Answer
Aug 13, 2024 - 07:43 AM
There are 2 parts to a monolithic slab foundation pre-treatment.
1. Interior (horizontal) soil treatment. This treatment is made by spraying the surface of the soil entirely. The rate of application is 1 gallon per 10 square feet. Using the base square footage of 6000 sq feet, you would need 600 gallons of finished Termidor spray mix. This is roughly 6 - 78oz Termidor SC containers. The issue here is that unless you have a power sprayer capable of mixing at least 50 gallons at a time, this becomes a tedious process. Most homeowners would be better off just treating the plumbing penetrations, expansion joints and other areas where termites are capable of entering and not treating the entire slab area. This could potentially cut the Termidor usage to under 100 gallons. However, in some States this may not be legal and it certainly is not considered a full pretreatment.
2. Exterior foundation (vertical) soil treatment. This treatment is made after the structure is built and the outer foundation grade is leveled. It is performed by digging a shallow trench directly next to the foundation wall 3" to 4" deep and applying Termidor mix into the trench. The rate of application is 4 gallons per 10 linear feet. If the foundation is deeper than 1 foot, apply 4 gallons per 10 linear feet per foot of depth. The issue here is that treatment still takes a large amount of Termidor. Using the outer dims of 108 x 93, the outer foundation is roughly 402 linear feet. This would require 160.8 additional gallons of Termidor mix. If the foundation is deeper than 1 foot, it could require more. Most termite control companies only use 4 gallons per 10 linear feet and forego the additional chemicals required due to cost, etc.
So the bottom line is that a 6000 square foot home with 402 exterior linear feet could (according to the label specifications) require 760.8 gallons of Termidor SC mixed at .06% dilution. This would require almost 8 Termidor SC 78oz containers. This would make the chemical cost alone $1752.00 or .30 cents per square foot. If the termite control company made any additional profit to cover labor costs, insurance, guarantee, etc, they would have to add that to the .30 cents per square foot. In most cases, doubling or tripling the chemical cost would be necessary. So paying .60 cents up to .90 cents or more per square foot would be the cost.
Most construction contractors I know of won't pay more than .5 cents to .10 cents per square foot for a termite reconstruction soil treatment. It doesn't take any guesswork to determine that it can't be done using Termidor. So my opinion is that either way - if you do it yourself or have a termite control company do it for you, it will not be done according to label directions. In my experience, if 10% of what is required is done, it is better than 0%. The question is, how much time do you have and how much do you want to pay for termite prevention?
There are other ways to prevent termites, too. BoraCare, Trelona ATBS, and Sentricon are all bonafide termite pretreatments.
1. Interior (horizontal) soil treatment. This treatment is made by spraying the surface of the soil entirely. The rate of application is 1 gallon per 10 square feet. Using the base square footage of 6000 sq feet, you would need 600 gallons of finished Termidor spray mix. This is roughly 6 - 78oz Termidor SC containers. The issue here is that unless you have a power sprayer capable of mixing at least 50 gallons at a time, this becomes a tedious process. Most homeowners would be better off just treating the plumbing penetrations, expansion joints and other areas where termites are capable of entering and not treating the entire slab area. This could potentially cut the Termidor usage to under 100 gallons. However, in some States this may not be legal and it certainly is not considered a full pretreatment.
2. Exterior foundation (vertical) soil treatment. This treatment is made after the structure is built and the outer foundation grade is leveled. It is performed by digging a shallow trench directly next to the foundation wall 3" to 4" deep and applying Termidor mix into the trench. The rate of application is 4 gallons per 10 linear feet. If the foundation is deeper than 1 foot, apply 4 gallons per 10 linear feet per foot of depth. The issue here is that treatment still takes a large amount of Termidor. Using the outer dims of 108 x 93, the outer foundation is roughly 402 linear feet. This would require 160.8 additional gallons of Termidor mix. If the foundation is deeper than 1 foot, it could require more. Most termite control companies only use 4 gallons per 10 linear feet and forego the additional chemicals required due to cost, etc.
So the bottom line is that a 6000 square foot home with 402 exterior linear feet could (according to the label specifications) require 760.8 gallons of Termidor SC mixed at .06% dilution. This would require almost 8 Termidor SC 78oz containers. This would make the chemical cost alone $1752.00 or .30 cents per square foot. If the termite control company made any additional profit to cover labor costs, insurance, guarantee, etc, they would have to add that to the .30 cents per square foot. In most cases, doubling or tripling the chemical cost would be necessary. So paying .60 cents up to .90 cents or more per square foot would be the cost.
Most construction contractors I know of won't pay more than .5 cents to .10 cents per square foot for a termite reconstruction soil treatment. It doesn't take any guesswork to determine that it can't be done using Termidor. So my opinion is that either way - if you do it yourself or have a termite control company do it for you, it will not be done according to label directions. In my experience, if 10% of what is required is done, it is better than 0%. The question is, how much time do you have and how much do you want to pay for termite prevention?
There are other ways to prevent termites, too. BoraCare, Trelona ATBS, and Sentricon are all bonafide termite pretreatments.
Add New Comment