, which is good news for termites and bad news for homeowners. It often costs as much to repair damage done by termites as it does to get rid of the pests.

Dry wood termites on the swarm enter a house or other wood-framed structure by boring in through exposed wood, so a good rule of thumb for anyone trying to minimize exposure to termites is to keep all wood painted and to keep all paint in good repair.

But most of us don’t think of painting all the wood inside our garages or attics--and a few termites blown through an attic vent in a Santa Ana windstorm can be the start of something big.

Subterranean termites spread the same way as their dry wood brethren--they sprout wings and fly. Like the dry wood kind, they are pretty weak flyers, so they tend to go wherever the wind blows them. And when they get there, all they need for happiness is a cool, damp patch of dirt with a source of wood nearby.

And it doesn’t have to be all that near. “I’ve seen them build a tunnel almost three feet long to get to a piece of wood,� Bates said.

That’s why, pest control people say, it is critical to keep wood and earth from coming into contact. And that means all wood, including piles of firewood, scrap lumber and even untreated fencing.

But even if you elevate all the wood around the house and diligently paint all exposed exterior wood--or go overboard and paint the attic and the garage framing as well, odds are you’ll still have termites.

Then the questions are what to do and when to do it.

You don’t have to panic if you or an inspector discovers signs of termites. It can take three years for a dry wood colony to reach its full size, and that long or longer for the colony to munch its way through an eight-foot 2x4.

So although it is good practice to have your house treated as soon as is practical, you generally don’t have to sign an exterminating contract within 15 minutes of the inspection.

The Soules, for instance, waited almost 14 months from the time they discovered termites in the garage of their 2,000-square-foot home until they signed up with Bates’ company to have the house and garage treated.

The main reason for the delay, Marilyn Soule said, was the cost.

“We own a small business, and the past year hasn’t been all that great,� she said--a refrain familiar to many in Orange County these days.

But even with money in hand, the Soules took a while to decide what to do.

They weren’t undecided about having the house treated, only about which type of treatment.

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It wasn’t that long ago that termites almost invariably meant fumigation--the most outward sign of the method being tenting. Fumigation is still the only treatment recognized by the state as a primary, or whole-house, treatment for termites.

But growing concern about the environment, the potential for toxic accidents when fumigating and the cost and effort associated with protecting food and plants, boarding pets and putting the family up in a hotel, or with friends or relative, for two to five days, all have combined to make fumigation less attractive than it once was.

Termite treatments generally are done when a home is sold because most lenders in California require a termite inspection as a condition to granting a mortgage loan. When termites are found, most buyers prefer fumigation to make sure that all the bugs are gone.

However, lenders typically don’t specify the type of treatment that must be done to exterminate. Olson and a growing number of other pest specialists say that fumigation often isn’t necessary.

Schaap says that while Truly Nolen’s Orange County operations typically fumigate 75% of the time, the numbers have begun changing as customers ask for environmentally sensitive methods.

Bates, who began using one such method within a few months of buying Absolute Termite Control in 1990, says he hardly ever does a fumigation.

And Olson, whose family-owned Bugman has been in business for 30 years, says the company has never pushed fumigation.

“We feel that fumigation is just not necessary in most cases,� Olson said, “and our experience in 30 years of business bears that out. We have done spot treatments 8% of the time, and the number of times we’ve had to go back and retreat a customer’s home is minuscule.�

In addition to treating infested spots with chemical insecticides, the pest control industry in recent years has come up with several alternative methods that are nontoxic. They include electrocuting and microwaving termites to death and subjecting them--and the structures they are in--to extreme cold and high heat to freeze or cook the pests.

One of the newest alternative termite products actually is an old treatment for wood fungus that has found an expanded role as a nontoxic and potentially long-lasting termite killer.

It is a powdered form of a naturally occurring mineral--sodium borate--that messes up the termite’s ability to digest cellulose. Bugs that eat wood that has been treated with the stuff literally starve to death. Unlike other treatments, it has a long-lasting residual effect. The product is marketed as Tim-Bor.

Bates said he switched to sodium borate and started downplaying fumigation about 18 months ago, just after the state certified it as a legitimate secondary treatment for termites. A secondary treatment is one that can be used to spot treat but, because it can’t be applied to concealed wood, isn’t considered a whole-house treatment that can kill termites in inaccessible areas.

Marilyn Soules said the nontoxic nature and residual effect of sodium borate helped sell her and her husband on that treatment for their house. Because the product isn’t harmful to plants, she can save the 18-year-old philodendron that covers one wall of the atrium that fills the center of the house.

Typically, a borate treatment costs 50% to 75% of a fumigation. Other treatments, such as the freezing and microwaving processes, can cost as much as fumigation.

But prices can vary from company to company as well as from method to method, so a day spent on the telephone soliciting bids is generally a day well spent.

Fumigation and the alternative treatments generally come with a two-year guarantee. It is a guarantee that termite control companies can make because, if the insects do invade a house soon after a fumigation or other treatment, it can take several years for signs to appear, especially if the infestation is in an out-of-the-way location such as the eaves or attic.

In addition to their treatment guarantees, most termite companies sell annual inspection and treatment programs that can run $100 a year or more but guarantee to treat any new infestations at no additional cost.

Regular inspection--whether purchased as part of a package or on a year-by-year basis is not a bad idea, industry professionals say. Most companies will check for termites for a minimal fee.

And although the chances are that sooner or later termites will be found, the regular check decreases the odds that you’ll have to deal with a full-blown fumigation and extensive repairs.

Whom to Call for Help 1) Choose a reliable exterminator. Talk to friends and relatives who have had their homes exterminated. 2) Get bids from two or three companies. Prices vary dramatically. Ask about the extent of the infestation and alternative treatment methods. Within five days of inspection, companies must provide homeowner with a copy of inspection report and bid. 3) Before signing contract: Ask for and check references of companies. Verify licenses and research complaint histories of exterminators by calling the California Structural Pest Control Board at (916) 263-2540.