After a few days of rain, we finally had a hot sunny day in Raleigh. It was lovely. As I walked outside to hang out in the yard with my dogs, I saw a big cloud of moths hovering just outside of my bedroom door. I had never seen this many in one place before, but I have seen moths come out after rainstorms before.
These “moths” looked more like flying ants. Immediately I thought about swarming termites. It’s swarming season in Raleigh right now. I looked up and saw 1000s of them pouring into and out the vents in my eaves.
My first taught was to kill them before they laid eggs and infested my home. I grabbed a can of ant spray and hit them with a massive dose. They died.
After some googling, I decided to pull the soffit down to inspect for termite damage. The next day, I removed an 8 foot section, saw no damage but replaced the boards just in case. Problem solved.
I thought.
Until I went outside a day later and walked right into another termite swarm. They were once again going in and out of the same eave and vents that I had liberally coat with poison! WTF?
That’s when I knew I better call in a professional.
Two days, $1300 and 8 hours of jackhammer-like drilling later, there is now 150 gallons of poison underneath the slab of my home that will kill termites (and likely any other insects) for the next 15 years.
I briefly considered doing a DIY treatment for about 2 minutes when I saw I could buy the poison myself. But when I read the safety instructions and the drilling recommendations, I knew this was beyond my capabilities, required tools I do not possess and most importantly would far exceed my level of expertise and my capacity for patience.
Experts. Sometimes they are worth every penny.