Treating Drywood Termites in Your Home
Posted on: 29 March 2016
Drywood termites are a nuisance you don't want to tolerate in your home because they are very destructive. These types of termites can completely destroy your furniture and other wooden structures and items in your home. Unfortunately, you may not easily identify the infestation of these termites until they reach the exterior of your wooden structures. Drywood treatment options target either the entire affected structure/house or a particular area, furniture or wooden material that is infested. Therefore, depending on the type of the infestation (whole structure or spot), here are treatment options you should consider.
Whole Structure Treatment
Fumigation
This is an effective way of killing termites and may sometimes take even 2 or 3 days to achieve the treatment goals. This type of treatment is more efficient because it takes care of the infested parts, both visible and invisible.
For this treatment, your house, shed, or any other infested structure is first covered with gas-tight tarps. A poisonous gas is then released into the structure to kill the termites. However, remember that the gases used may not only be poisonous to the termites, but also to plants, animals, and even humans. For this reason, make sure the structure is vacated during the fumigation. If it's your house, ensure that all food items are removed during the treatment.
Heat Treatment
Heat treatment is another termite treatment option for the entire structure. Vinyl or polyethylene sheets are used to cover the structure. The structure is then heated to a given temperature by inserting temperature probes (which are connected to a heater outside) in the structure. The high temperature then kills the termites. The benefit of using heat treatment over fumigation is that the structure will have to be evacuated for only a couple of hours as opposed to days. However, the high temperatures used can damage heat-sensitive items within the structure, such as electric cables and outlets, and plastics.
Spot/Localised Treatment
Electrocution
In this method, a handgun that has a low current energy but high voltage is passed over the infested wood slowly to electrocute the termites.
Cold Treatment
Cold treatment method involves pumping of cold liquid nitrogen into the hard-to-reach spots such as voids in the walls. The liquid nitrogen then freezes the termites to death.
Pesticide Injection
Unlike cold treatment that is ideal for hard-to-reach places, injection of pesticide is suitable for the easily accessible spots. This method involves drilling small holes on the surface of your infested wood material and then injecting the pesticide into these holes. However, you would not want to drill the holes on expensive or antique furniture, and as such, other options such as borate treatment would work well. This treatment simply involves spraying a foam of borate over the infested surface.
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