Termites can ruin a home, but they are not as difficult to get rid of as you might think. And now new technology an eliminate entire colonies of termites, not just individual pests. Brian Hanly is a spokesperson for JP McHale Pest Management Inc., the leader in pest control and extermination across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. He talks here about the technology behind this innovative solution.
Termite bait technology is the technology behind the way that a pest control company would install a termite bait system around a home to ensure that termites are out of the house. We use something called something called a TIP station, or a Termite Indicator Program.
The way this works is fairly straightforward. We place a bunch of small monitors around the home to see what’s going on. When we send a technician to the home, we check the bait. If there are live termites, then we proceed to install one of two termite baiting systems.
Eliminating Entire Colonies
One is called the Sentricon Colony Elimination System, and the other one is the Advanced Termite Baiting System. The difference with these systems is that they eliminate entire colonies, not just individual termites. We install either of those two systems around the home, and you cannot see them as they are in the ground. We bait them with termicide, and periodically, our technicians will check the systems and document what is going on.
We keep a customer profile to see what stations have termitic activities, and then, depending on what issues arise, we pay more attentions to those stations. How long it will take to get rid of all the termites will depend on the size of the infestation and where exactly the infestation is in the home. You might have homes on an all-concrete foundation, for example, where you might have to take special treatment options. It all depends on the structure of the house, the size of the colonies and other factors.
Eating Their Way Through Concrete
If a customer uses our system with the termite indicators and we notice termitic activity, we advise them to go forward with the elimination process. If they do not get rid of their termites, they can make their way into the foundation of the home and eat all the wood. They can even eat their way through the concrete, causing structural damage to the home and essentially destroying the home.
In the United States alone, termites cause more than $2 billion worth of property damage every year. If your property has live termites, you should do something about it. Every property in the United States should have termite indicators around their home. If not, the only way to find out if you have termites is through yearly inspections, and that is not the best option for your home as inspectors cannot see behind sheetrock and things of that nature.
