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Termite Treatment and Control
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Pictured below is a Sentricon™ in-ground termite trap kit  Pictured are Subterranean termite shelter tubes in the crawlspace of a residential home. On the left is the tubing building up a support and the picture
Termite damage to the support stem wall of a garage . Century Termite & Pest provides you with trained professionals who can help to protect your home from these destructive pests. Century utilizes the above pictured Sentricon Bait Stations when treating for termites.
Baiting vs. Traditional Control.
One of the main differences between the Sentricon System and the traditional means of termite control, which uses a termiticide (chemical) barrier treatment, is the concept of colony elimination. The Baiting System eliminates the under-ground termite colonies attacking a structure. The traditional chemical soil barrier keeps individual termites from gaining access to the structure. Other than preventing termite access to a particular structure, the traditional barrier does not affect the colony in any way. | |||||||||
Winged Termite  |
Century Termite & Pest Control Services will be glad to inspect your home or business structure, identify any and all infestations and determine the most effective & safe method of control. Call or email Century Termite & Pest at (703) 904-1813 for Virginia or
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Subterranean termites (Reticulitermes hesperus) - How to spot the symptoms
First things first. If you are seeing tiny light brown pellets sifting from a wall, overhead wooden member or gathering in small piles around window or doors, you are not dealing with subterranean termites, but instead are dealing with drywood termites, and if so, please refer to the drywood termite page of this site. Having said that, subterranean termites are probably the most destructive termite in the Mid-Atlantic region due to the sheer numbers that make up an average colony. Unlike Drywood termites, which can have upwards of a few thousand members, the Subterranean termite colony can number more than a million members per colony.
Moisture sources for termites in your home- Subterranean termites require moisture to survive or thrive in an environment and that is why infestations are normally found when remodeling a bathroom or kitchen area. In these particular areas, the termite gains entrance into the structure from either the tub-trap cut-out in the slab, up the copper water lines (due to the condensation), the drain lines or beneath the tub or shower pan. Other entry points for subterranean termites are the seams from floating or supported concrete slab constructed structures, behind exterior siding or stucco, up through settling cracks, plumbing protrusion lines, expansion cracks in garages. If the structure is a crawlspace, then you will find the termites building either free-standing tubing from the ground the the floor joists or tubing building up the foundation walls and/or pier post supports and into the joists or bottom sill plates.
Ground contact a must for this termite- Subterranean termites must maintain contact with the soil for replenishing purposes unless the structure that they are feeding upon has a plumbing leak or some other source of moisture, above ground, for the termite. Interestingly enough, the very soil that they to stay in contact with also contains bacteria that, if not removed, will kill the termite and as a result, the subterranean termite workers must constantly groom not only themselves but also the other members of the colony.
Termite mud-tubing- Unlike Drywood termites, the Subterranean termite will construct a mud-like shelter tubing made up of both fecal material and a glue-like substance that binds the tubing together through which they can accomplish all of their activities. There are no pellets with Subterranean termites and the mud-like tubing is divided up into three types which are known as; exploratory tubing, drop tubing and working tubing. Exploratory tubing is also known as migratory tubing and can often be found in the crawlspace beneath a home on the surface of the ground.
Flying termites- Subterranean termite swarmer's (reproductives) are dark brown to black with grayish colored wings and are much smaller than Drywood termites and they are approximately 1/4 inch in length. Note: one of the differences between "flying termites" and "flying ants" is both the length and type of wings. Termite wings will be much larger than the body whereas an ants wings are almost at equal length with the body. Plus, both ants and termites have two pair of wings, however, the wings of the termite are of equal length and the ants wings, also in pairs, are not of equal length. Swarmers are often seen on sunny days in the fall but sometimes are seen on sunny days in the spring after a rain.
Treatment for Subterranean termites is entirely different than that of Drywood termites. Treatment for subterranean termites can involve either establishing a repellent barrier around the structure, in the soil, or installing a subterranean termite bait/monitor system in the ground around the structure. The barrier method is known as a conventional treatment. We, at century Termite & pest Service, use a product called PREMISE . Unlike a true repellent barrier, PREMISE 75 forms what is known as a non-repellent treated zone. Why is that important? Because when a repellent pesticide is applied to the soil beneath the structure, the applicator has no way of knowing if the pesticide is spreading to the intended areas and any imperfections in application (beneath the structure) can allow for termite entry because the termites will simply go around the repellent pesticide and find an area that was not treated. With a non-repellent treated zone, you can have the same application imperfections but have entirely different results in that the termites pass right through the treated zone, of the non-repellent PREMISE 75, and not even know that they have gone through it, thereby effecting the overall results of the application. If the termites don't know that it (PREMISE 75) is there, they pass through it, become effected and spread PREMISE 75 to other colony members.
Most termite bait systems are designed to draw termites into the bait stations by placing a piece of wood (usually pine) into the station and allowing the termites to feed upon the wood, thereby gaining their confidence. After a period of time, the piece of wood is replaced with the actual bait and the goal is that the termites will continue to feed upon the bait and carry the termiticide back to the colony destroying it completely. Localized treatments, with a pesticide solution, will also need to be applied to areas of infestation in the structure, in conjunction with the bait system. Bait systems alone (in our opinion) will not solve the termite problem. One of the reasons why we believe a bait system alone will not solve a termite problem is that termite workers and soldiers are blind and cannot see the bait/monitor stations. Termites, through random foraging, will encounter the bait/monitor stations and that is why you will normally see anywhere from 15-40 bait/monitor stations installed (for the average 1500 square foot home) around the perimeter of the home at approximately 5-10 foot intervals. A case in point, is a home that we inspected several years back in Fairfax VA. The homeowner had another company install a bait system around the perimeter of his home to control subterranean termites. When it came time to sell his home, the buyers agent, wanting a second impartial inspection, had us perform the termite inspection and we discovered both live termites and damaged sills in the basement of this home. Ironically, the live termites and damage were found approximately 3 feet away from a wall mounted bait station that was installed in addition to the ground stations. Obviously outraged that he still had live termites and damage after paying thousands of dollars for the termite bait system, both the homeowner and realtor asked me if the other company had done anything wrong with the bait system installation and I told them no, that the company did nothing wrong and that it was due to the nature of the termites. It is for this reason that we recommend localized treatments, of a pesticide, be applied to areas of infestation along with the bait system installation. Accompanying the baiting program should be a periodic visual inspection of the property which is probably the most important factor in the success of the program. Periodic inspections should be performed at a minimum of once a year or sooner.