If you think you have a termite infestation, call a professional pest control company right away. Two common termite treatments include liquid termiticides, which create a barrier in the soil to keep termites out, and bait systems, which attract termites to poisoned food sources that eliminate the colony. Fumigation is used for severe infestations. Handling toxic chemicals is dangerous, and termites can quicky cause costly damage, so we recommend leaving this job for a professional.
In this guide, we’ll help you identify the signs of a termite infestation and share some of the ways professional pest control companies get rid of termites. Finally, we’ll recommend the best pest control companies for the job.
Key Takeaways
- DIY (do-it-yourself) termite sprays usually cost less than $100. Professional termite treatment costs between $700-2,000 and is likely more effective than DIY
- Fumigation is one of the most expensive pest control treatments, with an average price range of $2,000 to $8,000. It is typically required for the removal of severe termite infestations.
How Do I Know if I Have a Termite Infestation?
Wood damage is the first sign of a termite infestation. You may also notice oval shaped pellets in cabinets or other wood spaces. Start by checking your attic, all of your home’s cracks and joints, and fuse boxes for the following signs identified by the University of Kentucky.
- Hollow wood: Termites often damage the interior of a piece of wood along the grain while leaving the surface intact. If you knock or tap on wood and hear a soft thud or hollow sound, this is often a sign of termite damage. If you press a flathead screwdriver into your wood and it gives easily, the wood has been hollowed out.
- Mud tubes: Subterranean termites create their own “highways” out of tubes of mud to connect their food sources to their colonies. These mud tubes, made up of wood and soil, are about as wide as a pencil. Spotting them means you have termites, but their absence doesn’t mean you’re home-free. The subterranean termites may not have made them yet, and drywood termites don’t make mud tubes.
- Rattling or rustling sounds: When soldier termites detect a threat, they signal danger to other termites by banging their heads against the wood and shaking their bodies. This creates a dry rattling or papery rustling sound.
- Discarded wings: When subterranean termites set off to create a new colony in the spring, they shed their wings, often in piles. Although termites aren’t the only insects that do this, seeing large numbers of discarded wings indoors could mean an infestation.
- Peeling paint: When termites damage drywall, they let moisture enter the space between the surface and the paint, causing paint to bubble or peel. There are other reasons your paint may buckle, but if you note this in tandem with other signs, you may have a termite infestation.
- Frass: Small, granular, oval pellets on your door frames, baseboards, and windowsills may be frass, or termite droppings.
- Seeing live termites: It is possible that you may come across some live termites. It’s important to distinguish them from flying ants so that you know what you’re dealing with. Termites’ rear wings are even in size, their abdomens are thick, and their antennae are straight. On the flip side, flying ants have wings of different size, are thinner through the middle, and have bent antennae.
How Do You Get Rid of Termites?
There are several ways to exterminate termites. The best method will depend on the type of termites you have, though some methods work for both subterranean and drywood termites.
- Termiticide barriers are termite-killing insecticides and can be applied to the soil around your home’s exterior to create a barrier. Termiticides work by spreading like a virus. When one termite comes into contact with the termiticide, it will unknowingly carry it around, infecting other termites and ultimately killing the colony. Fipronil and imidacloprid are examples of barriers.
- Termite baits are installed near the home’s foundation and interrupt the insects growth process, killing the colony. Diflubenzuron and hexaflumuron are common active ingredients.
- Foaming agents and sprays can be applied directly into cracks, crevices or damaged wood.
- Beneficial nematodes burrow into their host and release a symbiotic gut bacteria that poisons the termite’s blood, killing them within a matter of days. You can find beneficial nematodes online or in stores. Apply a mixture of nematodes, potting soil, and cold water to the infested areas of your lawn and garden.
- According to the Journal of Economic Entomology, there is evidence that combining essential oils like methyl salicylate (wintergreen oil) with whole-home heat treatments is more effective at killing termites than heat treatments alone.
- Boric acid, sold as Borax powder, works by dehydrating the termite and shutting down its nervous system. You can apply Borax to cracks and crevices in floors, walls, and ceilings.
While some of these treatments are available at retail stores, its best to hire a professional to do the job. A trained professional can assess the damage and recommend the best treatment for the type of termite damaging your home.
Professional Pest Control Services
The technicians from an experienced, reputable pest control company know exactly how to find entry points, identify colonies, and create a treatment plan. When it comes to nationwide pest control providers, we recommend Terminix or Orkin. Both companies have specific termite control protocols.
Terminix
Terminix has been battling termites for 95 years and offers advanced solutions. After a thorough inspection of your home, paying special attention to access points, Terminix will create a custom-tailored plan based on the findings to both eradicate existing termites and prevent future invasions.
After implementing the plan with liquid termiticides and proprietary Terminix OnGuard Protection, a trained specialist digs a trench in your soil and drills through your home’s slab areas and applies the liquid treatment to create a protective barrier. Your technician will also strategically install termite bait stations around the perimeter of your home.
To monitor progress, Terminix will perform an annual inspection to make sure there are no signs of termite activity. If there are, Terminix will re-treat your home for no additional charge. Qualifying homes are protected under the Ultimate Protection Guarantee. This guarantee states customers will never have to pay for treatments or repairs from new termite damage if they keep their plan.
Orkin
Orkin has 90 years of termite experience and follows a six-step approach: Investigate, Protect, Fortify, Keep Watch, Report, and Follow Up. After a thorough inspection of your home, including an evaluation of your basement, crawl space, and wood debris, your technician will write up a recommendation, featuring customized digital diagrams.
To implement the plan, Orkin will use three primary types of treatments. The Termidor liquid treatment eradicates existing termites and prevents future infestations, the dry foam and Orkinfoam expand to fill hard-to-reach areas, and the Sentricon bait and monitoring targets at-risk locations like roofs, tree stumps, and moist soil.
For monitoring, Orkin creates a Continuous Termite Inspection Plan and Re-treatment Program to ensure that if termites return, Orkin will return to combat them at no extra cost. Orkin offers a 30-day money back guarantee.
What Are the Different Types of Termites?
The two primary types of termites that infest American homes are subterranean termites and drywood termites. There are also dampwood termites, though they typically only infest damp, rotting trees, and logs. It’s important to identify which type you are dealing with because they may require different treatment methods. While you can create poisonous barriers against subterranean termites, you’ll need to spot-treat or get fumigation services for drywood termites.
Subterranean Termites
Subterranean termites live in your foundational wood, soil, and any compost piles around your home. They create mud tubes out of wood and soil, to travel in your home. These termites generally do more damage than drywood termites because of their saw-toothed jaws. Given the time, subterranean termites can completely collapse a building. Subterranean termites can be found in every state except Alaska.
Subterranean termites are 1/8–3/8 inch long and are narrow in shape. Their color depends on their “caste.” Workers are a pale cream color, while soldiers share that body color but have brown heads. Subterranean termite colonies can become huge, ranging from 100,000 to even 1 million termites.
Drywood Termites
While subterranean termites require contact with soil in order to live, drywood termites can live exclusively in wood. They do not create mud tubes to travel, and they are usually only found along the warm coastal regions. Drywood termites range in size from 1/8–1/2 inches and range in color. The termites that directly damage the woods are white, like subterranean termites. The winged drywood termites span the color spectrum from yellow-tan to light brown. Drywood termite colonies can hold up to 2,500 members.
How To Prevent Termites
The Environmental Protection Agency suggests a number of ways you can make your home less appealing to termites.
- Check for leaks: Subterranean termites can’t live without moisture. Keep your home dry to keep them at bay, especially your roof and air conditioner. Maintaining proper soil drainage will also make your yard less hospitable to termite colonies.
- Clean gutters and pipes: Termites love to hide in warm, dark, moist places. Clean out gutters and pipes often to prevent termites from settling in.
- Fill in cracks and crevices: Caulk and seal any unnecessary openings in your foundation where pipes meet the wall, and be sure to seal off windows and doors.
- Watch out for wood: Termites are attracted to the cellulose in wood, so it’s vital that you don’t stack firewood against your house or leave tree stumps in your yard.
- Protect your foundation: Choose a concrete foundation over wood. When building your house, always make sure to leave at least 6 inches between your porch, deck, or patio, and the ground, and use termite-resistant wood whenever possible.
- Use alternative mulch: Subterranean termites need soil, and certain types of mulch contain wood. Opt for mulch made up of materials like rubber or gravel instead.
- Get regular inspections: Of course, the best prevention method is regular termite inspections by a professional pest control company.
FAQs for Getting Rid of Termites
What is the fastest way to get rid of termites?
The fastest way to get rid of termites is to call a professional pest control company like Orkin or Terminix. These companies have access to high-quality products that can eradicate termites more quickly and completely than conventional DIY methods.
What are the signs of termites in your home?
Telltale signs include subterranean termites’ mud tubes, hollow-sounding wood, termite frass, and discarded wings. Rattling or rustling noises might mean there are termites within your walls.
What chemical kills termites?
There are two main chemicals used to kill termites—fipronil and hexaflumuron. Fipronil is the specially designed chemical used as an active ingredient in many different liquid termiticides.
Hexaflumuron is the termiticide specifically designed to work in termite bait, like the popular Sentricon baiting system. Termites find the bait station, pick up the poison, and leave a trail indicating the food source’s location to the other termites. The termites then carry the chemical back to the colony, where all of the pests are slowly infected and killed.
How much does it cost to get rid of termites?
The average cost of termite treatment is between $400 and $1,500. However, a pest control company cannot give you a specific quote without performing an inspection, so that they can see the type of termite, the degree of infestation, and what kind of treatment you’ll need.