A relatively new, but inventive and effective method of termite control called Termite Baiting is becoming a more and more popular solution for termite control every day, especially amongst people who are sensitive to chemical insecticides.
 
The system works by burying plastic nodes into the ground. These nodes are made to be attractive to foraging worker termites, and are inserted around a structure at fairly regular intervals. The nodes all contain normal, edible wood. No, edible to the termites--please put away the fork.
 
The nodes are inspected once a month. If they're inhabited, a termiticide poison is then injected into it.  As the node has become a regular source of food, the poison spreads very quickly through the colony. While this system does not work on termites that are already foraging indoors, there are nodes that you can place inside (without digging, thankfully) that follow the same principle. The nodes become boxes and are pre-laced with the termiticide.
 
When using the outdoor nodes, it is vitally important to check them at regular intervals. If you wait too long, the termites may well have devoured all the bait before you had a chance to insert the poison.
 
This method of termite control is safe for the environment, whereas laying down chemical insecticide barriers can cause localized health problems, and contributes to local pollution. Also, and this is particularly true for restaurants, nothing says "filthy" to passersby like an exterminator walking around your building hosing poison into the ground.
 
If a building is having chronic termite problems, and is located near any body of water, whether it be a subterranean well, a koi pond, or a natural lake, termite bait-nodes may be the only feasible method of termite control. Moist wood attracts termites faster than anything else: you can put poison barriers around a house between two lakes with a well out front until you're blue in the face, but the poison doesn't last forever, and it is unsafe to re-apply it over and over again. Eventually, a band of hardy foragers will decide that the structure is yummy. 
 
Thus, applying methods of termite control before they reach your home is the only way to protect it.

 

 

You can learn more about getting rid of termites and other pests at this website: Getting Rid of Pests