SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — With hotter weather, more homeowners across San Diego County have been complaining about an uptick in termites. This is causing homeowners to call professionals to squash the problem.
"We are now in swarm season, and this year, we have seen an influx of dry wood termite swarmers, we had a lot of rain and that caused a lot of termite activity," said Victor Sealey, a Terminix Service Manager.
The high heat and humidity has only topped termite concerns for some San Diegans.
"Once this weather peaks up into the 100's, that's when we begin to see the dry wood termites, you'll see their wings, they kind of look like an ant, but the wings are larger than its body,” Sealey said.
At a home in Bonita, Sealey said his Terminix team found the bugs on a two by four inside the wood, inside of the structure of the home, so the plan is to “drill and treat” problem.
The tactic works by inserting termiticide in small circles one by one in order to soak in the termite killing product to cause the colony to die off. It’s a process that could take about 14 days to work and the insects die of dehydration.
"The biggest hesitation is ‘do I have to put a big old tent over my house?’ and in this case, through a thorough inspection, we only found it in one area," Sealey said.
Termite droppings can be found at the bottom plate of the house often looking like a rust-colored sawdust or sand. Technicians will add in sealant to close off the holes, and then the homeowner can paint over them later.
“We're going to treat it and then we're going to come back around in six to nine months to do a follow-up inspection to make sure that all the termites are dead,” said Sealey, who has been with Terminix for 11 years.
It’s a painless, at-home process that can cost close to $1,000 dollars depending on the size of the infected area - even up to $8,000 for extensive termite impacted repairs.
“You want to just remove that wood, that's the least inexpensive way to deal with termites is just remove that wood, and then painting the eaves, keeping a good coat of paint around the home because your wood could look perfectly fine, but if you probe the wood, and it gives, then you know you have termite activity in that particular area," Sealey said.
Terminix technicians recommend that homeowners have regular inspections done every couple years to check for any signs of termites on their property.