One of the best ways to get rid of termites is to apply termite killing products to the outside of your home, use direct chemicals inside your home, place termite baits, and spray boric acid on floors and walls. The most common technique for treating termite infestations is barrier treatment applied to soil. Termiticides used for barrier treatments must be specifically labeled for that use. A popular method of how to get rid of termites is to treat the soil around your home with a termite insecticide, such as imidacloprid or fipronil.
Wood can also be treated directly if there are termites inside. One of the best ways to get rid of termites naturally is to expose them to sunlight. Termites thrive in humid, dark conditions, making them reluctant to sunlight. Leave your wooden furniture in the sunlight for two to three days in a row as a termite control treatment.
Considering the amount of damage termites can do to your home's foundations and furniture, the cost of termite treatment won't seem high. While this doesn't prevent termite attack elsewhere in the building, it reduces the possibility of termites entering around pipe penetrations, where inspection and early detection are difficult or impossible in a finished building. Even the best treatments performed by knowledgeable pest control companies can sometimes fail, when termites find their way through untreated voids in the soil. Humidity is an absolute necessity for termite colonies to survive and thrive, so eliminating damp areas around the home is essential to preventing termites.
Foam treatments are mainly used to supplement the control provided by other types of termite treatments. Foam termiticide treatments are especially useful for controlling aerial colonies of Formosan termites. Because they are slow acting, bait stations are generally not used as stand-alone treatments to control existing termite infestations. Dry termiticides are injected directly into active termite galleries with the aim of allowing the termites to feed on the bait and distribute the poison throughout the colony.
In the case of baits, termites can take weeks or months to find underground facilities and months longer to achieve control. Using treated wood in window sills, floor joists, and other subfloor construction elements that are not in direct contact with the ground will provide additional protection against termites, but this should not be considered as an independent method of termite protection. Dry termiticide treatments are not recommended as stand-alone treatments for structural infestations typical of underground termites (eastern underground termites or Formosan termites). Because construction practices have such a large effect on a building's susceptibility to termite infestation, state and local building codes include requirements that address termite risks.
There are about 50 different types of termite species found in North America, and each of these species falls into one of three termite groups: underground, wet, or dry. Read this step-by-step approach to termite control treatment to eliminate termites, also known as deemak, from wooden furniture. Termite baits consist of cellulose-based foods combined with a slow-acting substance that is lethal to termites.