How to get rid of termite

People are afraid of termites because its infestation could bring damages and losses, it is hard to detect, and it's colony is hard to eliminate.

To get rid of termite, you must firstly know your enemy. Here are some of the characteristics of termites:

• Termites consume fibrous plant matter, such as wood, paper, etc.
• Termites love mud and don't like sand, because it is hard for them to burrow through sand.
• Termites love moisture and stay in the dark.
• Termites might come from soil, and also from sky. During reproductive seasons, they have wings and will swarm around. They'll shed off the wings once they found place to settle down.
• Termites may move to another location when disturbed. Therefore, if you find them, don't disturb them before getting the pest control service.

Knowing about these, you should avoid a termite-friendly environment found around your house.

There are generally 2 methods of termites treatment:

• Method 1 is to create a chemical barrier underneath the building structure. Normally it is done to the land before the building is developed. After the building is developed, this treatment requires drilling of holes all over the house in order to inject the chemical into the land underneath. The chemical will either repel the termites, or kill them off. However, its effectively wear off after time, and can probably last for 3 years only. In addition, if there is untreated gap in between, termites can still find their way into the house.
• Method 2 is to use a colony elimination baiting system, such as the Sentricon system. Stations are placed around the house to look for the presence of termites. If found, chemical which can retard the termites' moulting process will be put into the bait, and the termites who eat the chemical will infect each other when they return to the colony. Eventually, the colony will be eliminated. This method also require to drill holes in order to place the station inside the house. Normally only 2 stations are placed in the middle of the house, and the rest are placed in the garden area outside the house building.

Method 2 is generally more expensive than Method 1, and the baiting stations need regular inspection for presence of termites. However, it is a more effective way, and unlike Method 1 which only function to create barrier to hinder termites from entering the building, Method 2 will try to eliminate the termites colony by killing them off.

Anyhow, it is a good practice to regularly inspect your house for signs of termite infectations. And I would recommend the inspection to be done with thermal imaging technology.

Detect termite infestations with thermal imaging inspection

Among the household pests, termite brings the more headache because it would cause damage and loss to the building materials, furnitures, etc. In fact, some studies show that losses caused by termites are 4 times higher than losses caused by fire.

Termites infestation is difficult to detect because they are intelligent to cover up their tracks. For example, they will consume up the wood underneath the surface, and the wood seems to be normal from outside. It might take up to a few years before signs of the problem eventually revealed. Worse still, the termite queen may live up to 25 years and lay more than 60,000 eggs in her lifetime, and there could be more than one queen in a termite colony.

The conventional way to detect termite infestations is to look for signs such as hollow sound when wood surface is tapped with blunt object, muddy tubes, shed wings of termite swarm, etc.

The more effective way nowadays is to make use of thermal imaging technology.

Objects with a temperature above absolute zero (- 459° F) emit infrared radiation which is not visible to our naked eye. As an object heats up, it will radiate more and more energy from its surface. The technique for making this invisible radiation visible is called thermal imaging, and involves the use of sophisticated thermal imaging cameras.

Thermal imaging technology detects heat patterns. When termites invade buildings, the normal heat patterns of the walls, floors and roof change due their presence. The thermal imaging camera is able to records this change in heat pattern and indicates the exact location of any termite infestation. The camera is very sensitive and is able to detect temperature variations as little as 0.1 degrees celcius.

Thermal imaging can therefore be used in detecting items that may be of concern which are concealed by wall linings, including termites. This method is non-destructive and non-intrusive, as there is no need to poke holes in a surface to determine if there is damage beneath it.

I have just engaged with Ridpest to inspect for termite with this with thermal imaging technology. It has been few years since the termite barrier threatment done by the developer when my house is built, and I'm aware that the effectiveness of that termiticide underneath the house will just wear off by time.

Find out and compare grocery price in all major hypermarkets & supermarkets

The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA, a.k.a. Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri Dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna - KPDNHEP) has setup a Price Watch section in their website and list out the grocery price in all major hypermarkets and supermarkets including Carrefour, Giant, Jusco, Mydin, Tesco, The Store, etc.

The price lists are made according to state. You might be surprised to find out how much different can the highest and lowest price of the same item among them, and different hypermarket under the same group might have different price for the same item in different area.

Here are the grocery price list downloadable from their website:

• Johor
• Kedah
• Kelantan
• Kuala Lumpur
• Labuan
  
• Melaka
• Negeri Sembilan
• Pahang
• Perak
• Perlis
  
• Penang
• Putrajaya
• Sabah
• Sarawak
  
• Selangor
• Terengganu