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The Termite
Management Revolution
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| Your home has
subterranean termites. Or you realise there's a good chance that it will if
it's not properly protected. But the only way to stop termites is an invasive
process that requires the application of hundreds of litres of toxic spray
under and around your home. Right?
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around the entire building
foundation at a high enough concentration that every possible point of
potential termite entry into the building is protected. But what happens if the
barrier is not continuous or is not strong enough? Good question. But you might
not like the answer.
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| Not anymore.
Imagine all this being replaced by the application in a closed and locked
station of a termite bait containing a few grams of an active ingredient less
toxic than table salt. Welcome to the future of termite management - termite
baiting with Exterra .
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Even the most
carefully applied barrier treatments do not always form continuous and
uniformly strong barriers between the building and the termite infested earth
beneath them. This is because of the tedious nature of the application process
and the difficulty of placing a barrier beneath an existing building. Almost
inevitably, gaps or breaks are left in the barrier through which termites,
which are always looking for an opening and a new meal, can invade. And
variations can occur in the strength of the barrier. For example, forming a
continuous and uniformly strong barrier under a concrete slab floor is rarely
if ever possible. This means that if a slab floor cracks at a point at which
the barrier is too weak or no barrier has been applied, termites can enter the
building unimpeded and often undetected until they have done large amounts of
damage. And termites can penetrate a crack as narrow as one millimetre.
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| Until
recently, the almost exclusively used method of termite management was the
application of a chemical termite barrier. The application of such a barrier to
your home would typically involve spraying large volumes of toxic and
environmentally persistent chemicals around and under its foundation in close
proximity to you and your family. But Exterra radically changes all that.
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| And as
important as Exterra's environment friendly features are, they're just a big
bonus. Exterra's greatest advantage compared to chemical barriers is its
ability to eliminate the actual source of your termite problem - the termite
colony itself.
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| Chemical
Barriers - A Primer
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| Subterranean
termites live in the ground and are commonly located under and around
buildings. This is quite natural. Also natural is their appetite for wood,
which they are designed by nature to consume and digest. Termites and their
insatiable appetite for wood, create a problem only when they enter buildings
in search of a new food source.
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Termites Taking Advantage
of Gaps in a Barrier
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Gaps can be
created in barriers when they are physically disturbed, weakened or simply wear
out. For example, earth treated with a barrier toxicant may be disturbed or
washed away. Even if a barrier is continuous and uniformly strong when applied,
the strength of the barrier will naturally decrease over time as the toxicant
naturally breaks down. Also, currently available barrier treatment products are
not as long lasting as older barrier treatment chemicals that are now banned.
In other words, the really strong, long lasting stuff is gone.
In order to spread the barrier under the building foundation, it
is often necessary to drill a large number of barrier injection holes in the
foundation. The application a barrier can sometimes even involve the removal of
finished interior surfaces such as flooring and moulding. Some barrier
treatment chemicals even leave a tell-tale odour in the living area that may
last for several days to a week or more after they are applied. Needless to
say, termite
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Termites The Hidden
Invaders
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| Termite barriers handle
the termites-looking-for-woodin-the-wrong-place problem by either repelling
termites that attempt to cross the barrier or by killing termites that come in
contact with the barrier. To properly protect a building, a barrier must be
placed under and around the entire foundation of the building where termites
will encounter it as they try to enter from beneath (which they must do since
the form of termites that eat wood cannot fly). To be totally effective the
barrier must be applied under and
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