Termite Treatment

Texas A&M AgriLife's own guidance is that subterranean termites decrease from the Gulf Coast inland, and are noticed less often in the High Plains and far West Texas. Two of the three species people most fear do not occur here at all.

Inspection first, always. Foundation type, construction, linear footage, access, soil, moisture, conducive conditions, and where any activity actually is. The quote comes after that, because every one of those changes the number.

Liquid barrier — Termidor HE and Termidor SC. The conventional approach for most slab work here: establishing a treated zone in the soil around and beneath the structure, which on a slab means drilling and injecting through the slab, porches, patios, fireplaces and adjacent sidewalks where they abut the foundation. Termidor is non-repellent, which is the point — termites move through the treated zone rather than avoiding it.

Trelona bait systems. In-ground stations around the structure, monitored and maintained. This suits properties where trenching and drilling is impractical, where construction makes a continuous barrier hard to achieve, or where an owner would rather have ongoing monitoring than a single event. It works more slowly by design, because the colony has to find the material and share it.

Bora-Care. A borate applied to bare wood framing — most useful during construction or where framing is accessible, treating the wood itself rather than the soil. Texas rules allow borate treatment of primary wood framing as an alternative in pre-construction work, applied per label to at least two feet above slab contact.

New-construction pre-treats. Texas is specific about these under 4 TAC §7.173: a continuous horizontal and vertical barrier for a full treatment, a required return visit after the slab is poured and piers are placed to complete the vertical barrier, and final application within 30 days of landscaping completion or one year from construction completion, whichever is earlier. Partial treatments are permitted where construction physically prevents a complete one — but only with a signed attestation from the property owner, treated areas documented on amended diagrams, and copies to the owner within seven days. Records are kept two years.

• Which species do you think this is, and how do you know? "Termites" is not an answer in a region where one of the common species does not eat wood.
• Are you licensed in the termite control category specifically? A Texas pest control licence does not authorise termite work — they are separate categories. Ours is TPCL 0976265 and it covers both.
• What is the linear footage, and how did you measure it? It is the main driver of the price.
• Liquid or bait, and why this one for my house? If the answer is the same for every property, it was not a decision.
• What exactly does the warranty cover — re-treatment, or damage? Get it in writing either way.
• What am I being given before treatment? Texas requires a written estimate carrying the business licence number, a diagram with perimeter measurements, product labels and concentrations, complete warranty details and a consumer information sheet before treatment begins.

Most people never see a termite. What they see is one of these, and knowing the difference saves everybody a trip.

Mud tubes. Pencil-width earthen tubes running up a foundation wall, a pier or the inside of a crawlspace. Subterranean termites build them to keep moisture around themselves while they travel between soil and wood. An intact tube with live insects inside is active evidence. An old dry tube on its own tells you there was activity, not that there is now.

Swarmers and discarded wings. Winged reproductives leaving a colony, usually in spring here. Small piles of identical shed wings on a windowsill or near a light are one of the more reliable indicators. Worth distinguishing from flying ants — termite wings are equal in length, ant wings are not, and a termite has a straight waist where an ant has a pinched one.

Hollow-sounding or blistered wood. Termites eat wood from the inside, following the grain, so a surface can look sound and give under a screwdriver. Trim, door frames and skirting near the slab are the usual places to check.

Carton sheeting on a lawn. Desert termite, not a structural problem. Covered above, and worth repeating because it produces more unnecessary quotes than anything else here.

Termites need moisture and a route. Most of what makes a property attractive is fixable without a treatment at all:

• Soil or mulch piled against the siding, above the slab line
• Wood-to-ground contact — fence posts, deck supports, trim, stored lumber
• Leaking hose bibs, condensate lines and irrigation running against the foundation
• Poor drainage holding water at the perimeter after rain
• Firewood or lumber stacked against the wall — the same mistake that feeds a scorpion problem
• Blocked weep holes and covered vents on pier-and-beam construction

Texas requires those conditions to be documented on the diagram a customer receives before treatment, which is a rule worth knowing exists.

A termite page that only argues for treatment is a sales page. Here is the other half, which is just as true:

Carton sheeting on the lawn after a storm. Desert termite. Not structural. Nothing to buy. It comes and goes with rainfall and range condition, and it will most likely disappear on its own.

Winged insects around a light in spring, with unequal wings and a pinched waist. Flying ants, not termites. Worth treating if the ants are a problem in their own right, but it is a general pest job rather than a termite job and should be priced as one.

One old, dry mud tube with nothing in it. Evidence of previous activity. That is worth a proper look to establish whether anything is live, but previous activity on its own is not an active infestation and should not be quoted as one.

A newer home with a documented pre-treat and no evidence. Worth an inspection on a sensible interval. Not worth a full treatment because somebody knocked on the door.

The honest position on West Texas termite risk is that it is real, lower than most of the state, and highly property-specific. If the inspection says you do not need anything, that is what you will be told — and the inspection is where the value is either way.

There is a reasonable middle option people rarely get offered, too. On a property with no current activity but genuinely conducive conditions — poor drainage at the perimeter, wood in ground contact, soil above the slab line — the right answer is often to fix the conditions and re-inspect on a sensible interval rather than to treat. That costs you almost nothing and it removes the reason the problem would have started. Ask for it.

For the species detail — which termites are actually here, the April–May swarm window, and how to tell a desert termite on a fence post from a structural threat — see the subterranean termite library page.