Termites

[ba_50]

Hi,
We have 100 year old house with a 60 old addition.
Two summers ago there were flying termites coming out of the outside utility room wall. There were three trails coming out of the dirt in the crawlspace under the room. I sprayed inside the wall and dumped a gallon of Spectracide under each termite track. Spectracide stakes were put around the house and in the crawlspace. I drilled holes in the garage wall and sprayed inside them too. It looked like we were rid of them.
The basement is always wet.
The stakes didn't look like they had been touched. I sprayed last summer.
This week I noticed a tunnel coming out of a base board and going up the wall 6 inches and the start of two others in a bedroom.
What can I do about it? I've heard most termite control outfits are scams and $500 is a lot of money.
Thanks.

[HayZee518]

termites use their "mud tubes" to get at the moisture. destroy the tubes. termites digest the cellulose from wood. they follow the wood's grain, they won't go across the grain because its harder then the cellulose in between. ortho - spray with ortho spray. soak the ground where you found the tubes.

[pushkins]

Simply spraying the area is "simply" not good enough. To be affective a termite control product needs to flood the ground soil to create a barrier. In spray form almost all insecticides have very small life spans. When termite treatments are applied you need to dig a small trench 4" wide and 4" deep up against the house material (brick, block, concrete etc...) this area is then flooded with chemical treatment which in turn soaks into the ground soil around the home, this creates a barrier to stop the termites passing through and by means of volume of chemical to dirt creates a much longer life span. Back filling of the trench is done while there is chemical in the trench to ensure the back fill is soaked with chemical as well for exterior applications. In a crawl space situation there is no need to back fill as cosmetics (exposed trench) is not a big issue. Ideally what your trying to achieve is a chemical curtain down to the foundation (in crawlspace construction with brick, block or stone walls termites most often get in through cracked or missing sub surface mortar.

The reason behind termites building mud tunnels is that they have no way to stop themselves drying out, they need moisture so when they have to travel in exposed areas they build a tunnel that allows them to move from point a to point b without the environment drying out their bodies. By their numbers the tunnels build up humidity thus keeping them hydrated.

[HandymanCincy]

Agree with advice above... but wanted the emphasize the importance of removing water too. Termites love the moisture so keeping the area as dry as possible will help too. Not to mention slow down any wood rot that might be starting as a result of their destruction.