Termite Treatment in Asbury Park, NJ

Challenge

Recently, I completed a termite treatment for a home in Asbury Park, NJ, right on the Jersey Shore. This particular home has a crawl space and porch room built on a slab foundation. Homes with patios, garages, and carports are often built on separate slabs from the main home, which in this case, had a crawl space foundation. Builders allow for an expansion joint or gap between these two foundations so during settling the separate foundations do not collide against each another. Although these gaps are necessary, termites often exploit them to gain access into the home.  

With this home, termites had swarmed into the patio through the small crack. Every spring, winged termite reproductives, also called alates or swarmers, emerge from the subterranean termite nest to mate and form new colonies. It’s quite a site to see, especially when it happens inside your home! Termites by the hundreds, or even the thousands, will emerge all at once. Although termites do their damage eating the wood in homes in silence, hidden from view, homeowners are sometimes made aware of a termite infestation during termite swarming season. A termite swarm is the most visible, in-your-face sign that you have a termite problem. The good news about observing a termite swarm is that the infestation can be treated before serious damage is done.

Solution

In this case, I employed a drill and treat method in the porch room to treat the infestation. Termites are subterranean dwellers. The queen and the workers stay underground. It is only the swarmers who make their dramatic entrance to the outside world. And even then, once these reproductives mate, they break off their wings and head back underground to be the king and queen of their new colony. When termites swarm, you’ll often see piles of discarded wings nearby.  

To kill a termite nest, the liquid application must be applied directly into the soil where the nest is located. Often, it’s not so easy to reach the soil. In this case, there was carpeting glued to the concrete slab. I used a carpet punch to expose the concrete, and then drilled through the concrete to reach the soil. Now with direct access to the soil, i could inject a termiticide. This product will seep deep into the soil, and foraging termites will carry the product back to the nest. It will not take long for this product to kill the queen and the rest of the colony.  

After treatment, I glued the carpet plugs back into place. Whenever I perform a termite job, I strive to ensure that there was no evidence that I was even there. I want the home looking exactly the same as before I arrived.