Termites in the garden

[Julie & Steve]

We found some termites in the garden under a rock today.  We know the house is free of them as we have recently had a report done.  Can anyone advise what to get to kill them?

Thanks

 

[derf]

I am sure most of the woodworm type killers available from brico's would kill the one's you can see, but I believe you have a legal obligation to report their presence to the Mairie. What happens after, if you do report it I don't know.

[Iceni]

Just because the report came back free of termites does not mean it is - friends have been told that their termites predate the purchase of their property. If you have a nest in the garden, they are travelling to eat somewhere and that somewhere could be deep in the wood of the house. As far as I know they do not live in the wood, just commute each day to destroy it.

Inform the authorities and if necessary get a specialist firm out to check your property - that is what we would do after seeing what has happened to our friends house - who only knew about it when beams fell into powder above their heads. The way the specialists seem to work is to put traps round the house - if the termites take the bait you have a problem, if they don't you don't. The visual inspection only works if the termite infestation has got to the point where it is pretty obvious.

All the best with this and I hope that they are just enjoying a dying tree stump.

[Ron Avery]

[quote]I am sure most of the woodworm type killers available from brico's would kill the one's you can see, but I believe you have a legal obligation to report their presence to the Mairie. What happens afte...[/quote]

For infected timber, the woodworm killers, if painted on, will only be effective to a depth of about 5cm and by this method are only really effective in treating boards and cladding.   For hardwood beams you must use pressure spraying or pressure injection to have any impact on terrmites and capricorn.  With injection, you only need to do the ends of the beams in contact with the walls as this is where the problems come from, other beams and timber should be sprayed at pressure to ensure penetration.

[Patf]

Are the kind of ants you find in an anthill in the garden the same as the destructive ones that fly (I think) into the house and destroy the woodwork? I thought termites was a generic name for lots of different types of ant. eg in uk we often had garden ants trooping into the kitchen, but no damage to woodwork. We have something called carpenter ants which, we were told, are nothing to worry about. Also where do capricorns fit into this picture? Pat.

[Ron Avery]

Pat

Termites are termites, the problem with them as others have said is that you do not know you have them until your beams break into pieces, they enter through the end grain from the wall and so do not leave any telltale entrance or exit holes.  Caopricorn have been dealt with many times on this forum, they are a big problem in SW France, they are like UK woodworm but make a roughly 10 times as a big a hole.

[Julie & Steve]

Hi all, thanks for responses.  I don't think there are any termites in the property because every bit of wood including the main beams has been stripped out and replaced this year by new timber - probably because of termites!  The new wood has been treated and we have an inspection report on this.  I think we need to get the professionals back for another check however.  Thanks for all the advice.

[derf]

[quote]For infected timber, the woodworm killers, if painted on, will only be effective to a depth of about 5cm and by this method are only really effective in treating boards and cladding. For hardwood be...[/quote]

We where talking about visible Termites in the garden not in the woodwork