[DAVE231]

Hi. I have termites in a piece of wood in my garage. I see the mud tube coming up from the edge of the foundation and entering into a stud. The wood seems solid and I'm thinking of removing and replacing it, but what about the ones I don't get when I cut it out? Anyone had any experience with these little devils? I'm reluctant to call a termite/pest removal company for fear of being ripped off. Inspection of the rest of the garage shows no more evidence of termites. Currently my plan is to remove the infected wood and treat the immediate area with some sort of termite killer, then replace what I have removed. Comments, suggestions, and alternatives are welcome. Thanks. Dave.

[labman]

I really think the mud tube is the key. They must have a protected route from the ground to the wood structure, or a source of water inside. If I was replacing just one termite infested 2 x 4, better believe it would be a pressure treated one.

How termite resistant is the rest of your garage and house? Do you have pressure treated sill plates or metal plates between them and the foundation?

You need to do an absolutely fanatical inspection of your house. If you have masonry against the frame anywhere such as a poured concrete stoop, remove it if you have to to see the foundation/frame joint behind it. Crawl your crawl space or whatever. If some of your rooms need freshened up, drive some nails in the stud and ceiling joists. You can easily fill the holes with some speckling or even tooth paste, and paint over it. Is there anyplace that has sagged leaving a door or window not fitting right?

I don't have a lot of experience, and maybe I have listened to too many exterminators, but they can be bad.

[fredg]

Hi,
I vote for the exterminator. You can call the Better Business Bureau, or the Chamber of Commerce in your local area. They can guide you to who is reputable. Call an exterminator, and ask for a price quote. In that way, you can be assured of knowing the cost; also if they do the work for you, they use commercial pesticides that are known to do a good job.

[DAVE231]

Hi fredg. My wife voted for the exterminator also so it's two to one in that direction. I guess an estimate and a quote makes sense. Hope I'm wrong but used car salesmen and exterminators give me the willies. Thanks. Dave.

[jduke44]

I know what you mean about exterminators. I recently had to call one in but called a guy that went to my church. He was very informative and honest. He wwas able to tell me certain areas that needs prevention and certain areas that didn't. Of course, mine I should have done the prevention. He uses a Borax which is guaranteed for 10 years. He said it would cost $400 to put it down. I'm only telling you this to reassure you that there are some honest guys out there. Also, to give you a heads up on how much you might be looking at. It will probably be different in your area. Be careful of the national known companies. They may be honest, but they also might be considerably higher. Hope this helps.

[DAVE231]

Thanks jduke44. I really appreciate you thoughts about your experience.

[wzartv]

We had termites in our house about a year ago. We never noticed until we went to remodel the one basement room and tore things apart. We saw it was simply one main support that seemed to be infested.

Thankfully though, we called Erlich (a friend of mine runs the Pennsylvania branches) and they pointed out that many other areas of the house had been affected by termites in the past, which we were not aware of. We went with the plan, which wasn't too bad considering all of things they had to do, and the problem has been solved and they have a limited guarantee for the next few years.

In my opinion, you can try to replace the affected areas, but there may be other areas that could also be affected that you are not aware of. Also, if you get an exterminator, they will do it the right way (if they are honest) so you hopefully won't have any more problems in the future.

Best of luck!