Local treatment for drywood termites can be extremely effective—if the inspection is thorough, the right termiticide is used, and the technician performing the work cares and knows what they’re doing.

The Termite Inspection

A local treatment is only as good as the inspection that guides it. Unless the inspector is willing to enter every accessible area of the attic, crawl the full accessible crawl space, probe every reachable section of exterior wood, and get up on a ladder to see above the framing in the garage, the success of a local treatment is compromised. The goal is simple: find every area that needs to be treated. They’re called “local treatments” for a reason—you need to be able to physically reach the infestation.

At this time, fumigation is still the only treatment that is truly comprehensive. If fumigation isn’t possible or the homeowner doesn’t want to tent, then the inspection must be uncompromisingly thorough.

Unfortunately, there are inspectors who will happily sell local treatments that cannot be performed effectively. I worked alongside one. He’d ignore visible but inaccessible infestations because he knew what customers wanted to hear: that tenting wasn’t necessary. Whether the job could actually be done correctly didn’t matter. His company’s contract language protected them, and the owner’s priority was sales, not service. When a pest control company grows large enough, overhead—and sometimes the owner’s lifestyle—begins driving the business. Revenue becomes the focus, and customer care fades into the background.

The Termiticide

Very few local treatments succeed without a fipronil-based product. Fipronil works because it is:

• Undetectable to termites

   

• Long-lasting, remaining active in the wood for years

   

• Transferable, allowing exposed termites to carry it back to the colony

   

Those three qualities are essential for full eradication. Orange oil offers none of them. It only kills on contact, termites can detect and avoid it, and its effectiveness dissipates in under a month.

If fipronil is injected anywhere near the colony, the termites will eventually encounter it—and that colony will be eliminated.

The Termite Treatment

Inspectors locate droppings in attics, garages, and crawl spaces. The pattern of those droppings matters: a scattered pattern usually means the source is higher up, while a tight pile indicates the infestation is directly above. Outside, probing every accessible wood surface helps locate hidden activity. Solid wood won’t crack; infested wood will—and termite pellets will spill out.

Still, labeling treatment areas is partly guesswork. You can’t always identify every point of infestation in a second-story eave from the ground. That’s why an experienced, conscientious technician is critical.

Drilling is the most reliable way to pinpoint infestation. Uninfested wood drills consistently; infested wood has gaps the bit will drop into. In attics and garages, multiple pieces of framing may be stacked together. Pellets below them don’t always tell you which piece is compromised. Without a visible kickout hole, drilling is often the only way to know.

Other clues also help: does the wood absorb a good amount of liquid, or does the liquid have nowhere to go? If you inject solution into one hole, does it emerge from another?

When it comes to delivery, foam and liquid behave very differently. Foam is tricky unless the infestation point is obvious. In uninfested wood, foam can blow back on the technician—something no one enjoys. Experienced techs prefer liquid because it allows for both direct treatment of known infestations and preventative “traps” in the surrounding wood.

Caulking also plays a role. When treating from below, drill holes must be caulked so the chemical doesn’t drip out. Exterior holes should always be sealed, both to contain the product and to prevent future moisture or insects from entering. It also helps future inspectors understand where past treatments occurred. Caulking inside attics, garages, and crawl spaces is unnecessary.

A skilled technician won’t stop at treating the inspector’s labeled areas. They’ll look for additional infestations that weren’t visible from the ground—unprobable wood members and dark colored eaves can hide activity from anyone standing below.

In Summary

Local treatments can be highly effective—but only when all three elements are in place:

• A thorough, uncompromising inspection

   

• The use of fipronil-based products

   

• An experienced, detail-oriented termite technician

   

If any of these are missing, you may later wish you had opted for tenting from the start.

At California Termite, we take great pride in our inspections, use only proven and effective termiticides, and treat every home with the same care we’d give our own mother’s. There are no shortcuts.