How Much is Pest Control for Termites? Calculate Termite Exterminator Cost

Many people wonder how much is pest control for termites or how much does termite exterminator cost, but the cost of termite treatment is nothing when compared to the damage these pests leave in their wake.

They are so harmful and pervasive that the termite exterminator costs tend to run into the millions of dollars worth of damage to properties while skyrocketing into the billions for termite treatments every year in the United States.

Although the price can vary, based on the location and type of infestation, understanding how much is pest control for termites is important so that you can ensure that you’re getting the best service for your money.

Termite treatment costs and services will vary if your house has just one lone termite or 1,000, as well as a number of other factors.

This guide explains how much is pest control for termites based on those factors.

Termite Extermination: Types and Cost of Termite Treatments

Just the thought that your home may be riddled with thousands of termites is enough to stress anyone out.²

Even before calling in a specialist for termite extermination to confirm your worst fears, there are a few undeniable signs and symptoms that you may notice beforehand.

• Timber that is fragile and crumbles when you touch it.
• Once solid frames that echo went tapped.
• Drywall that appears warped for no reason.
• Tiny round droplets around wooden structures. These are the droppings of termites and are professionally known as frass.
• Almost imperceptible tiny holes pierced into the walls and ceilings.
• Floorboards that were once perfectly flat become warped without any traces of water or moisture.
• Actual trails or piles of wooden dust on your floor.

No one likes to think about termites, but it’s crucial not to disregard the likelihood that your property might be infected with them. Estimating the cost of termite treatment on a per-linear-foot basis can give you a good idea of the total amount due before work begins to soften the financial blow that you know is coming.

Termite treatment might cost anything from $10 to $20 per treated linear foot, but that may vary widely.

If you don’t want to be caught by surprise and shocked at the costs, seek quotes from many local pest control services to ensure you have the most up-to-date information possible tailored to your specific infestation situation.

Baiting: Pest Control Cost

This method of killing the termites relies on the exterminator setting up traps known as bait stations at certain points around your property, similar to cheese in a mousetrap.

The termites will take the bait and return it to the colony, unaware that the tasty wooden prize they’ve just discovered is laced with a potent insecticide that will kill the other termites back at their base within a matter of weeks.

Baiting is not a set-and-forget strategy as the exterminator will have to check on the traps on a regular basis to make sure the termites are still eating the food.

The bait station treatment costs from $7 to $12 per linear foot but, because even the most average home can have either a minor or major termite swarm in house basements, the price can range from $1,000 to $2,500.

On top of this, there may also be a maintenance price to pay every year.

The pest control cost for this would be around $200 to $400 for the specialist to monitor the situation. This is to prevent any chance of reinfestation of the aggressive subterranean termites whose queen can lay 100 eggs per day, and repopulate her colony in no time at all if not detected.

How Much Does It Cost To Get Rid of Termites With Chemicals

There are a range of very effective chemicals formulated to eradicate termites such as Chlorpyrifos, Lindane, Imidacloprid, Boric Acid, and Orange oil.⁷

All of them kill termites very well.

Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as you might think to kill them all with this strategy as the nest is often located on the ground floor of your property, or in a damp, gloomy hard-to-reach nook of the home.

All of these chemical products are known as liquid termiticides that are mixed with water and sprayed into the soil around the infested area. Some of them act as repellents while others are formulated to be toxic to the termites.

Prices for this termiticide eradication process vary from $4.00 to $14.50 per linear foot. That equates to a possible quote of $500 for a minor termite problem, and up to $2,000 for one that is more invasive.

How Much is Pest Control for Termites (Termite Exterminator Cost Using Fumigation)

One of the most drastic, and dramatic-looking, forms of eliminating termites is tenting.

This is a large-scale strategy that only professional exterminators use where your house is exposed to toxic gasses designed to kill every single termite it comes into contact with.

The gaseous pesticides used in this fumigation technique, also known as structural fumigation, can be somewhat detrimental to your health from accidental exposure, and even cause harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

These are the reasons why every part of the tent encasing your property has to be properly sealed to prevent even the slightest risk of a gas leak seeping into the neighborhood.

This is a widespread method of eradicating pests which, surprisingly, has over 100,000 tented fumigations every year just in California alone. That either attests to a rampant termite problem in California or the effectiveness of the treatment.

This eradication strategy has other benefits in that it also serves to get rid of several other unwanted houseguests, not simply termites, such as bed bugs, rodents, ants, and even wasps.

As it is not a spray or a powdery substance, the gaseous form of the insecticides can penetrate and seep into almost every crack and crevice in a structure, seeking out and destroying the termites no matter how far they have chewed their way into the deepest parts of your home.

Sulfuryl fluoride is the primary chemical used in tenting as it has no discernible color or odor, making it impossible to detect in the environment.⁸ This is both good and bad. Good because the termites can’t sense it, but bad because humans won’t be able to sense it either.

Accidentally breathing it in can cause nosebleeds, fluids to build up in the lungs, and even shortness of breath. This absence of smell marks it as a silent killer if exposure is prolonged, and should only be administered by trained professionals and certified applicators.

How much is pest control for termites for fumigating an entire building will vary depending on a number of variables, the largest of which will be the size of the structure.

After the estimated time has elapsed, your exterminator will gradually and safely release the gasses outside of your building via exhaust vents and, before anyone can be allowed back inside, they will conduct air quality tests.

Numerous safety tests have shown that the compounds swiftly evaporate on contact with the open air, and your termite professional will advise you when it’s safe to reenter the building after the sulfuryl fluoride level has dropped to 1 ppm or less.

While radical, this approach has a solid track record, as long as the business you employ erects a tight tent with little to no leakage, and that the tent remains in place for a sufficient amount of time.

Duration is just as important as the gasses used as enough time has to be allowed for the poison to find its way ultimately back to the termite’s nest.

Obviously, during the operation, you and your pets have to vacate the premises and won’t be let back in until the area has been properly aired. You will also be advised to remove perishable foodstuffs, plants, and even clothes as the chemicals can linger in fabrics for weeks after the tent has been removed.

No doubt using a poisonous gas on such a large scale is classed as a radical form of eradicating an infestation, but it is a process that when done correctly virtually guarantees to clear your property from termites.

It does, however, come with a price.

The cost to fumigate a property per square foot for an average-sized house is between $1 to $4, with an in-depth extermination procedure easily reaching $2,000 and topping off at $8,000.⁶

Termite Exterminator Cost: Cost of Tenting for Termites With Heat

When tenting is used it doesn’t necessarily signify that poisonous chemicals are at work. Sometimes this procedure is employed just to turn up the pressure and the heat on the wood-munching bugs.

After inspecting your property, the exterminator may have discovered that the type of termite you have might be better off terminated with heat rather than chemicals.

Temperatures within the tent will be raised and maintained for up to 8 hours at 130°F plus, more than hot enough to suffocate all the termites no matter whether they are ensconced within joists, under floorboards, or squeezed inside the smallest of cracks around your window frame. The heat will get them all.

Pricing for this heat treatment starts as low as $1 per square foot, but you should budget closer to $3. At the end of the day, your final cost will be anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000.

DIY Termite Spray or Professional Exterminator for Termites

To avoid paying any termite exterminator costs, which amount to over $5 billion a year across the nation, many homeowners will resort to making their DIY solutions such as termite spray.

Substances such as boric acid, some essential oils, diatomaceous earth, and even white vinegar mixed with lemon juice are all effective homemade solutions that will kill termites.

Unfortunately, even though they can kill a few of them, it’s very unlikely that the main colony will be affected or even those termites buried deep in the core of your property where they are causing the most damage.

There can be a place for DIY remedies in the fight against termites, but only as a measure of controlling the marauding horde until the professionals can arrive on-site.⁴ These solutions can keep the termites in check until your exterminator can identify where the main nest is and enact a plan to eradicate your invasive pest problem.

A quote from a reputable pest control company such as Terminix, pricing, the treatment process, time scale, and methods to be used can be discussed in detail to put your mind at ease, all without breaking the bank.

How Much is Pest Control for Termites? (Termite Damage Repair Cost)

After the pest control agency has eliminated all of the termites, surveying the damage left by the termites will be next on your to-do list.

How much wood a colony can consume depends on some factors, including the species of termite, the size of the colony, the kind of wood that your property is made of, the availability of other food sources, and even the ambient temperature.

(Image: Jimmy Chan¹⁰)

Evaluating how much it is going to cost to make sure your house doesn’t crumble around your ears while you sleep can be a painful process, especially as, 9 times out of 10, the damage is a lot worse than anticipated.

Termites are often underestimated by the average person, the damage they can do within a 6 month period being hard to fathom.

For some lucky homeowners, if the infestation is caught early enough the damage is so minor that nothing even needs to be done. For others, the cost can be between $600 to $3,000 to repair or replace joists, posts, or structural segments of your home.

On very rare occasions, it has been more cost-effective, and safer, to demolish an entire house rather than even attempting to save the property.

What Attracts Termites?

To class termites as homewreckers is an understatement. They are more than capable of chewing your house to the ground if they sneak in and have their way for months or even years on end.

So how do they get into your home? What attracts termites in the first place?

(Image: Roy Buri (RoyBuri)¹¹)

Well, they normally hang around in your garden for a while before deciding to creep towards your home, lured in, not by the aromatic smells from your kitchen, but by the moisture content of your wooden house, or by the dampness of the ground surrounding your foundations.

Any cracks in your wooden structure are like an open invitation to them, and whether the wood is moist or bone dry, it can still attract a type of termite that revels in setting up home in either damp or dry wood so they will be encased in one big ready-meal.

Many homeowners under a termite invasion are unaware that there are more than 45 types of termites roaming around in the United States, but there are mainly 5 of them that are the most common and most destructive to your property, such as the Subterranean termite (Reticulitermes).⁵

• Subterranean Termites
• Formosan Termites
• Dampwood Termites
• Drywood Termites
• Conehead Termites

Some termite species will start their assault on your house from the vantage point of your own private landscape, living underground, feeding on your trees, your fence, and your shed, until they fancy a change of diet and march towards the tasty-looking wooden structure where you live.

There are few bugs that do as much damage as termites and professional termite exterminators are experts at discovering the colonies. Some of these nests are larger than others, and determining the correct course of action, what tools, and which products to use are crucial in eradicating them.

If the damage isn’t too severe.

A termite professional may advise you that for weakened fences or small sheds where the timber has been chewed through beyond repair, disposal of the entire structure might be your best option. In other words, just throw it all away.

Termite Swarm Season

When do termites swarm?

This swarming phenomenon occurs generally in the spring and summer months when adults depart to mate, and when the colony has become too big to contain the growing population. For you, this is a clear warning sign that new colonies may well be starting on your land which will pose even more of a threat.¹

Termite Control: How To Calculate Termite Exterminator Cost

When the severe infestation is in the very foundations, walls, and struts of your well-loved home, throwing it out is, however, not an option.

(Image: Petr Ganaj¹²)

When they do get to your house, they’ll either dig under your timber foundations or construct mud tunnels to enable them to bore through your home’s wooden structure. Once they have burst through the dry or damp wooden surface, they will begin digesting it by utilizing specialized enzymes to break it down one small bite at a time.

How much is pest control for termites will revolve around the scale and type of your termite problem, and the first thing a pest control company is going to do is evaluate which type is causing you and your home so much stress.

They all understand that the most prevalent type is the subterranean kind, but only divulge any termite control exterminator prices once they have confirmed which, what, and how.

• Which type?
• What damage has been wrought?
• How long have they been on your property?

The colony’s size is the primary factor in how quickly termites may cause the maximum amount of damage, and the bigger the colony, the more quickly and extensively they may munch their way through your property from the inside out.⁹

In fact, it has been estimated that a single termite consumes around 2% of its body weight in wood every day, and a colony that has in excess of 60,000 ever-hungry workers may devour an entire square foot of timber in just one month.

Essentially, a very small colony may do a great deal of harm in as little as six months, and it will be your exterminator’s task to evaluate as closely as possible the size of the colony and how long it has been present.

(Image: James Wainscoat¹³)

Part of the problem is that in most situations it might take anywhere from three to five years for the effects of a termite infestation to even become apparent to the house owner. By this stage, the colony will have done thousands of dollars worth of damage that may or may not be repairable.

However, knowing the elements that might affect the colony’s development and pace of wood consumption can give your termite specialist a better understanding of how to proceed.

Termite Treatment Options and Termite Treatment Costs

After a thorough inspection has been carried out, a more accurate assessment of how much the next step is going to financially set you back can be revealed. But just like a plumber or a locksmith, there is a charge for the call-out service which generally runs to $85 to $300 for an in-depth study.

In the United States, the basic termite treatment cost is around $575, with prices ranging from $230 to $930.

That can vary depending on things like the square footage of your property, the severity of your termite issue, and the location of the infestation.

Termite treatment, like pest management across the nation in general, may range from a single inspection and treatment to a full-scale fumigation of the whole home so every mm of wood can be exposed to the cure.

No one wants to recognize that their house is possibly riddled with termites. It’s a scary thought.

But if you are vigilant, know how to recognize the signs of a termite infestation, and act quickly enough, you won’t have to ask yourself that dreaded question, how much does a termite exterminator cost or how much is pest control for termites?³

Frequently Asked Questions About Termite Exterminator Cost