? Termites . . .

[Expidia]

Well, several days ago I found a fungus on my trailer bunk which caused it to crack.

Now the last two times I pulled the boat out of the garage it had a pile of small looks like tiny wood chips on top of my dash and steering wheel and on the carpet. I had it in the garage uncovered the first time. Tonight I went out to check on it again and it's in the garage covered this time.

Once again there was small chips on the cover in the same spot. And some along the garage floor again.

I checked the rafters for varmints but it looks clean on top of the rafters. I left some cheese and some Gopher pellets on a paper plate on the floor a few nights ago, but it went untouched.

It looks like it's coming from the space between the two rafters but it's also along a few feet of the floor. I swept it up the first time and now it's back.
Well, several days ago I found a fungus on my trailer bunk which caused it to crack.

Now the last two times I pulled the boat out of the garage it had a pile of small looks like tiny wood chips on top of my dash and steering wheel and on the carpet. I had it in the garage uncovered the first time. Tonight I went out to check on it again and it's in the garage covered this time.

Once again there was small chips on the cover in the same spot. And some along the garage floor again.

I checked the rafters for varmints but it looks clean on top of the rafters. I left some cheese and some Gophers pellets on a paper plate on the floor a few nights ago but it went untouched.

This ceiling pic shows the space directly over the place on the boat where the chips are piling up.

Termites ???

 

[bhammer]

Re: ? Termites . . .

Are those black things droppings? Could it be rats or mice making new travel holes? I am no expert, but that doesn't look like termite mess to me.

 

[KermieB]

Re: ? Termites . . .

Termites can't be exposed to the open air, and don't leave "chips." They travel in tunnels through wood and make mud tunnels to cross concrete.

 

[ExxWhy]

Re: ? Termites . . .

Could be carpenter ants (large black ants) or carpenter bees. The bees leave round holes in the wood someplace, usually on the bottom which I don't see in the pics. They are large bumblebee looking critters. Either of them you can hear chewing noises if you are quiet for a bit. Sevin dust is pretty effective for either as well.

 

[Expidia]

Re: ? Termites . . .

Thx for the replies. Ya those black dots are a give away that they are droppings.

If it's mice or rats time to bring out the big gun . . The Ketch-All multiple mouse trap.

This thing works great. You wind it up and it catches families of them. Each time one steps on the trigger plate they get swept into the compartment in the box. Works with no bait, but works better with a dab of peanut butter on the trigger.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: ? Termites . . .

Could be carpenter ants (large black ants) or carpenter bees. The bees leave round holes in the wood someplace, usually on the bottom which I don't see in the pics. They are large bumblebee looking critters. Either of them you can hear chewing noises if you are quiet for a bit. Sevin dust is pretty effective for either as well.

Bumblebees don't leave "large" chunks like that - they leave a finer dust - it looks pretty much like sawdust. They also leave a round hole in the bottom of whatever they have bored into, that is the diameter of their bodies.

I'm not sure what the OP has, but I think I would stick something into the wood, to see if it has been "eaten up," on the inside. If it has, I'd go with carpenter ants or termites.

Just be glad y'all don't have Formosan Termites up there - those bad boys are swarming here right now and they will eat your house up in a hurry. I ran through a swarm of them a week or so ago that was so thick, that I had to spray them out of my radiator the next day, because they had plugged it up and the car was overheating at traffic lights.



???

 

[MAXXIE]

Re: ? Termites . . .

I think I can chime in on this one, I do pest control for a living. I was a tech for 10 years & now a sales rep for the last 3 years. I can't really make out the pic.'s as they are a little out of focus, but you may have 2 issues here. One the mice, Yes, the ketch-all is a very good device & we use them at every comm. account we service. Not very good for rats because of the smaller hole. The other thing you may be dealing with, as pointed out in an earlier post, is carpenter ants. They do not eat the wood, they dig into it & that's where the wood shaving's come from. You can't allway's see a carpenter ant nest, sometimes there can be a huge nest in a home's wall & the customer never even see's a single ant. But anyway, If you were to call the "JC Ehrlich Pest Control Co.", (my Co.), They will schedule a free inspection for you & let you know exactly what is going on there. Carpenter ants, like I said, don't eat the wood but can do just as much damage as termites. I would have it looked at for sure. I'll PM you the phone # of an office in your area. The Syracuse office services the Albany area, the phone # is (315)472.6844 tell them Mark from the Scranton, Pa. office referred you. It is a "Free" inspection. Let me know how you make out.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: ? Termites . . .

Not termites. Check for regular old ants. If they're moving, they will clear debris out of their path. Looks like construction sawdust.

 

[dirtyoldman]

Re: ? Termites . . .

Not termites. Check for regular old ants. If they're moving, they will clear debris out of their path. Looks like construction sawdust.

Could be carpenter ants or powder post beetles.

They look to me like powder post beetles.

 

[Expidia]

Re: ? Termites . . .

So far 1 scared little mouse in the trap. Maybe more in there. Now I need to drive a few miles away and let him go!

 

[MAXXIE]

Re: ? Termites . . .

Anyone even bother to read my post? Guess not. It is not Powder Post Beetles, I will bet my left nut on that. Just out of curiosity, what do you base that assumption on? Dude, You have a Carpenter Ant nest in the wood above the boat. I assume the boat is in a garage & the nest is in the roof. If not treated correctly the nest will continue to grow & do even more damage. I don't know why you would not call for the Free inspection. Well, good luck with that & the other professional's here giving you advice.

 

[pmillar]

Re: ? Termites . . .

I'll 2nd or 3rd or 4th the carpenter ants. Look closely to see if the black bits aren't ant bodies that have been dumped as part of their house cleaning.

 

[KermieB]

Re: ? Termites . . .

He's wrong.. it's Aliens. These are from the planet Muckaboatien. They make a mess of your boat or in this case, the cover. The only way to get rid of them is to call for a free inspection from the Sigorney Weaver.

 

[Expidia]

Re: ? Termites . . .

Anyone even bother to read my post? Guess not. It is not Powder Post Beetles, I will bet my left nut on that. Just out of curiosity, what do you base that assumption on? Dude, You have a Carpenter Ant nest in the wood above the boat. I assume the boat is in a garage & the nest is in the roof. If not treated correctly the nest will continue to grow & do even more damage. I don't know why you would not call for the Free inspection. Well, good luck with that & the other professional's here giving you advice.

Thx for your response and PM. I was outside all day getting the property ready for a graduation BBQ on Sunday, so this was the first chance that I'm back online.

Here's the thing on your inspection offer. I rent and within a year or 2 more they are clearing this property for a 50 unit condo delvelopment. The Landlord could care less if the ants eat the garage into the ground .

So I'll have to locate the Nest myself. Funny though as that was the first thing I looked for after I found the first 3 inch pile of sawdust on my uncovered dash.

I looked around up in the rafters with a flash light and checked the top of them for mouse or rat droppings too and it was clean up there.

What would the nest look like? And if I find one do I hit it with Sevin.

We have 3 boats stored in this 3 car garage and I'd like to leave it standing as long as we can.

 

[Expidia]

Re: ? Termites . . .

I'll 2nd or 3rd or 4th the carpenter ants. Look closely to see if the black bits aren't ant bodies that have been dumped as part of their house cleaning.

Yes, I did see very small bits of what looked like shiny insect parts!

 

[Expidia]

Re: ? Termites . . .

OK, so I went to Lowes and bought a jug of Bayer Premium killer for Carpenter ants (says it works for Carpenter bees too).

It comes with the battery operated nozzle that I was able to get the spray up in the crack in between the rafters in the picture. I'm sure they are up in there cause that's where the sawdust keeps dropping from and piling up now on the boat cover.

I also bought some carpenter ant traps and spaced them on the top of the rafters. Hopefully they will take some dinner home to the head Honcho

 

[MAXXIE]

Re: ? Termites . . .

I hear what your saying about the land lord thing, I deal with them everyday. It's too bad that there is not a law to protect people like yourself from jackass land lords. Ya, give that stuff a shot it may work for you. Make sure you get it into the cracks where you see the sawdust coming out of. As far as the nest & what it looks like, it's not very common to see the nest itself. I know a few tech's that have solved many C.ant problems & have never seen the nest itself. Most of the time you would see a nest is when for instance, roofer's were doing a tear off of shingles & find water damaged plywood & rip it up to replace & when they do, "bam", there's ants everywhere running & grabbing eggs (look like tic-tac's) & scattering everywhere. The wood will look like it's all, kind of hard to describe, dug out with little tunnels called "galleries". I would not be too worried about seeing the nest to treat it, just get the chemicals into every crack & crevice you can. When/if you hit the nest you'll know it, they will be coming out of every crack. I would stick to the dust insecticide, the dust really travels into places that the liquid can't. It's what I would use if I was sure I had a nest in a certain spot like you are describing. I'm not sure what the going price for a C. ant job would be in that area for a garage, but around here I would price it, w/30 day warranty, at around $125.00 with a power spray around the exterior just for good measure. Sorry to blab, blab, blab so long, good luck!

 

[Expidia]

Re: ? Termites . . .

I hear what your saying about the land lord thing, I deal with them everyday. It's too bad that there is not a law to protect people like yourself from jackass land lords. Ya, give that stuff a shot it may work for you. Make sure you get it into the cracks where you see the sawdust coming out of. As far as the nest & what it looks like, it's not very common to see the nest itself. I know a few tech's that have solved many C.ant problems & have never seen the nest itself. Most of the time you would see a nest is when for instance, roofer's were doing a tear off of shingles & find water damaged plywood & rip it up to replace & when they do, "bam", there's ants everywhere running & grabbing eggs (look like tic-tac's) & scattering everywhere. The wood will look like it's all, kind of hard to describe, dug out with little tunnels called "galleries". I would not be too worried about seeing the nest to treat it, just get the chemicals into every crack & crevice you can. When/if you hit the nest you'll know it, they will be coming out of every crack. I would stick to the dust insecticide, the dust really travels into places that the liquid can't. It's what I would use if I was sure I had a nest in a certain spot like you are describing. I'm not sure what the going price for a C. ant job would be in that area for a garage, but around here I would price it, w/30 day warranty, at around $125.00 with a power spray around the exterior just for good measure. Sorry to blab, blab, blab so long, good luck!

Follow up: The Bayer liquid stuff I sprayed up into the spaces between the joists reduced the sawdust a few days later about 95%. The liquid was the first stuff I picked up because I had not read about the dust.

Well I went to Lowes and picked up and adjutant duster for $9.95:
http://www.farmandfleet.com/products/253537-adjutant_duster.html
and a $5.95 container of Sevin.

Thx for that tip on the dust. I was able to shoot it into many cracks and could see it puff out white dust deep into the cracks and it traveled far to the left and right just like you said it would.

Next day, not one flake of sawdust on the boat cover.

Thx for the instructions. I banged around with a flat blade screwdriver into the rafters and joists around various areas to check for soundness and things sounded good. Hopefully, they did not get too far.

Well well, and best of all . . . since you had put up your left n*t as a bet . . . since you were correct on your diagnosis . . . you get to hang onto it a little longer (they are best worn in pairs anyway)

 

[Expidia]

Re: ? Termites . . .

Another update: there baaaak!

Yikes, I went out to the garage after two days back from my last trip to the lake and sure enough there was a pile of wood pieces about 3 inches high on my boat cover.

This time I went to Lowes and bought another jug of spray for termites and carpenter ants.

I also bought a 6 pack of aerosol fogging stuff. I taped a can to a pole so it would reach up closely to bomb the rafters where the wood chips were coming from. I also sprayed down those rafters with the liquid (I used the liquid before and it only seemed to slow down the chips).

I placed two more cans on top of a high ladder and pushed all the valves down. The cans said to come back in 2 hours. But I had to go back into the garage because I left my keys in there. I put on a mask and when I opened the garage door enough so I could get in . . . Viola . . . this time there were a 1000 ants running around the floor and I quickly sprayed the floor down with the liquid stuff.

They were running all around the rafters and dropping off onto the floor like it was raining black carpenter ants. . .

My first two treatments I never saw an ant! But this time with the fogger stuff I finally hit the Mother Lode.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: ? Termites . . .

Oh man! What a a nightmare!! I hate swarming ants especially those big black ones, get the willys just thinking about it!!!