White ants, again

[seajae]

We seem to suffer constant white ants, we get a local mob to kill them(8,500 baht a year) but I dont think it works all that great. Thay attach a plastic box to the wall area and fill it with a white mix they make with their hands, you can see the tubes coming away from the box and they grow reasonably quickly. Last time they did it I unscrewed the cover after several weeks and there was a huge nest of crawling termites in it. It was another several weeks before they dissapeared but they reappeared elsewhere in the house. They have destroyed a lot of the gyprock ceilings(they eat the paper covering between the paint and the plaster inside the sheets), I have scraped off all the loose paint etc and there are trackes all over the place. In the door frames and timber cupboards you can hear them, sounds like a small buzz saw in action, I can only assume that whatever the exterminators are using it isnt working. In Australia you would get them to spray the house and you wouldnt have problems for years or at all again, even thought about getting some of the chemical used here and doing it myself, wife says that al the neighbours would pay for me to do their houses too but I dont think the local exterminators would take kindly to it if I took away their business. Can any suggest a goos method to stop these pesky white ants, with a cement rendered house you would think we would be safe from them but I have removed nearly all the skirting boards and cornices in the house , they just seem to attack everything. Really need a good way of stopping them..........

[onionluke]

They ate half of my record collection and quite a few books . I tried this chemical mix on them in a baby bio sprayer but ity remains to be seen if that will have been any use. I am going to try drilling into their nests and going all out with chemical warfare .

[David48]

No real way to stop them.

I asked once in the Building Forum about the availability of the CCA treated wood you have in Australia and no-one knew of a Thai source.

Thats why they build in concrete, steel or plastic here ... everything.

The kitchen/bathroom cupboards in concrete and tile, skirting boards in plastic, why bother with a cornice?

Wiring in conduit to keep them and the rats out. Couldn't believe that termites eat the plastic coated wire ... but they do!

Such is building in Thailand.

.

[h90]

No real way to stop them.

I asked once in the Building Forum about the availability of the CCA treated wood you have in Australia and no-one knew of a Thai source.

Thats why they build in concrete, steel or plastic here ... everything.

The kitchen/bathroom cupboards in concrete and tile, skirting boards in plastic, why bother with a cornice?

Wiring in conduit to keep them and the rats out. Couldn't believe that termites eat the plastic coated wire ... but they do!

Such is building in Thailand.

.

right.....now I know why they make everything in concrete.....good idea....

[topt]

OP I am not sure where you are based but there is mention in this forum of an Aussie run company in Pattaya who use chemicals they source in Oz (so they told me when they came round for a quote). They successfully got rid of termites from one of the TV members - Guderian

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/590256-pest-control-companies-termite-ants-etc-recommendations/?p=5748740&hl=%2Btermites

[seajae]

OP I am not sure where you are based but there is mention in this forum of an Aussie run company in Pattaya who use chemicals they source in Oz (so they told me when they came round for a quote). They successfully got rid of termites from one of the TV members - Guderian

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/590256-pest-control-companies-termite-ants-etc-recommendations/?p=5748740&hl=%2Btermites

I am in Surat Thani, we now have them in our new units that were only finished a few months ago, buggers are inside the concrete. I cannot believe the pathetic attempts they make to remove them, we had one lot spray virtually straight water throughout the ceilings which has buggered them all as it has left water marks all over them. I will have to look these guys up and sww if they have anyone operating close to us, thanks.

[kriswillems]

This a a big international company we've used bit limited success. They probably use high quality products.

http://www.rentokil.co.th/

The termites go away for one or 2 years and then they're back. Once they are in your built-in furniture there's nothing you can do anymore. I've put kilo's a poisoned powder in there (drilled holes in the wood), still they always seem to find a way around. They are slowly eating the furniture and there's nothing we can do.

A few tricks to avoid problems with termites:

- don't use built-in wooden furniture

- if you want to buy wooden cupboards, use hardwood, or put them on 4, 10 cm high steel legs. Don't let any wood touch the floor.

- leave at least 2 cm space between cupboards and the wall

- put poisoned powder under your cupboards (drill holes in the bottom if you can't reach the area), put the powder in a big syringe and blow in under your furniture by quickly emptying the syringe. Do this before the termites come. Once they are in there, there's not much you can do.

- termites like moisture. Check your roof, check your windows. Are they water-tight, also when there's heavy rain?

- use ceramic tiles. Don't go for hardwood or laminate.

- Don't keep empty paper boxes around the house

- let a company inject poison in the soil around your house, every year.

- choose for a steel roof construction, avoid any use of wood.

- when you see those brown flying insects dropping down and appearently dying on your floor after a heavy rain, remove them. They are termites.

Once you've got a problem with termites, it will be a constant fight - that goes on forever, until all wood is gone. Injecting poison in the soil will keep them away for 1 or 2 years.

Edited August 7, 2013 by kriswillems