Yes, you can get rid of termites, but the method that works depends on what type you’re dealing with and how far the infestation has spread. Small, localized colonies are sometimes manageable with targeted treatments, while large or subterranean infestations almost always require professional help. The good news is that with the right approach, full colony elimination is achievable.
Identifying What You’re Dealing With
Before choosing a treatment, you need to know whether you have subterranean or drywood termites. They behave differently, live in different places, and require different strategies to eliminate.
Subterranean termites nest underground and build mud shelter tubes up your foundation to reach wood. These pencil-width mud tunnels running along foundation walls, either outside or in your crawl space, are the most recognizable sign. You might also notice BB-sized spots of dried mud on interior walls or ceilings, which are “pinholes” where termites accidentally broke through and patched the opening. Sunken winding lines beneath paint or wallpaper indicate they’re feeding on the material underneath. If you see swarmers (winged termites) emerging directly from walls, ceilings, or floors, you have an active colony inside the structure.
Drywood termites live entirely inside the wood they eat and don’t need soil contact. Their telltale sign is piles of tiny, uniform, six-sided pellets on floors or countertops. These dry fecal pellets get pushed out of small “kick-out holes” in the wood. If you find these accumulations, the colony is directly above or nearby.
Professional Liquid Barrier Treatments
For subterranean termites, the most common professional approach is a liquid termiticide applied to the soil around and beneath your foundation. This creates a continuous chemical barrier that kills termites as they travel between their underground colony and your home. The treatment works relatively quickly once in place, since termites pass through the treated soil during their normal foraging.
Cost runs roughly $3 to $16 per linear foot of foundation. For an average home with 200 feet of perimeter, that means $1,000 to $3,200 for the initial treatment, with annual renewals of $100 to $300 to maintain the barrier. The barrier degrades over time from rain and soil conditions, so those renewals matter for long-term protection.
Bait Station Systems
Bait stations are plastic cylinders installed in the ground around your home’s perimeter. They contain wood or cellulose laced with a slow-acting substance that foraging termites carry back to the colony, gradually spreading it to nest mates including the queen. The goal is total colony elimination rather than just a perimeter defense.
The tradeoff is speed. Weeks or months may pass before termites even find the bait underground. After that, the elimination process can take several more months to complete. During that window, some feeding and damage continues. Initial setup costs $1,500 to $3,000 (roughly $8 to $12 per linear foot), with annual monitoring and maintenance running $300 to $500. Many pest control companies offer bait systems as an ongoing service contract with regular inspections.
Fumigation and Heat Treatment for Drywood Termites
Drywood termites present a unique challenge because they’re embedded inside the wood itself, often in multiple spots throughout a structure. When the infestation is widespread, tent fumigation is the standard solution. Your entire home gets sealed under a large tent, and a gas penetrates every piece of wood in the structure. You’ll need to vacate the home for two to three days, remove food and medications, and make arrangements for pets and plants.
Fumigation costs $1 to $4 per square foot. A 1,200-square-foot home typically runs $1,200 to $2,500, while a 2,500-square-foot home can cost $2,200 to $3,800. Complex rooflines push costs higher because the tenting is more difficult.
Heat treatment is a chemical-free alternative where professionals raise the temperature inside your home to 120 to 140°F. Termites die at 120°F, and the higher target ensures the interior of thick wood reaches lethal temperatures. Heat treatment works well for localized areas or whole structures and doesn’t leave chemical residue, but it requires specialized equipment and careful monitoring to avoid damaging heat-sensitive items in the home.
Why DIY Treatments Fall Short
Products like borax and boric acid do kill termites on contact by disrupting their digestion, but they have serious limitations that make them unreliable as a standalone solution. Borax powder injected into a drywood termite colony rarely reaches every termite inside. Borate solutions applied to existing wood don’t seep in uniformly, leaving the inner layers unprotected. And borax breaks down when exposed to repeated soaking rains, making it useless for soil treatments around foundations.
The core problem with any DIY approach is reach. A subterranean termite colony can contain hundreds of thousands of individuals spread through an underground network. Killing the termites you can see or access doesn’t eliminate the colony. Surviving members, including the queen, simply continue reproducing. Even pest control professionals who use borax typically combine it with other products that have greater reach across the full infestation area.
For a small, clearly localized drywood termite colony in a single piece of accessible wood, a spot treatment with a borate product or orange oil can sometimes work. But if there’s any doubt about how far the infestation extends, professional inspection is the smarter starting point. Termite damage is often far more extensive than what’s visible on the surface.
How Long Elimination Takes
Liquid soil treatments begin working almost immediately, since termites encounter the treated zone during their next foraging trip. You can expect a sharp drop in activity within days to weeks, though it may take a few weeks for all active termites in the structure to die off.
Bait systems are the slowest option. From installation to full colony elimination, the process commonly stretches across several months. Some infestations take six months or longer to resolve completely. The upside is that bait systems target the entire colony at its source rather than just defending your home’s perimeter.
Fumigation is the fastest whole-structure treatment. The gas eliminates every termite in the building within the two-to-three-day tenting period. Heat treatments similarly kill termites within hours once target temperatures are reached throughout the wood.
Preventing Termites From Coming Back
Elimination without prevention is a temporary fix. Termites are everywhere in the soil, and new colonies will eventually find your home if conditions invite them.
Moisture is the single biggest factor. Subterranean termites need moisture to survive, and structural leaks dramatically increase your risk. Make sure grading directs water away from your foundation so it doesn’t pool in crawl spaces or against exterior walls. Seal around roof flashing, chimney penetrations, and plumbing entries. Install exterior window ledges with a slight outward slope so rainwater drains away from the structure rather than seeping in.
Physical clearance between soil and wood matters more than most homeowners realize. On slab construction, the lower edge of any siding material should sit at least 6 inches above soil grade. On homes with conventional foundations, untreated wood should be at least 18 inches above soil, and treated wood at least 6 inches. Crawl spaces need a minimum of 18 inches of vertical clearance to allow proper inspections and treatments.
For new construction or major renovations, physical barriers offer long-term protection. Stainless steel mesh or plastic collars placed around pipes before pouring a slab create a termite-proof seal at penetration points. Full-foundation physical barriers made of stainless steel mesh can be installed underneath an entire slab, preventing termites from entering through cracks and crevices that are impossible to see once the concrete is poured. These barriers don’t degrade like chemical treatments and don’t need annual renewal.
Annual professional inspections remain the most practical safeguard for existing homes. Termites can be active for months before visible signs appear, and a trained inspector knows where to look for early evidence that most homeowners would miss.