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I just found out I have termites in both my basement and attic. I live in upstate New York so I found this unusual in this climate, but they are there. Can anyone give me some advice on how to get rid of termites (preferably without having to have the whole house fumigated) ?
Sorry to hear about that. Termites live just about everywhere there is wood growing. The eradication is gowing to be expensive if you hire someone.
If you don't, the first thing you have to determine is the extent of the damage. Don't guess at this and don't make any repairs until you have exterminated the prolem. There are "do it yourself pest control" and places online you can purchase pesticides. I can't help you with this. As I do not know the specifics. The specifics are key.
I would suggest educating yourself as to the habits of the species of termite you have and exactly how and where they are entering your home. This damage does not happen very quickly, but over months or years. Since Winter is quickly aproaching you have some time to get up to speed,
I have had wood boring insects in furniture that I have eradicated by leaving the furniture outside in freezing temperatures. If you can drop the temoeratures in your house to well below freezing you will kill a lot of termites. I'm not advoating this as a cure but only a treatment for the symtoms, a "head start" if you will. This does not leave toxic, carcinogenic compounds behind for years either,
An expert exterminator would be my best advice, since there are living quarters in between the affected areas. They should look for the termite queen so that there wouldn't be another infestation after the treatment.
Care to try the natural ways? My friend use a predator to control termites. He puts sugar cane around the place where termites live in. That will attract ants, the best predator of termites.