An alternative termiticide foam that is able to be shipped to California is Premise Foam. Whenever you are treating termites, you should treat them directly by drilling a hole through the Sheetrock and into the stud or wood they are in. It will expand and fill the void so that it can contact all surfaces and then evaporate leaving behind a residual that will last several weeks. Using Termidor SC as the liquid, you would apply the same way, it would just be a liquid and not a foam.
Depending on the type of termites you are treating for will be a big factor as well. Take a look at our Termite Control Page to help identify if you have Drywood, Dampwood or Subterranean Termites.
If you are treating for Subterranean termites you will most likely not be able to eliminate the population with just a foam in the walls as they are coming from the soil under and outside your home. Even if you could eliminate the entire population with the Premise Foam. It normally takes a full 90 days to see an entire colony destroyed and no more signs of activity. We highly recommend you look over our article and videos on "How To Do A Termite Treatment" to see how you should accurately be eliminating the termites and properly protecting your home from any future infestations. The method described in that article is going to save you time and money in the long run. Please let us know if you have any other questions.
Yes, Termidor SC will last 10 years in the soil as a barrier treatment because the Fipronil bonds to the soil. Termidor Foam is used to get direct contact to the active colonies inside the wall voids and will disapate over time (usually 6 weeks)
The Termidor Foam is definitely an amazing product and does well to transfer. That being said, you would have to drill holes into the cabinets to inject it into the galleries the termites have created for it to expand through their tunnels and reach them. Honestly, we have many customers in the Bahamas that use our products (they have them shipped through freight forwarders) and its very common for you to have a variety of termites in your area that could have flown in from the outside and infested the cabinets. The only downside to the cabinets themselves is if they weren't pretreated before being assembled/stained from the people you purchased them from. If there were termites in them when they came from the manufacturer, the likely hood of them being in there this whole time with no signs of damage or kick out holes and dust until 2 years out is extremely slim. Cabinets aren't that thick compared to beams and supports of the structures of homes which can cause finding termite damage and activity signs to be less noticeable for longer. Normally activity would show up not long after you received the cabinets if they came infested. Now, if it's powder post beetles they could have been in the raw wood without you or even the cabinet company knowing they were there. Powder post beetle larvae can stay dormant up to 20 years sometimes in the wood and then emerge. If that is what you have, your best mode of action would be to have your home tented/fumigated to kill them all at once. Termidor Foam won't work for you in that case and the products we have that would work would require you sand your custom cabinets down to raw wood and then apply them. This is a tough situation for you but fumigation is almost your only option.
Termidor Foam does not come with any metal tips. It only comes with the plastic tip on the end of the tube attachment.
Termidor Foam is not labeled to be used in kitchen cabinets per the manufacturer. It should only be used in wall voids.
Termidor Foam and Premise Foam have two different active ingredients. Because of its active ingredient, imidacloprid, Premise Foam works differently from other termiticides which repel, rather than kill, termites. Termites tunneling or foraging in the spaces treated with Premise Foam will go about their usual activities without being repelled. The exposed termites then remain unaffected for a few days, before sudden death occurs. In the meantime, the exposed termites are able to spread the Premise chemical to unexposed termites by physical contact when they feed or groom the other termites, resulting in a domino death effect which wipes out more of the colony. Termites who contact Termidor Foam transfer it to every other termite they in turn contact, in a unique process called the "Transfer Effect." And because Termidor is engineered to be slow-acting, termites have ample time to spread it throughout their entire termite population.
They are both effective products that will work to combat termites if you are treating the area directly.
There is only one injection tip that comes with Termidor Foam. The tip of the Termidor Foam is about 13 mm in length and 1 mm hole size. The hole size that the product should be applied in is 1/8" - 1/4". The holes should be drilled between 8-10 inches apart.
Termidor Foam should have a shelf life of about 1-2 years.
