Kinda confused with this guys review? He says that he started his own termite company after making "ALOT" of money with an orange oil company. Yet he also stated that he does not push "fumigation nor orange oil". It's pretty cut and dry buddy. You either treat all the wood with fumigation and let the termites re-infest because there is no residual; or you spot treat and protect the main entry points where termites can infest (sub area/garage/attic). If you don't push fumigation, then you are simply offering a different type of spot treatment. I think that some houses need fumigation when the termites are everywhere, but there is certainly a great success rate with spot treatments as well. What pill are you trying to sell people?
I'll be very honest here; I work for an orange oil company. 90% of the time our treatment can be used to effectively treat dry wood termites. 10% of the time it's in your best interest to fumigate the structure. The enemy here isn't the process that you choose; it's simply the honesty of the inspector that's suggesting the right treatment for your house based on where the infestation is at and how large it extends. There are good and bad people in any industry, especially where sales and commission are involved. The top salesman at the auto dealership or at a real-estate office is usually the same one that will lie to you the most.
If you do your homework on XT-2000 orange oil, you will see that it's considered a PRIMARY treatment! A primary treatment is a treatment that has a high enough kill rate that it can be used to certify a house for escrow. Currently fumigation, heat treatment, and XT-2000 orange oil qualify.
If you have made a decision to fumigate your house, then you need to know the following two things to compare your quotes: 1. How many lbs of gas will be injected into the house? 2. Does the company you’re getting the quote from own the equipment, or do they sub-contract the work out?
If your house is 1800 sq ft (including garage and anything else attached to the house), then you will need enough gas to cover that area. If you have a company that pumps in less gas, then they are not solving your problem... but as the customer, you still see the same tent go over the house & you will always assume that there was enough gas used.
Let's also be very clear on one more thing. NONE of your orange oil companies are using orange oil exclusively to attempt to treat your house. Yet all the fumigation inspectors in the industry that blog on the internet lead you to believe that the only product used is the orange oil, and that you have termites everywhere throughout your house. Here's the problem; orange oil has to be injected, so it's very labor intensive. You cannot broad-cast spray it, so it's very localized. Plus it's oil, so it will naturally vaporize/dissipate within six weeks. This is why we all use a combination of Premise 75, Timbor, and Bora-Care to help get the infestations under control. All of these products can be broad-cast sprayed, and they have very long residuals! When you inject XT-2000 orange oil into the wood, and follow it with an application of bora-care on the outside of the wood; then you are combining a primary treatment, with a life-time residual. Bora-care will also soak deep into the wood.
Do your home work on the chemicals used, as well as the company that you want to do business with. Yelp.com is nice, but nothing is verified. Instead look at the BBB history, see if there are any third-party reviews or verifications. Also look to see if the company is diamond certified because they will actually back the consumer with a guarantee!
Not sure why this posted with "'" everywhere? Sorry bout that- not what I typed at all!
Agent orange? Really? Didn't they use that as some sort of nerve gas in the war? Orange oil is 95% oil from the rhine of an orange and 5% water.
To answer your question directly; no it has nothing to do with agent orange. It's actually an oil that is found in the rhine of the orange.
Not sure where you get your facts from, but XT-2000 orange oil is an EPA registered product. All EPA registered products must have an efficacy study done by a university, or an independent laboratory. They must also have an MSDS on file as ANY registered pesticide does.
Ulitimately the "kill -rate" on this product is so high that it's considered a PRIMARY TREATMENT! None of the other products you mentioned qualify as such. As far as I know there are only 3 primary treatments; fumigation, heat treatment, and XT-2000 orange oil. Obviously it works.
There is no doubt that orange oil does not have a long residual, which is why ALL of the orange oil companies that use this method follow the treatment with timbor, bora-care, or termidor. Just to be clear, all orange oil companies have access to purchasing the products that you mentioned above. Why then do we choose orange oil? It's a primary treatment! AKA- Extremely high kill-rate.
FYI... XT-2000 orange oil has been patented and used by X-Termite in San Diego for over 13 years! The structural pest control board, and California consumer affairs regulates all pest control companies, so obviously there is a good reason that orange oil has pasted the test of time and is still gaining groung on other chemicals and methods.
My statement about XT-2000 being considered a primary treatment comes directly from several conversations that I've had with the manufacture. Any questions reguarding it's validity can be directed toward them. Consumers, inspectors, and state employees of the structural pest control board are more than welcome to call as well. I'm a state licenced inspector who has to follow rules and regulations just like anyone else. My intent here is not break any laws, or mis-guide consumers. I will also be revisiting my conversations concerning XT-2000 as a primary treatment as I do not want to be giving out false information. To be absolutely clear; the most complete treatment for a structure is fumigation no matter how small or large the infestations may be. However; this is like a body shop telling you that NEED to paint your whole car because you got a scratch on the fender. If you had scratches all over, then it would make sense to paint the whole car. Basically what I'm saying is choose your termite treatment based on the amount of infestation on the house.
I love when I hear someone say that orange oil is extremely flammable. So is hair spray but you put it on your head! If you look at the XT-2000 website, you will see that over 100, 000 houses in California have been treated using this process. Yet, not one house has ever caught fire. It's interesting that we do not have to notify the gas company nor the fire department when we do a treatment. However, both must be notified when you fumigate. And how many houses have actually "blown-up" during fumigation? Things that make you go "Hmmmm?".
As far as finding the termites... I'm sorry that nobody properly trained you on how termites enter the house and how you determine where they have spread to. Most fumigation companies spend 15 minutes on the inspection. Our inspections can take 1-3 hours. Let's talk rodents for a minute. How do you know you have them in the house? If your a home owner, you probably hear them running in the attic, you've seen them in the house/garage, or you've seen feces. Does that mean that they are all over the place? Just because they are getting in the garage, does that mean that they are in the sub area, attic, interior walls, interior of the home, etc.? Can an inspector determine those things? Yes... by inspecting and looking for the evidence of where they are traveling within the home. Can you also determine where they are entering to prevent them from getting in? Of course you can! Using similar principals, and understanding how termites enter the structure, a properly trained inspector can do a darn good job at finding most (if not all) of your infestations. If you have them in a rafter tail, then we have equiptment to look inside the wall voids and scope each stud adjacent to that area. Fumigation companies do not specialize in this type of treatment. It's much easier to spend 15 mintues on an inspection, call a sub-contractor for a price, mark it up, and not even do the work themselves.
Simply put, there is no 100% treatment; not even fumigation. I've seen hundreds of houses that were fumigated and have live termites only months later. Since a colony takes about 2 years to show signs of infestation, it's easy to determine that the termites were there prior to the fumigation and simply didn't die. Bottom line; do your home work on the company that you are hiring and use someone reputable!
The only non-bias study done on XT-2000 orange oil is the one required to register the chemical with the EPA. That study was done at Florida State.
The study done at UC Berkely has many holes in it, starting with the fact that it was funded by DOW (manufacture of Vikane gas).
Reputable companies? Most of the industry contacts sub-contractors and goes with the cheapest price to increase their profit margin. You honestly expect anyone to believe that a sub-contractor is going to get to a house after the measurements and pricing has already been determined and agreed upon and re-measure the cubic feet? Then if the cubic feet come up short that company is going to reduce their profit margin and pump more gas into the house because it's the right thing to do? There may be one or two companies that are out there that will do that. I've inspected too many houses that were fumigated less than 2 years ago and they have lots of fresh droppings in the same areas that were noted previously. That tells me that not enough gas was used, or the tent was properly sealed. There simply isn't a 100% method no matter how you slice it.
Again; consumers need to do their homework and look at the companies track record with the BBB and other reputable sources. Whether the choice is fumigation or alternative methods, research is the first key to choosing what's right for your home.
