Nobody likes pests in their home or business, but if you have wood-damaging pests they are more than just a nuisance - they are something that may cause damage to the entire infrastructure of your building. Paul Fougere is owner of Absolut Pest Control, which has been in business for 17 years serving Boston’s entire North Shore area. Here, he talks about the best way of eradicating these pests - for good.
Absolut Pest Control has been successfully eliminated wood-destroying insects such as subterranean termites, Powderpost beetles, and carpenter bees and ants for the past 17 years. Specific licenses are required for termite control, and Absolut Pest Control holds all of these licenses. We know how to get rid of these pests and stop them from doing damage to your home, and we also know how to stop them from coming back in the future.
Here is what we do to eradicate the four main wood-damaging pests we see in our area:
Subterranean termites. These little critters are prevalent in this area. They are the only kinds of termites we have. There are other termites but they mainly exist in the southern part of the United States, and we do not deal with them at all in the Boston area. The subterranean termites live in the ground and they cannot live in our atmosphere because it’s too dry for them. They basically go from the ground to the wood structures of a house. They feed on a continuous basis and hundreds of thousands of them exist within an individual colony. There are two types of treatments - one is a chemical application, and the other is a baiting application. Generally, the structure or type of structure itself defines the best treatment procedure. Both treatments are highly successful and are comparable in price.
Powderpost beetles. Powderpost beetles are long cylindrical beetles. There are different types: Lyctidae and Anobiidae. These types of beetles will infest both softwoods and hardwoods. Treatment for the hardwood beetle in furniture is best done in a fumigation, whereas softwood beetles, generally found in the framing of a house, should be treated with borates. We use specific applications of a borate chemical which is applied directly to the infested wood. Wood that has been painted over or stained sometimes cannot be treated and needs to be replaced. The only other application for powderpost beetles is an actual fumigation of the structure, which involves tenting the entire building.
Carpenter bees. Carpenters bees have been increasing over the years. Generally they infect soffit and ridged areas of the house. They like unpainted or raw wood. They are Mother Nature’s half-inch drill bit; they drill a perfectly round hole then excavate a cavity to raise their eggs. They will do significant damage to soffit and rake boards but generally do not do structural damage. The treatment for carpenter bee galleries is an injection of the residual insecticide into the galleries and plugging of the holes. A preventative service can be perimeter spraying to the soffit and rake board areas during the early spring.
Carpenter ants. These creatures start from the ground up and are looking for high-moisture wood. They like the moisture content to be above 18 percent. Generally, they do not eat the wood or derive any nutrition from it, but only live in the wood. They eat anything you and I do – vegetables, meat, whatever. The colony will dictate what they are looking for – protein, carbohydrates or sugar, for example. They send out foragers which look for specific foods that the colony needs. If an active colony is in a home, you will find the ants in the kitchen due to the food, and in bathrooms because of the moisture. Typical treatments include foundation spraying, treatments to sill plates wherever possible, and applications under kitchen sinks and bathroom vanities.
At Absolut Pest Control, we don’t just postpone the problem when it comes to wood-damaging pests in your home or business; we stop it at the source so it doesn’t keep coming back. Using state-of-the art equipment and methods, our licensed exterminators will inspect your home or working environment and construction to identify the problem and determine the best course of action.
If you have a problem with carpenter ants, carpenter bees, powderpost beetles, termites, or any type of pest at all - or want to make sure you don’t get one – then you can count on Absolut Pest Control to break the pest life-cycle and prevent future infestations.
