cabanalane

I paid for a complete treatment last year. To honor my warranty, I must have it inspected yearly at a cost of $120.

If there are evidences of termites, they will treat it any time, however often, at no additional cost. But I must have it inspected at $120 each year.

If there is nothing, they do nothing. And $120.

(I know this upfront when they treated it, my 1st year is up).

What is an inspection? Just walking around the foundation and see if there are termites? Like the dirt trail? I can do that too, right? What else do they look for?

I heard some people skip the warranty and save the $120 a year and have the house re-treated in the next 3-5 years.

For the homeowners, what are you doing in terms of termite treatment?

CocheseUGA

That's a good deal. I pay $70 per quarter.

They come around and check the base stations for evidence of termites on mine.

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

They will also put down chemicals around the house.

cabanalane

In my case, they don't. They don't if they don't see any evidence of termites. At least that's what the "sales guy" told us, when we signed up for the initial treatment.

Will Y.

We had our house in SoCal fumigated and ground treated last year. It came with a two-year warranty, early detection stakes and free inspections on call. Inspectors will probe the wood and foundations as well as look for tunnels, trails and dust, both outside and inside.

Otherwise, the termite companies here will perform a free inspection for termites or dry rot and provide a written report of their findings (termite-related or otherwise) without requiring a contract or treatment.

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

You got hosed. They're supposed to put down chemicals to prevent them from showing up in the first place, not do treatments if they have already shown up.

cabanalane

I think you missed this. They treated the whole house. Year 1. To keep the warranty, we are required for them to come back for an inspection. Year 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. As long as we want.

If they are not going to re-apply, touch up, etc, and just look, then what's the point?

Did I misunderstood your reply?

jupitersolo

Sounds like an extended warranty, do you need it? Do you live in an area that is termite prone? I had termites about eight years ago. They came a sprayed the entire foot print of the house, haven't had them back since. And I mean they sprayed, drill holes in basement every 12 inches, did outside as well.

I don't live in an area prone to them, knock on wood I don't see swarmers in a few weeks.

doopstr

At most, the stuff is only good for 5 years so would it be cheaper to pay for a full treatment every 5 years instead of paying the $120 every year?

Say they find some in 5 years, are they going to give you another full blast "for free" or just spot treat?

Since they are only going to spray again if they find something, then that means there will be damage to your house even with their "warranty". Are they going to pay to fix any damage to your house? I see terminex says that they will pay to fix the damage but their plans start at $35 a month.

When they did the initial treatment to your house, what did they do? Did they drill into the ground and dump chemicals or just spray around the foundation?

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

Sorry. I did not catch where they already sprayed. Yeah, what you're paying for is an extended warranty. I would cancel it and have it resprayed every five years or so.

cabanalane

If they find something it will most likely be spot treat. Yes, they did "drill" into the ground, so it suppose to get the chemicals under the concrete foundation. The company's website said $1M guarantee.

http://www.trulynolen.com/termite_co...protection.asp

Dr. Colorado

I had my home fumigated by previous owner before I moved in 3 years ago. Terminix comes every month and checks the ground stations. Always clear. Rule of thumb around here at least is to fumigate every 7 years or so.

CocheseUGA

I thought I was paying a lot until I got an ad from Terminex.

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

You're paying $70 per quarter? That's $280 per year, which is $65 more than I'm paying per year for an annual checkup. Hmmmmm. What company do you have?

CocheseUGA

Northwest, a local company.

They come out either once a month or once every three and check the 17 or so base stations we have. There were termites before we bought the house and it was fixed and these were put in as part of our purchase agreement.

I've been thinking about discontinuing the service, but I dunno.

Dr. Colorado

So my boy was over Sat afternoon to watch UFC. He was telling me the Sentricon (Xtermco) system I have is a scam. I pulled a half dozen stations around the perimeter of the home, 2 couldn't even come out because of overgrown roots, 1 had rotten wood that obviously needed replacement, and 2 had buried chalk that obviously had not been inspected in many months. My friend was saying that the guy just unscrews the lid and scans the stickered # on the underside of the lid without actually examining the wood/chalk.

Furthermore, there is no bait. Just wood or chalk. What happens if the ground termites come in the 6 feet between the stations? I'm contemplating jettisoning Sentricon and hiring a company to spray Thermidor as termite repellent. Apparently, it's one shot treatment that lasts up to 5 years. They drill small holes into the wall itself to place the Thermidor.

Anyone have experience with Thermidor? A different company, Terminix takes care of my pest control, he comes around every 3 months and sprays Thermidor and 2 other chemicals to keep away black and white ants, roaches, etc. This system works very well in keeping home pest free. I tried to go the budget route and spray Home Defense every 2 months around the perimeter but this didn't work.

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

i just got my yearly renewal for my termite protection from Western Pest... they raised their rates and now as $180 per year (used to be $150ish)... all they do is come and put down the wood stakes around my house... i have seen maybe 3 stakes at most, and they just come check the stakes and replace them every year... if they don't find anything, they don't spray... the house was drilled and sprayed about 3 yrs ago when i bought the house... i am thinking of not renewing the warranty and just calling in 5 yrs to have the house resprayed...

MR1

Termites can show up anytime, they blow through the air. Some areas are more prone to them than others, like the entire state of California. Any guarantee is just a bet by the pest company that their customer will not have a problem again. The problem with the chemicals are that they are poison and can kill birds and have other unintended consequences.

In my area we can have pest control just check on a regular basis (quarterly or semi-annually). I don't think termites can eat very much over the course of a year. Also there are two types of termite that require different treatment I think.

Dr. Colorado

Yeah like I mentioned earlier in the thread, my house got fumigated when I bought it early 08. Rule of thumb in my neighborhood is fumigate every 7 years because there's so many ground termites. Sounds like you are thinking what I'm thinking. When the house was drilled and sprayed, was the product Thermidor? Did you have to leave the home? Approximate $?

I think I'm paying almost a grand per year for Sentricon to come out monthly and they aren't even checking the stakes.

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

i'm pretty sure it was Thermidor, but i'll have to go home and check the paperwork... the treatment was done by the previous owner before i closed on the house so they paid for it but i got all the records from Western Pest...

when i bought the house in 08, and we were going through the home inspection... the inspector noticed the patched holes on the foundation walls and some termite burrows on the floor joists... he said that they definitely sprayed the house, but can't tell if the burrows are old from before they treated the house and never cleaned them up, or could be the termites come back... so he recommended i have the owner call up the pest company to reinspect...

Dr. Colorado

OK thanks. I'm having Terminix come out today and give me an estimate on the Thermidor. I found out Terminix doesn't even do the Sentricon monitoring statements anymore. They will knock $100 off the Thermidor since I'm an existing customer.

Now I have to find out if I can get prorated rebate on the Sentricon since I prepaid for the year in advance. On well, it's only 4 more months and worst case scenario I won't renew the monitoring for next year.