Pretty much everyone in Arizona eventually gets them. Maybe everyone in the country, not sure.

My wife noticed a tube on the wall inside. I think it was from where a picture used to hang. I checked outside and there were 2 tubes coming up from the ground to that same wall. I checked every square inch of the rest of the house and there was nothing. I checked in the attic and still nothing.

We bought the house new in 1997. At that time it had the typical termite treatment before they pour the slab/foundation. That is supposed to last about 5 years.

I did my homework and decided to tackle this myself. Over the years I've used something called Viper to kill ants. Viper contains 25% cypermethrin which is also a termite killer/repellant. It makes sense that we've been termite free for such a long time because of the Viper but it had been a long time since I last treated the outside for ants.

I went to the DIY Pest Control place and bought a dry powder that you mix with water. It has 40% cypermethrin. Good stuff.

The hardest part of the whole thing was trenching around the foundation. What a pain. I feel like I've been beat up. We have some really tough soil here in AZ. This was probably the most physical labor I've ever done. It took my all day long.

I also found out that the home builders burried a lot of waste around our foundation including wood. They signed a contract that they didn't bury anything but who checks? I would have had to dig up my house and when it's new with a new termite treatment they tell you not to dig around the foundation. Unfortunately the home builders are out of business so I have no recourse.