Table of Contents
- To fumigate means to disinfect or purify the site with the fumes of certain chemicals. This practice becomes necessary when common household pests are too hard to get rid of with other available pest control methods.
- Termite infestation often requires a complex and costly fumigation treatment that comes together with other services, such as termite tenting. Does the problem boil down to termites only? Not exclusively, but only termite activity can so severely affect your house—act fast when you spot termite activity in your house!
- Because of the amount of labor and cost of fumigation, it’s the last resort of pest control, used when infestation is severe and other methods fail.
Preventive measures
It’s best to deal with common house insects as effectively as possible long before fumigation becomes necessary.
As soon as you notice a few signs of pest problems, start dealing with them on your own or employ a pest control company.
If you suspect termites are wandering in or around your home and want to save time and money, contact a pest or termite control company immediately.
Watchful waiting isn’t a solution here. If you ignore the termites, the infestation will have time to grow and spread throughout your home, increasing total treatment costs. A pest control service will know what to do at every stage of the infestation and explain how to prevent future infestations.
Act fast if you notice
- flies,
- bed bugs,
- ants,
- wasps,
- rats,
- mice,
- carpet beetles,
- cockroaches,
- mosquitoes, or
- termite colonies;
Mind that flies bring health risks, and severe infestations of wood-eating termites can cause horrendous damage to your house’s construction.
Important: Termites are the most destructive pests in the United States, causing 5 billion dollars worth of damage yearly.
Read also How To Get Rid Of Gnats Inside The House and How To Get Rid Of Earwigs In Your House on House Rituals.
Get to know early signs of infestations (yearly inspections is a good idea) and take care of pest problem in its initial phases.
Tip: Reaching out to pest control providers may be intimidating at first, but it’s the surest way to finish the pest chapter in your life quickly.
Pest control treatments based on chemical treatments include lighter DIY solutions (vinegar, baking soda, essential oils, etc.) and pesticides. Pesticides are liquid chemicals designed to kill or harm pests and plants:
- insecticides used for insect control,
- herbicides used for weed control,
- fungicides used for fungi and mold control, and
- rodenticides used for rodent control;
According to Grainger, there are several preventive measures for effective pest control:
- Disposing of garbage regularly with a tightly closed lid,
- Removing any sources of food, water, or place of shelter,
- Storing items in enclosed containers,
- Reducing clutter or areas where pests can hide and stay unnoticed,
- Performing routine cleaning and surveying from the roof to the basement floor,
- Sealing and closing off any cracks or holes to eliminate outside entry;
If these methods didn’t help, reach out to a professional pest control company!
Prevent termite infestations
Termites are active all year round, but we are most likely to notice flying termites, along with their discarded termite wings and droppings, in the warmer weather. Contrary to popular belief, these large flying termite swarms don’t cause any structural damage to the house.
Subterranean termites and dampwood termites are the reason your home may need fumigation. Termites present in the wood with which the house is constructed may lead to a truly catastrophic outcome.
In termite infestation, preventive measures include:
- At the stage of the house construction: use termite-resistant materials, termite-proof your crawl space, ensure proper ventilation and drainage, and limit soil-to-wood contact. Keep your home’s wooden siding six inches above ground soil to avoid termite problem. Also, pre-treat the soil at your home’s construction site and use an in-ground bait system to control termites before they even reach your house’s foundation.
- Remember that home maintenance also includes caring for the lawn and surrounding shrubbery.
- Stack firewood at least 20 feet fat from your home.
- Make sure that no lumber, wood, paper, and other cellulose-based debris is around your home’s foundation. Remove tree stumps and rotting wood from your yard.
- Utilize pine needles or pea gravel as mulch in natural areas surrounding your home.
- Take your gutters and storm drains empty away from your home.
- Get a regular termite inspection. Yearly inspections by an experienced termite professional will pay you back.
Pest control costs
In case preventative measures didn’t help, you’ll want to invest in fumigation as a last resort. It’s a highly effective pest control treatment where you fill your home with gaseous chemicals to eliminate uninvited pests.
While this pest control option is powerful, it comes with heavy labor and high costs.
Fumigation is used especially when harmful termites or carpenter ants are too hard to access or locate.
Alternatively to fumigation treatment, if your pest infestation isn’t yet too severe or complex, you can use one of the following pest control methods:
- Heat treatment—this method involves tenting your home and raising the temperature in its interiors and the wood it’s made of to around 120 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. No harmful chemicals are used for this treatment. With heat treatment, you’ll kill termites in localized termite colonies. For heat treatment to remove termites, expect to pay between $1 and $2.50 per square foot or $10 per linear foot.
Important: Heat treatment can damage your belongings, so remove them from the house before the treatment.
- Spot treatment and other chemical treatments—this method is based on drilling small holes into infested areas and injecting termiticides with the scope of eradicating the pest that lives inside. The treatment is usually less expensive than heating or fumigation, but you may need multiple treatments to make it work. Also, it’s a no-brainer that spot treatment kills termites only in localized areas. The average cost of this termite treatment cost that uses chemicals to eliminate termites ranges from $4 to $14.50 per linear foot.
- Electro gun treatment—in this pest control technique, you penetrate the wood and kill termites using high frequencies and voltages. Again, this treatment is effective only in localized areas.
- Microwave treatment—this method directs powerful microwaves in the infested area, heating the wood and killing burrowed termites. It’s adequate for localized termite infestations.
- Bait systems—bait extermination method is the cheapest termite treatment, whose typical range is from $7 to $11 per linear foot. Bait extermination techniques involve poisoning an attractive food source that wandering termites will bring back to the rest of the colony. Place the bait stations around your home and monitor the bait systems to ensure the termites take to the food.
Tip: The highest-rated baits to treat termites are The Sentricon bait systems.
For an accurate estimate of a tent fumigation treatment cost, have a look at the following variables that may affect the total bill:
- Termite inspection fee—some pest control companies charge an inspection fee before the treatment, while others offer free estimates. The average cost for termite inspections ranges from $82 to $260. Some pest control companies charge for the initial visit but they’ll reimburse the inspection costs if you hire them to treat the infestation.
- Size of the infestation—the more severe the infestation, the more the treatment costs. If you need to treat the entire house, the cost will be higher than if you deal only with one room or spot.
- Termite type—are you dealing with subterranean termites or dampwood termites? Types of termites present at your home will determine the treatment required, consequently affecting the total costs.
- Termite damage repairs—since termites can cause significant damage to wooden structures, the treatment cost to cover termite damage will include expensive repairs to the house construction.
- Termite bond—sign up for a termite protection plan that guarantees routine inspections and lowers the overall cost. A termite bond protection plan costs between $500 to $2,000.
Fumigation costs
The fumigation of the entire house is one of the most expensive pest control treatments.
Important: Fumigant is a toxic, volatile, lethal gas able to kill most insect species and penetrate the structure of buildings, commodities, and equipment.
Fumigation termite control cost is relatively high because of the labor, equipment, and time that termite control companies need to perform the treatment.
The average fumigation cost ranges between $2,000 and $8,000 (or $1–$4 per square foot of your home). It varies depending on several factors, including the size of your home and the type of pest.
So, how much will you pay based on your home’s square footage?
An average cost of termite fumigation ranges from
- $1,000–$4,000 for a 1,000 square foot house,
- $1,500–$6,000 for a 1,500 square foot house,
- $2,000–$8,000 for a 2,000 square foot house,
- $2,500–$10,000 for a 2,500 square foot house,
- $3,000–$12,000 for 3,000 square feet,
- $3,500–$14,000 for 3,500 square feet;
Moreover, if you need to treat termite damage in your house, you’ll need to spend, on average, an additional $3,000. Also, a pest control company may include transportation costs in its service.
Leave a Comment