Drywood Termite Treatment
Termites Treatment in the Bay Area
When you need a professional and reliable termite control company in the Bay Area, MightyMite Termite will come to the rescue! We are a locally-owned and operated termite treatment company that is fully-licensed, bonded, and insured. As full-service termite and wood-destroying organism exterminators, we quickly diagnose and treat infestations with the most effective methods and unmatched warranties. If you need termite control at your commercial or residential property, who better to call than the leading extermination company in the Bay Area? We look forward to putting you at ease with our comprehensive services.
Drywood Termites
Drywood termites are non-subterranean, wood-destroying insects that are commonly found along the Pacific coastal region. They live, feed, and nest in undecayed wood with low-moistures contents (less than 12%) and are capable of causing severe damage due to the likely presence of multiple colonies. These termites chew tunnels inside wooden objects, weakening them from the inside. They are often distributed by human activity, most commonly by transporting infested furniture, timber, and other wooden objects to new areas.
Drywood termites consist of swarmers and soldiers:
- Swarmers are about ½-inch long, including their wings that are around 3/8 long. The head and pronotum of the swarmer are orange-brown in color, and the insects’ abdomen is dark brown. The front wing of the swarmer has three dark, hardened veins in the front portion.
- Soldiers are easily identifiable due to their sloped forehead. Their head will be orange to reddish-brown with white eyes. Soldiers also have jaws with several teeth on each pair and antenna that are enlarged and club-like.
Evidence of drywood termite infestations include swarmers, shed wings, piles of fecal pellets, termite plugs that seal all openings in infested wood, and surface blisters caused by older, enlarged galleries close to the wood’s surface. If you notice any signs of termites, call the team at MightyMite Termite right away before the issue becomes more severe. We would be happy to visit your property and take a look. Our exterminators will assess the damage and get rid of any infestations you are dealing with on your residential or commercial property without the use of toxic chemicals. We know insect infestations are a drag, which is why we do our very best to perform services that are highly-efficient and reliable to keep your life as stress-free as possible.
Treating Drywood Termites
There are a few different viable options when it comes to treating a drywood termite infestation. The particular treatment used will majorly depend on the extent of the infestation, which our team will be able to determine upon investigation. With MightyMite Termite, we pride ourselves on using least-toxic but highly targeted products that allow us to treat without disrupting our customer’s daily routine. Our treatment options for drywood termites include the following:
Orange Oil
Orange oil is an extract that comes from orange peels, and though it may seem harmless, it is highly toxic to drywood termites. This is because orange oil’s active ingredient is D-Limonene, which is a fairly effective, natural insecticide. In the case of drywood termites, orange oil treatment actually works to dissolve these insects’ exoskeletons, completely destroying their cell membrane and causing them to die due to a lack of water and protein.
Since orange oil is more of a targeted treatment option, it is best for smaller drywood termite infestations. Our team will begin treatment by drilling holes into the infested wood and injecting them with copious amounts of orange oil. Once injected, the oil will disperse into the hollow spaces where the termites feed, deterring them from eating and causing them to starve to death. Due to orange oil’s insecticidal qualities, even the drywall termites that do not stop eating will still die off when they come into contact with the oil. Follow-up treatments will likely need to be carried out to ensure each drywood colony has been effectively exterminated.
Though orange oil can cause allergic reactions for some, it is far less toxic than other termite treatments, which makes it an appealing treatment option to homeowners, especially those with children or pets. The convenience of being able to stay at home and go about life as usual, rather than booking a hotel room and boarding pets, is nearly as appealing as orange oil’s lower toxicity levels!
Termidor
When treating limited localized drywood termite infestations, Termidor is an excellent go-to treatment. Since its introduction in 2000, Termidor has been used on millions of homes across the U.S., successfully turning them into termite-free zones. This termite treatment is a quick killer, virtually odorless, and virtually non-toxic to humans and plant life when professionally applied according to the manufacturer’s label procedure. As a liquid termite control solution, Termidor is applied along the foundation or perimeter of a home to create a chemical barrier to prevent termites from entering or leaving your home without encountering this killer treatment.
Additional ways Termidor can wipeout drywood termites include:
- If termites ingest cellulose matter (wood, plants, etc.) that has been treated with Termidor, they will die.
- Termites that simply come into contact with Termidor will die even without the need to ingest the substance.
- These termites that inject or come in contact with Termidor become “carriers” and will transfer this treatment to other termites they come in contact with. This is what we like to call the Transfer Effect™.
Termidor is a slow-acting insecticide, meaning that termite carriers have plenty of opportunities to spread it around to the entire colony before eventually dying off. This treatment typically takes less than a day to be applied to your residential or commercial structure, and you will begin seeing results almost immediately.
Fumigation
Fumigation will need to be considered if the termite infestation is in areas that cannot be accessed without removing existing structural elements, or when the infestation is so large that localized treatment is not a cost-efficient option. Fumigation is a highly-effective drywood termite treatment because the fumigant penetrates the structure and completely displaces all the oxygen, replacing it with Vikane gas. When the termites respire or breathe, the gas is quickly absorbed, resulting in near-immediate death. Fumigation almost always results in 100% elimination of drywood termites, though the whole process will typically take about three days.
Upon arrival, the fumigation team will inspect your residential or commercial property’s interior to ensure the owner has completed all items that need removal or bagging. Once this is confirmed, we will begin opening the properties attic and crawlspace hatches to allow for proper fumigant flow throughout the structure. We will also prepare the tenting, securing tarps in place, and distributing fans inside the structure to promote fumigation flow further. We will then lock up the property, release the fumigant, exit the property, and let this treatment do its job.
After at least 18 hours of allowing the fumigant to cycle through the structure, our crew will return to the structure and begin the aeration process. We will remove all tarps, and enter the structure, measuring for any remaining gas. If the meter measures at five parts per million or less, the structure is deemed safe for re-entry.
MightyMite Termite: Your Local Termite Control Experts
If you suspect there is a termite infestation happening within your residential or commercial structure, contact our team right away. Every infestation is unique, which is why we strive to think outside the box when it comes to providing you non-toxic and 100% guaranteed (for up to two years!) extermination services. Rely on the seasoned team at MightyMite Termite to solve your termite problems the first time with an industry-best “no call-back rate.” Don’t wait, call now!