Termites In My House

It happened to me, I admit it. But, it could happen to you too, so I want you to know how to get through it and beat it.

I love my home. It is my oasis. It is a place where I go and relax, have a nice meal, and enjoy being with my family. This tranquility was all shattered one lovely evening while I was watching Inside Out with my little girl and husband while munching on popcorn. It was awful. A bug landed straight in my coke, destroying the fun moment. I looked up and the bugs were dancing in front of the TV screen. They were EVERYWHERE.

What We Did

At this moment, chaos took a hold of most of us. My daughter and I jumped on the sofa with a slight scream. My husband, level headed problem solver that he is, turned on the lights and begin his inspection. With the lights on, we now know that the flying bugs are termites. At this moment, this is a relief because it could have been something even more disgusting like roaches. He follows the termite path from the living room into his office. We were curiously following behind him holding on to the back of his T-Shirt tentatively peering around to see if we could see the termite source. When we opened the office door completely, we saw what seemed to be hundreds of termites swarming the room and pouring out from behind his built-in book shelf. Now that we knew where they were coming from, we did the only thing we could. We shut the door and put a towel at the base of the door so no more could come out. We got rid of the remaining TV blocker pests in the living room, and sat down and finished our movie.

What Happened Next

The next morning, bright and early, we called Dial One Pest Control, and they said they were going to come to our rescue that very morning. With this first step complete and my daughter off to school, my husband and I entered the office room, ready for battle. The first thing we saw were hundreds of dead termites all of the floor, near the computer monitor, and even in the coffee cup that had been left on the desk the previous day. Next, we removed all of the books from the book shelves and found the termite’s exit door which was a hole about the size of a quarter in the book shelf. This was disgusting. The termites were everywhere, but what was worse, they had taken up residence inside my walls. I had convinced myself that I could even hear them scurrying behind the walls. I just wanted them gone NOW.

How We Fixed the Problem

When the Dial One Pest Control team arrived, they were prepared. They had a machine that could read heat behind the walls. It could identify where the termite nest was located without damaging my walls. I liked this idea and this process, because I was hopeful that it was going to be a small problem. (Boy was I wrong). But, then the machine revealed the nest location. Surprising to me, the termite exit door was not where the nest was located. The nest was on a completely different wall. The termites had created an elaborate city behind the walls in the office. They were slowly eating my entire home from office out. They popped up from no where, swarmed my home, but now it was time to stop the termite cancer spread.

The Termites Are Exposed

At this point, James, who I am now calling the Termite Whisperer, made a small cut into the wall where the nest was located. Once he did this, you could see the termites crawling behind the walls through the hole. He inspected the entire home for any other termite homes. Lucky for me, he did not find any other areas. However, he did find the source of the water that had nurtured the termite colony. It was the roof by the fireplace chimney. The flashing had disappeared, probably from one of our huge storms, and had allowed for water to enter the home at the office. Now that we knew what was sustaining the termites, the Termite Whisperer returned to the nest and pumped a chemical into it. The chemical is designed to kill the entire network of termites through a termite sharing process in about 2 to 3 weeks. And, that is exactly what happened. But, this is not where the story ends.

How the Story Ends

The termites had done their damage. They had feasted on the office and hidden themselves so long, that they had caused quite a lot of problems. We had to remove all of the sheet rock in the room and we had to replace several of the 2 x 4 beams in the wall. Dial One Pest Control and of course the Termite Whisperer helped us throughout the construction process. When all of the walls were opened, they returned and inspected the damage and looked for any more termites. We survived our battle with the termites and we now have a lovely office as a reward for our winning. So, learn from our lesson, inspect your home from top to bottom because like cancer these termites can sneak in from the bottom and the top. And of course get a good termite company  like Dial One Pest Control. Thank you guys so much, We Are Termite FREE!