I Already Had My Spring Hill Home Treated for Termites. Why Are They Back?

You paid for termite treatment. You thought it was done. Then a few months later you find mud tubes in the same spot or soft wood somewhere new or swarmers coming out of the wall again and you are furious. You already dealt with this. You already spent the money. Why is this happening again.

There are a few different reasons termite activity shows up after treatment and not all of them mean the treatment failed. Here is what is actually going on.

The Treatment May Not Have Failed

The most common reason homeowners see what looks like new termite activity after treatment is that the original treatment did not cover the entire perimeter of the structure. Subterranean termites live in the soil around your home and a liquid termite treatment works by creating a continuous treated zone in the soil that the colony contacts and carries back to eliminate the rest of the colony. If there are gaps in that treated zone the colony finds them.

Gaps happen for a few reasons. Concrete stoops, patios and additions that were not drilled and treated properly. Plumbing penetrations through the slab that were not addressed. Areas of the perimeter that were missed or undertreated during the original application. If the activity you are seeing now is in a different area of the home than where the original treatment was focused that is a strong indicator the new activity is coming through an entry point that was never treated.

This does not necessarily mean the original company did bad work. It can mean the inspection missed an entry point or that the structure has areas that are difficult to treat properly without additional drilling and injection. But it does mean the job is not finished.

The Colony Was Not Fully Eliminated

If the original treatment used a repellent product rather than a non repellent product like Termidor the colony may have been disrupted rather than eliminated. Repellent treatments create a chemical barrier that termites detect and avoid. They are effective at keeping termites away from treated areas but they do not kill the colony. If the treated barrier breaks down over time or if the colony found a gap the termites route back to the wood in your home.

Non repellent professional treatments work differently. Termites cannot detect them, walk through the treated soil and carry the product back to the colony where it spreads through contact. When applied correctly and with full perimeter coverage they eliminate the colony rather than just pushing it away temporarily. If you do not know what product was used in your original treatment that is worth finding out.

New Colonies Move In After Treatment

Even when a treatment successfully eliminates the original colony your home does not become permanently protected from new termite activity. Subterranean termite colonies are present in the soil throughout Spring Hill and Hernando County. A treated zone in the soil around your home provides protection for a period of time but that protection degrades over years as the product breaks down in the soil.

If it has been several years since your original treatment and you are seeing new activity a new colony may have established itself in the soil near your home and found entry points where the original treatment has degraded. This is one of the reasons ongoing termite monitoring and periodic retreatment is worth considering in Hernando County where termite pressure is year round and constant.

What the Warranty on Your Treatment Covers

If your original treatment came with a warranty call the company that did it before you call anyone else. Most professional termite treatments come with a retreatment warranty that requires the company to come back and retreat at no charge if activity is found within the warranty period. Some warranties also cover repair of new damage caused during the warranty period.

If your warranty has expired or if the original company is no longer in business or if you bought a home that had prior treatment but you do not have the warranty documentation call us. We will inspect the structure, identify where the activity is coming from and tell you exactly what it will take to address it properly this time.

What to Do Right Now

Do not ignore new termite activity after treatment. Don’t assume the old treatment is still working. The fact that you are seeing activity again means something needs to be addressed whether that is a gap in the original treatment, a degraded barrier or a new colony entirely.

Call us and we will come out, inspect the full perimeter and tell you honestly what we find. Our termite retreatment in Spring Hill uses non repellent professional grade products applied with full perimeter coverage so you get real results not just a temporary fix. You deserve to know exactly what went wrong and what it is going to take to actually solve it.