Some months ago, I saw some black stuff on the white lid of my washing machine. I brushed it off but it was back the next day. Eventually, I looked up and saw a little hole in the ceiling. A piece of clear tape looped under the hole soon filled up with black and brown granules. Termite crud!
We had two inspections – by Terminix and Killroy Pest Control (Campbell, CA), resulting in two reports and different recommendations. The Terminix inspector recommended a full-house tenting “just in case”. The Killroy inspector recommended spot treatment because he found just the one infestation. We went with the spot treatment which was much less expensive (and we didn’t have to move out with plants and pets for several days).
Unfortunately, soon after the treatment, I lifted an ornament on the windowsill in the same laundry area and saw under it another little heap of termite crud. I pushed the crud heap away from its center and saw a tiny hole. A new crud pile heaped up above the hole over night. The Killroy inspector was out again this morning and we will have another spot treatment soon.
It is interesting that we had the deck above the laundry room treated for termites about 6 years ago. (We replaced the deck with Trex, so no more problems there.) The Killroy inspector said that termites prefer to infest where the morning sun first shines and, indeed, the laundry room is on the eastern face of our house here in San Jose, California.
Image Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson
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