Tpt life Posted July 11, 2016 Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 1 hour ago, Mike. said: interesting - maybe the rats and mice eat them here Are you sister's houses on a concrete foundations/basement? Most houses in cook county have a concrete basement (or cinder block for older homes) and the top of the concrete foundation walls are typically a foot or two above grade. I wonder if that mitigates the risks since there will be no contract between wood and the ground. A slab on grade is probably riskier. Both homes are a mix of field stone and concrete block, with all framing at least 15" above grade. A poured slab porch had mud trails behind it, and an unfinished crawl space had mud trails. They are less likely to hide when all foundation to soil junctures are exposed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapid Roger Posted July 11, 2016 Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 I forgot to mention in my first post. Termites will fly and swarm when the current nest gets over crowded or in the case that the neighbors spray around their house and chase them to your place. So, if the flying swarm happens to get as high as the roof and the eves are old, damp or dry rotted, they may take up residence above ground. That is very unusual however. We have a pest control company that planed traps all around our house after finding them (termites) in the living room wall. The company checks the traps on a regular schedule. There is a stick of wood that has poison in it and the termites take the poisoned wood back to the nest with them and it wipes out the whole nest. The company used to have to open the traps to check for any activity but, these days they have a method of checking the traps electronically. Not sure just how that works but, we haven't had a problem for the last 10 or 15 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted July 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 7 hours ago, Mike. said: Are termites more common in southern/warmer climates? I have never heard of a termite problems around me (chicago area). My understanding after researching is that termites are everywhere. There are the ones in the ground that are more common up north and the dry wood ones that don't require the ground down south.At my mom's old house the garage was nearly destroyed by termite damage. 3 hours ago, Rapid Roger said: I forgot to mention in my first post. Termites will fly and swarm when the current nest gets over crowded or in the case that the neighbors spray around their house and chase them to your place. So, if the flying swarm happens to get as high as the roof and the eves are old, damp or dry rotted, they may take up residence above ground. That is very unusual however. We have a pest control company that planed traps all around our house after finding them (termites) in the living room wall. The company checks the traps on a regular schedule. There is a stick of wood that has poison in it and the termites take the poisoned wood back to the nest with them and it wipes out the whole nest. The company used to have to open the traps to check for any activity but, these days they have a method of checking the traps electronically. Not sure just how that works but, we haven't had a problem for the last 10 or 15 years. I've seen those traps before too on tv. Makes me want to just bury them in the ground as a "just in case" haha. Not sure if they work that way though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted July 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 6 minutes ago, Mike. said: Make sense. I was just wondering why I don't hear too much about termite damage around me. I think the combination of concrete foundations and the fact that most people have their houses treated for insects makes my area relatively termite free. I wonder if a lot of Chicago burning down didn't result in more solid construction with stone foundations, which minimized the problem. Most of the houses down here are 100+ years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3nry Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 These are some termites that I met in Brazil, busy turning the forests back into Carbon Dioxide. There were miles of their little tunnels all over the ground and trees - so I broke one open, they weren't very pleased with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 https://goo.gl/photos/BvBqak6BehCfczFb9 https://goo.gl/photos/CqxsSeqPtsHwggTM8 Kalahari termite runs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted July 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 Why did I click this thread that I made. Took me hours to get rid of that feeling of bugs crawling on me after my termite research yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 There was a house on the wooded lot next to mine, when we built ours 25 years ago. It was on a block foundation, and although abandoned, could easily have been made livable. Termites made that house disappear, about 10 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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