Reviewed by William "Willy" Vizcarrondo, NYS DEC Certified Commercial Pesticide Applicator C1825832. Updated September 23, 2026.
Short answer
Not effectively. Penn State does not recommend that homeowners attempt to treat their own homes for subterranean termites, UC IPM says it is unlikely homeowners will be able to execute control on their own, and University of Kentucky's extension notes retail products will seldom eradicate an existing termite problem. The job needs professional product, trenching and drilling equipment, and a whole-perimeter plan.
Because they don't reach the colony. Subterranean termites nest in the soil, and a colony can contain hundreds of thousands of workers foraging in many directions. A can of spray kills the swarmers on the windowsill, which were going to die that day anyway, and the foam you inject into one hollow board kills the workers in that board while the colony keeps coming through the soil ten feet away. Kentucky's extension warns against spot treatments for exactly this reason, and UC IPM's position is that there are no reliable over-the-counter termite control products available to the public in California; all effective products are for professional use only. Penn State adds that homeowners have difficulty obtaining termiticides and need specialized equipment.
A continuous treated zone or a monitored bait program around the whole house. A liquid treatment means trenching the soil along the entire foundation, drilling through slabs, porches and patios on a set spacing, and injecting product to the label rate so the treated zone has no gaps; Kentucky's extension notes that even professional applications can be crossed through untreated gaps in the soil, which is how careful the work has to be. A bait program means stations placed and checked on a schedule for months. Both need a license to buy and apply the product, and the EPA's advice is that firms offering termite services must be licensed by your state and that you should ask to see credentials.
Cut off moisture and wood contact, and inspect. The EPA's homeowner list is all prevention: keep the soil around the foundation dry with proper grading and maintained gutters and downspouts, fix leaks immediately, keep firewood and wood debris away from the house, and keep trees from crowding the foundation. Probe the sill plate and posts with a screwdriver once a year and look for mud tubes on foundation walls. Those steps make a treated house stay treated and catch a new colony early. They don't remove one that's already in the framing.
Every spring we get calls from homeowners in Levittown, Deer Park and Bay Shore who sprayed the swarmers, foamed the hole, and saw a second swarm the next April from the same wall. The colony never noticed. Termite work on Long Island from Bobby Bugs is done by William Vizcarrondo, a NYS DEC Certified Commercial Pesticide Applicator in the termite category, with a written plan, a written guarantee of 1 year on a partial treatment or 2 years on a full one, and a free estimate. You can verify the license yourself through the NYS DEC applicator lookup.
Related
No. Kentucky's extension notes winged termites that emerge indoors are incapable of damaging wood and live about a day. Spraying them kills insects that were already dying and does nothing to the workers in the soil and the wood. Vacuum them, save a few for identification, and get the house inspected.
Not a subterranean colony. Wood treatments and spot products can kill termites in the piece of wood they touch, but the colony lives in the soil and feeds through mud tubes from below, so the untreated wood next door is still on the menu. The EPA lists wood treatments as one professional tool among several, not a standalone fix.
Check the license, get the plan in writing and ask about the guarantee. The EPA's guidance is that termite firms must be licensed by your state and you should ask to see the license. In New York you can look up any applicator on the NYS DEC site. Then ask exactly what will be treated, whether it's a full perimeter or a partial, and what the guarantee covers and for how long.
Still not sure? Call (516) 509-6001 and we'll tell you what you're dealing with.