Harold from Portal, Arizona writes
I live in a straw bale house in rural Arizona. The floor and base of the walls are concrete, while the walls are made of straw bales held in by wooden beams with chicken wire and stucco on the outside. I found two small termite tubes at floor level on the inside of one of the walls. I broke the tubes open but could see no termites. I applied Termidor foam to the open tubes two days ago and the tubes have not been repaired. I don't know how the termites got inside. There are plenty outside, in the scrub, but no evidence of them on the exterior of the house. How can I tell if they are in the wall? Would you advise me to drill holes? I found a small tube on the outside wall, on the other side of the house, a couple of years ago, and treated it with Termidor foam. Seems to have worked. Thanks, Harold 520-558-1125
A straw bale home is a very unique build so it may be hard to tell if termites are coming up through the bales themselves to access the wood that supports the bales in place. Subterranean termites need to be prevented by doing a full termite trench treatment around the outside perimeter of the home. Any subterranean termites that pass through the treated soil as they try to make their way up into the home would be eliminated. The Taurus SC is what we recommend doing the trenching treatment with as its one of the longest lasting (will protect the home at least 10 years). If there are any cracks in the concrete floor that would allow the termites to enter from an area other than around the sides of the home, you would have to drill and spot treat in those areas as needed. There isnt a way without ripping walls open to see if there are already some termites present in the bales, but there isnt anything about the bales that would be condusive to them thriving. Spot treating with the Termidor Foam where you see tubes appear is fine to do, and likely if you find them empty that means the colony didnt find what it was looking for and moved on. You can see at the link below how to do the full termite treatment but please let us know if you have any other questions How to do a Termite Treatment https://www.domyown.com/subterranean-termite-treatment-guide-a-478.html
Answer last updated on: 10/16/2019
