Yet More Huntsville/North Alabama Questions

[dbkeel1]

Ah, bugs. There are times that we miss Austin, TX, where the bat population sure kept the bug population in check. We had a drought for such a long period that I nearly forgot about insects until the rains came. Still, it's mostly nats and the like. Nothing earth shattering unless you're around standing/stagnant water.

Fire ants can be a problem from time to time but the new treatment stuff on the market like Once and Done does a respectable job. I put mine down in April and have yet to see a fire ant mound pop up since.

The above posts are right about checking the flood plane when looking seriously at a home. The clay soil around here expands when wet and if there's too much water at once it runs off. Same issues as TX and other southern/southeastern States.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Southlander

Termites...definitely require a termite bond from the seller. And keep yours up.

Originally Posted by NicoleC

You need a termite bond. Basically, a termite bond is monitoring, treatment and insurance all in one.

I'm on the Sentricon system with Cooks. Sentricon has these green units which hold bait (really just sticks of pine) that are placed in a perimeter around your house. Every 3 months, my guy comes out and checks the bait for termites and replaces it. If they find termites, they locate the termites, treat and repair damage as needed. If you have termite damage and they didn't stop it, it's their responsibility to fix it. Once a year, they do a whole house inspection.

Cost is based on the linear feet of the exterior of the home, and it's not high. My house is 2150 square feet and I pay $87 per quarter, which includes everything termite related.

Other kinds of pest services are also available, but not really needed unless you have a problem. There are numerous products on the market like Home Defender which do basically the same thing as a pest "service": repel and kill insects entering the home. They are easy to use and a cheaper than a pro.

Once you have an infestation of something, though, it's generally easier and cheaper to have a pro handle it. There are so many different chemicals and poisons you'll spend a fortune trying to figure out which of 20 different formulas kills your particular pest ant species. If they don't fix it the first time, they'll come out and do it again at no charge.

OK, so we're closing on our home this Friday. My realtor (who has lived in Huntsville a long time) recommended something called a Cooks Replacement Bond. The house we're buying already has the little green tubes for bait along its periphery. I am pretty sure the current owner has this termite service now.
Before I call Cooks and order the service, anyone have any advice? I wonder if I will have to pay an initiation fee if I simply, in effect, continue the same service as the current owner has. I wonder if the monthly fees are negotiable.

So, is the replacement bond the way to go? Anyone not doing something like this? Why?

[Southlander]

Call around and get some different prices. Cook's is good, but they are awfully high. Also, make sure the bond is for current replacement value (meaning it would increase a bit every year). Lady here had the bond...found her house eaten up with termites although she had had yearly inspections. Cook's balked at paying full replacement value. They did, finally, but had to be shamed into it.

[Mawoods]

Be sure and get replacement value. I think you have to provide a termite letter as seller at closing that the home is termite free and/or treated for termites. NEVER let the termite bond lapse in the south. ALSO, when we lived in Madison we used Cook's for monthly pest control and the Sentricon system for termites that the builder had put in. I agree the bait system is based on the premise that termites will go into it. We found they went around it. We ended up getting the Terminix system and treating the house. Also with cook's coming out every month and or so and treating the periphery for just pest control I had more bugs than ever. I am not sure they put anything that they said they did. I often wondered if it was just corn flour. We canceled them.

[cjaila]

Make sure you get the replacement value. We used Cook's as well, and also noticed that the bugs/pests were increasing. We called them back out and they said they treated the entire house and outside perimeter. Nothing changed. We cancelled the service which was a problem because you are under a 24 month contract. They wanted to charge us the remaining value of the contract but we fought them and told them that it was unfair for us to have to pay for a service that is not benefiting us. Eventually they relented.

[ionlife]

We use Wayne's Environmental for lawn and turf and bugs/insects inside and out. With my allergies there is no way around it. They say their stuff is not harmful to humans or pets--we got a big one deal treatment for the entire yard (which is big--over 1/2 an acre) that is supposed to keep fire ants away for a year. With my allergy, I hope they are right. What we've noticed is that after major rainfall, the buggers build apartment blocks and condos--big red hills--can't miss them. So we'll see what shows up or doesn't after all this wet weather goes away. Any rate, we used them for inside as well because we had black widows in our garage YUCK--and again, my allergy. I'd rather not die thank you very much of an insect bite now that I am here--haha.

For insurance we have tornado and sink hole insurance. We also have termite protection (a must down here). It's not prohibitively expensive--quite reasonable.

[ionlife]

I have a friend who moderates a forum for dutch people coming to the USA to travel (she's dutch/American and is just a wealth of info). She's met with several of her forum friends here in the USA--very fun. I love the idea of meeting.

Originally Posted by Keeper

Smoking in restaurants is still allowed in some cities outside of H'ville. I believe mostly in the smaller cities it is more common.
I guess I have been lucky as I have not had any problems with fire ants. I am sure they are around but I haven't heard of anyone having a lot of problems with them in my neighborhood. I had them in my yard in FL but so far so good. I did have termites in the house I bought here even though it had been inspected before I bought it. The termites here are subterrain termites and my house has a small area where they couldn't check and of course that is where they were. They wouldn't cover them since they were hidden... go figure, so I had them treated for around $700.00 which is a lot cheaper than what it cost in FL. I would not recommend the bait for the termites since it is a lot more expensive than just having your place treated. Actually after doing some research I learned all they do is put out wood strips in those traps and they just come out and check to see if there are termites on the wood, if there are termites then they put a treated piece in the trap. I would compare the cost before I committed to doing any service.
You know we should have a welcome lunch for the newcomers to Huntsville area. Maybe a city-data welcome day..

[Charles]

Originally Posted by HSVmom

Fire ants are our worst problem.

Here's an interesting way that actually might work.


YouTube - Invasive Fire Ants Lose Heads to Flies

[hsv-crew]

Originally Posted by zenjenn

Biggest question is: in the workplace, is there smoke everywhere or is it confined to break rooms?

Smoking in breakrooms! Maybe if the breakroom is outside!

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by Charles

Here's an interesting way that actually might work.


YouTube - Invasive Fire Ants Lose Heads to Flies

Then those well-fed flies would become a problem.