Termites in The Villages - what are the facts?
 

When we moved here twelve years ago we continued the existing termite protection.

However, we have never heard of anyone (protected or otherwise) who has had any problems here with termites.

Have you had any personal experience of them here, or is it just another scaremongering money-making venture for those in the bug business?

Thank you

Is the fact that there has been no sharing of personal experiences indicative of the low chance of having a problem with termites here?

We're not usually reticent to come forward if we have something to share :)

Thank you for the link, Babubhat

There does appear to be a lack of them in our area.

Looks like termite protection in The Villages is for "peace of mind" rather than any actual need for it.

According to the expanded U of F map, only 7 cases documented for all species in The Villages area. Is that because of the foundation pre-treatment by the Developer, or a highly successful retreatment sales effort by the exterminators, or a natural occurrence?

Yes

Because of all the chemicals being used in The Villages for killing termites, the lack of termites in the area has caused The Villages to be declared a sanctuary area for termites until the termite population is viable.

If you go and look at a house being built, you will see green along the lower 1/3rd of the 2x4s. That is a borate treatment to fend off insect activity. They also treat the soil.

Termite damage does happen if you do things like having shrubs too close to the foundation or trees touching the house allowing termites to hide and maintain a moisture source. I routinely check the outside foundation to make sure there are not termite tunnels around the edge of the foundation and I also look for them under sinks to make sure they don't come up between the pipes in the foundation. I do this casually because I've only owned one house that had termites and that was because of the tunnels going up the foundation hidden behind the shrubs. Termite damage takes time - I think their damage tends to actually be minimal even when it happens.

There are also dry wood termites. Another story but you can still spot them with just minimal effort of observation.

All of the above. Sold like life insurance. Prays on fear

Think about it - every house is treated when built, and most are newer build. Almost everyone has retreatments and inspections. If you looked at that link, make sure you turn on ALL the species. Most of the infestations are in Lady Lake and historic section. So there is nowhere for them to go and breed and spread in the newer sections - I would say it is because of the attention to detail and treatment. Otherwise, what stops them spreading in this area and not in Orlando, Apopka, and Crystal River??

And there is a lot of fear here, warranted or not. Just read this board. There is a segment who sit at home waiting to spread fear on a message board. Sadly, that's all they have.

Block and stucco
 

I have a block and stucco house. Massey wanted to provide plenty of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt), to pay $100+/year for termite protection. Yeah, its pocket change, do the math for Massey. They say I have wood trim and cabinets that termites can eat. Sure anything is possible in life, but i can't imagine this is >1% chance of happening. If it does, I'll fix the damage myself, it's not like the house will fall down.

I think the risks are very much overstated by those that have easy money to gain.

Risk send low.

In addition to the initial treatments, The developer removes all the organic material on the soil prior to construction that could serve as food.

Exceptions could be homes bordering on natural areas.

The furring strips attached to the block houses are COMPLETELY green (borate treated). Drywall is paper faced and has starch as a binder in the gypsum and paper too - so you can understand why the furring strips are so well treated.

A lot of the wood is borate treated straight from the supplier when it arrives such as the furring strips and base plates for the interior walls.. And then they spray borates onto the other wood once installed.

I bet the termites don't like sand either and lack of any wood around from clearing the land so well before construction.