Estimated Losses Caused

by Wood Products Insects During 1970

for Single-Family Dwellings

in 11 Southern States

LONNIE H. WILLIAMS

AND

RICHARD K SMYTHE

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Research Paper SO-145

Southern A

&

St&

T&.
Summary

In 1970, owners of single-family dwellings in 11 southern States spent an

estimated $143 million (1976 dollars) to prevent and control subterranean

termites and wood-destroying beetles. Losses incorporated into this estimate

include: $79.4 million for corrective or remedial termite treatments, $13.8

million for preventive or pretreatment of termites, $12.9 million for remedial

beetle treatments, and $37.0 million for contract renewals or damage insurance. Depending upon remedial costs and termite damage repair costs, an

additional $12.3 million to $19.5 million for treatment and $38.6 million for

damage repaired by someone other than the pest control industry could be

added to the loss estimate. Also, the estimate would be increased significantly

by adding losses in multifamily dwellings and nonresidential construction.

Although loss from replacement of termite-damaged wood probably has decreased, expanded research application efforts can reduce losses further if

current termite prevention and control measures remain available.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank many people in the State regulatory offices of Alabama, Arkansas,

California, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee for

providing information used in this study.

We are especially grate&l to G. King, R. W. Anderson, and M. Tucker,

Arkansas; C. M. Scott, Jr., Georgia; R. McCarty, Mississippi; and H. L. Bruer,

Tennessee, who not only reviewed our manuscript but gave ffeely of their time on

many occasions and who made their offices and records available 24 hours a

day, 7 days a week, to facilitate our data collection.

For valuable review comments on an earlier draft of this paper, we thank C. D.

Mampe, Western Exterminating Company, and H. B. Moore, North Carolina

State University. We thank the National Pest Control Association for the information referenced by footnotes.

Although we were helped by many people, the validity of the data and the

expressed opinions are our responsibility, We used the charges shown for various

pest control services for estimation purposes only, and we do not suggest they

serve as “normal” charges for these services.

1979
Estimated Losses Caused

by Wood Products Insects During 1970

for Single-Family Dwellings

in 11 Southern States

LONNIE H. WILLIAMS

AND

RICHARD V. SMYTHE

Introduction

Wood products insects (WPI), subterranean termites and various wood-destroying beetles, occur in

all States and United States possessions except

Alaska. Because WPI primarily attack seasoned,

processed wood in use, these insects cause enormous

economic losses, but data have never been compiled

and published to document loss estimates for the

nation or even for the South where these insects are

most prevalent. Estimates of annual national losses

from termite damage and control range from $100

million (Lund 1967) to $3.5 billion (USDA 1974),

though $500 million is the figure most often quoted

(Ebeling 1968). Annual national losses were estimated to be $17 million for damage by Lyctidae

(Gerberg 1957) and $40 million for all beetles (Hatfield 1950).

For about 23 years, soil beneath houses has been

treated with chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides

currently recommended for termite prevention and

control (Smith and others 1972). Many treatments

have been done and many houses have been built

since Snyder’s 1961 estimate of $250 million in damage annually to the nation’s buildings was incorporated into the $500 million loss estimate (Ebeling

1968). Therefore, we think the total cost of controlling termites and repairing their damage needs to be

reevaluated.

For the 11 southern States either in the high-hazard

area for termites or bordering it (fig.1) this paper

presents estimated numbers of WPI treatments during 1970 and their total cost in 1976 dollars. To

document the basis for these estimates, we report and

discuss 1962 and 1967 data on types of treatments

(composition), damage repairs, and treatment costs

in Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee; data on numbers of WPI treatments done annually from 1961-76

in these States and three additional ones; and data on

numbers, value, and construction types of houses

from the 1960 and 1970 census of housing.’ Trends in

treatment costs, treatment performance, and housing

construction are discussed.

‘Number and median value of houses for each State were obtained

from the HC(l)-B Series, Table 34, Detailed Housing Characteristics, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, 1972.

The other housing data were obtained from the US. Summary,

U.S. Census of Housing, HC(l) No. 1, Tables 5 and 7, 1963, and

from the U.S. Summary, Detailed Housing Characteristics,

HC(l)-Bl, Tables 22 and 23, 1972.

Lonnie H. Williams is an Entomologist, Southern Forest Experiment Station, Forest Service - USDA, Gulfport, Mississippi. Richard V

Smythe is Assistant Director, North Central Forest Experiment Station, Minneapolis, Minn.
Figure l.- Geographical distribution of subterranean termite hazard regions.

REGION I REGION 2 REGION

HIGH MODERATE

Methods

Data Gathered from States

Preliminary evaluation of reports and records from

18 States with structural pest control (SPC) laws revealed that only certain States had files containing

sufficient information to use effectively in a survey.

And other than for compiling yearly totals of treatments, available information had never been

evaluated nor had comparisons been made among

States. We obtained the number of treatments done

annually from 1961-76 in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

Because Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee records contained the most details on treatments, we

obtained from these States sample data on treatment

costs and composition, that is, whether the treatments

were remedial or preventive for termites, beetles, or

both insects combined.

In Arkansas, the record files contain every termite

and beetle treatment contract, and the recorded data

LOW

included: (1) date of treatment, (2) county, (3) type

of framework, (4) type of wood-destroying organism,

(5) extent of treatment, including installation of soil

covers to reduce relative humidity in crawl spaces,

(6) type of repairs, (7) cost of treatment and repairs,

and (8) renewal contract costs. In Georgia and Tennessee, the files contain only monthly reports or work

orders, so limited information was available on construction characteristics or repairs performed. Cost

information was available in Tennessee but not in

Georgia.

To determine trends in the treatments performed

during the 1960’s, in 1969 we recorded data for all

treatments reported during 1962 and 1967 by every

fourth pest control firm in Arkansas, Georgia, and

Tennessee. The firms were selected from an alphabetical listing of all firms licensed for SPC in each

State for each year. Overall, sample data were recorded from 32,639 of the total 160,438 treatments

performed by 913 licensed firms. Data accuracy was

verified by personal inspection of about 70 randomly

2
selected homes in Arkansas and Georgia, and proved

to be 87 to 100 percent correct.

How Estimates Were Made

Data were compiled and expanded for each State

and year. For example, a Statewide estimate of the

number of termite pretreatments for Arkansas in

1962, (X) was obtained by solving the proportion:

number of pretreatments in recorded sample (447) is

to the total number of termite treatments in the recorded sample (4,481) as X is to the constant 10,296,

the total number of treatments reported in the State

during 1962.

For the 1970 estimates, we calculated the percentage of houses treated in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Tennessee by using

the number of treatments reported in each State and

the number of single-family dwellings in each State,

as reported by the 1970 census. We estimated treatments for Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South

Carolina, and Texas by applying the calculated treatment percentage for the other six States combined

(2.73 percent) to the number of houses in each remaining State.

To estimate total cost in 1970, we first calculated

how many treatments were remedial or preventive

in each State by using the mean of 1967 composition

data for Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee. We then

estimated cost by multiplying the estimated number

of remedial and pretreatments in each State by mean

cost for such treatments in Arkansas and Tennessee.

Because State regulatory officials estimated most

contracts were renewed for 5 years, we estimated

renewal cost in 1970 on the basis of treatments performed in the preceding 5 years. We estimated total

treatments and treatment composition in each State

for 1965-69 by the same procedures used for obtaining the 1970 estimate. We found what percentage of

the houses had been treated during 5 years in the six

States with treatment reports, then used this percentage (12.73) to estimate treatments in the five remaining States. Regulatory officials estimated that 37

percent of the pretreatments and 67 percent of the

remedial treatments are renewed, so we used these

percentages to estimate the number of each type renewed. We then multiplied these estimates by the

average renewal cost obtained from the Arkansas and

Tennessee data.

Because 19 construction cost indexes suggested

Table 1. - Composition and incidence of WPI treatments in Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee

Total 1967

Data characteristics Arkansas Georgia Tennessee data

1962 1967 1962 1967 1962 1967 only’

___________________________-______________--__. Number _______________________________________________

Houses in State’

Licensed SPC firms

Total treatments

603,796 655,675 1,229,269

107 107 182

10.296 13,759 28,793

WPI treatment composition

Remedial termites

Pretreatment termites

Remedial termites and beetles

Remedial beetles

Totals

8,066 7,669 21,737

1,027 4,472 3,442

703 1,248 1,850

172 162 600

9,968 13,551 27,629

Remedial termites 82.3 57.3 77.7

Pretreatment termites 10.5 33.4 12.3

Remedial termites and beetles 7.2 9.3 9.9

Remedial beetles 1.7 1.2 2.1

WPI treatment incidence for total

houses

Remedial termites

Pretreatment termites

Remedial termites and beetles

Remedial beetles

1.3

0.2

0.1

x0.1

1.2 1.8 1.7 2.3 2.3 1.7

0.7 0.3 1.0 0.2 0.3 0.7

0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2

0.1 0.1 0.1 - co.1

____.

L,407,333 1 ,126,672 1,254,468 -

231 137 149 487

44,621 29,112 33,857 92,237

24,671

14,359

3,507

1,413

43,950

.-Percent ------

57.2

33.3

9.4

3.2

23,798

2,524

2,4663

-

28,788

__________._.

82.7

8.8

8.6

26,020

4,063

3,114)

33,197

_________...-----.

78.4

12.2

9.4

58,360

22,894

7,869)

1,575

90,698

64.3

26.3

9.4

2.2

IThe mean percentages were used for the 1970 estimates.

ZTwice the annual increase in houses from 1960-70 was added to the 1960 total for 1962 and subtracted from the 1970 total for 1967

3Calculated from Arkansas and Georgia data.

3
1967 costs had increased from 86 to 124 percent

(Levy 1977), we adjusted all 1967 mean treatment

costs 100 percent for inflation. Renewal charges for

annual inspection contracts, however, were only inflated 80 percent because we believed their cost was

established during treatments in prior years and thus

affected less by inflation.

Procedures for estimating beetle treatments are

described by Williams and Smythe (1978).

Results And Discussion

Treatment Incidence, Composition, and Cost for Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee

The total number of WPI treatments in the three

States increased 35 percent from 1962-67 (table 1).

There were more treatments in 1967 than in 1962,

Table 2. - WPI treatment costs in Arkansas and Tennessee

primarily because of more termite pretreatments. In

1962,pretreatments were about 10.5 percent of all

treatments, but by 1967 they were 26.3 percent. Remedial termite treatments increased only slightly.

Although the total number of treatments and total

cost increased in Arkansas and Tennessee from

1962-67, the cost per treatment was less (table 2).

Mean treatment cost was reduced more in Arkansas

than in Tennessee, probably because more low-cost

pretreatments were done in Arkansas.

With the extensive Arkansas data, we evaluated

how repairs performed by the SPC industry affected

remedial treatment costs (table 3). Fewer treatments

included repairs in 1967 than in 1962, but the mean

cost remained the same. For 69 percent of all treatments in 1962 and 70 percent in 1967, the cost was for

the treatment itself and not repair of damages; the

Cost for each type of Arkansas Tennessee

treatment 1962 1967 1962 1967

Pretreatment termites

Total $ 58,352 $ 270,124 $ 130,045 $ 322,386

Mean 58 59 57 60

Remedial termites only

Total 1,251,845 1,083,568 3,361,900 3,339,280

Mean 155 142 128 115

Remedial termites and beetles

Total 141,314 269,359 5,597 46,393

Mean 201 217 124 146

Remedial beetles only

Total 20,870 16,514 4,885 1,014

Mean 124 121 143 150

All treatments’

Total $1,496,883 $1,691,630 $3,618,066 $3,792,716

Mean 14.5 123 124 111

‘The figures enclosed by parentheses are 1967 costs inflated 100 percent to 1976 dollars.

21ncludes miscellaneous treatments in addition to those listed.

1967 mean

for all data

combined’

60-(120)

123-(246)

207-(414)

122-(244)

114-(228)

Table 3. - Remedial termite treatments in Arkansas in relation to damage repair

Average treatment

Repair Percent of all remedial cost

performance treatments (dollars)

1962 1967 1962 1967

Not needed 68.7 69.6 131 132

Needed, not done 10.0 18.7 164 175

Done 16.8 9.8 223 230

Some done, more needed 2.9 1.8 228 317

Miscellaneous’ 1.6 0.1 -

Weighted mean 153 153

‘Treatments such as repairs and enclosing crawl space, no repairs and enclosure, spot treatment, or recall.

Each category was less than 1 .O percent of the total number of remedial treatments which were 9.194 and

9,058 in 1962 and 1967. respectively.

4
Tennessee data also suggested this. Based on the

difference in cost of treatment with and without complete repair done, repairs averaged $92 in 1962 and

$98 in 1967. For 2 to 3 percent of the treatments,

about $100 to $200 in repairs was done, but we had

no way to determine the additional cost if all damage

had been repaired. Extensive damage repair probably

was needed with some but not necessarily all of the

remaining 10 to 19 percent of the treatments. Although repairing termite damage to a home can cost

thousands of dollars, most Arkansas homeowners

apparently obtained effective control soon after termite infestations were noticed.

The potential cost of termite damage is rising with

costs of materials and labor, but extensive damage

probably occurs less frequently now because termite

prevention and control treatments have become

widely used through FHA and VA policies (Anon

1959) and the publicity efforts of the SPC industry.

Surely, development of better equipment and treatment procedures during the past two decades has

improved termite prevention and control services.

However, houses continue to be designed and built

with construction faults conducive to termite attack,

many houses are not pretreated, and some are pretreated inadequately (Mountain 1977).

We think most homeowners, as Arkansas

homeowners have done, obtain termite control services soon after detecting termite attacks, so damage

repair expenditures should be kept to a minimum.

Each year a few houses are partially treated to correct

earlier improper remedial treatment, improper pretreatment, or disturbance of proper treatment by

landscaping or remodeling. Therefore, we believe a

mean remedial treatment cost that includes some allowance for damage repair and some allowance for

partial retreatment of previously treated houses accurately represents current remedial control practices.

Reported WPI Treatments and Their Incidence for

Six Southern States

For treatments reported during 1970, the percentage of houses treated varied from 1.1 percent in

Oklahoma to 3.8 percent in Georgia, and means of

treatments done during 1961-70 and during 1971-76

are much higher in some States than in others (table

4). Factors causing such trends include differences in

termite incidence and State population growth rates.

Numbers of treatments reported within a State fluctuate from year to year because of such factors as

whether the year was good or bad for termite swarming or whether high construction activity increased

numbers of pretreatments.

Although our data suggest more than 4 percent of

the houses may have been treated in Georgia during

some years since 1970, this percentage apparently is

about the upper limit of treatment performance for a

State like Georgia, which is heavily populated and in

the high-hazard region. With the possible exception

of Florida, more than 4 percent of the houses probably are not treated in any year in any of the 11 States.

Unfortunately, Florida does not require reports of

SPC treatments, so the exact level there cannot be

determined.

If treatment activity remained at 3 percent of the

houses every year for 20 years, 60 percent of all

houses should have been treated, but many less probably were. If we compare the increase in numbers of

houses from 1960 to 1970 with number of WPI

treatments in six States, we see that many houses built

during the 1960’s were not pretreated (table 5). Some

WPI treatments were retreatments; some were for

beetles; and because some houses were demolished

more houses were built than suggested by the increases. Assuming 1962 and 1967 are representative

for the decade, less than 35 percent of new houses

were pretreated in Arkansas and Georgia and less

Table 4.-_WPI rreatment~ reported in six States during 1970 and mean numbers reported during 1961-70 and I971- 76

Period Alabama Arkansas Georgia Louisiana Oklahoma Tennessee

1970

1961-70X

1971-76i

1970

1961-70 ;l

1971-76 x2

.___ ____________..______________.---_________._-_________ .._. Number . . . . _________._._________ . . ..___ ______ ..______ ____ ..________

35,815 16,250 55,291 27,000 10,297 38,232

29,490 13,758 44,218 23,080 14,637 33,876

42,612 24,071 69,718 31,151 17,711 43,079

____ __________ . . . . __________________________.___.Percentage of houses treated ._________ __ ..________ ._________._.________-- --

3.2 2.4 3.8 2.4 1.1 2.9

2.8 2.2 3.3 2.2 1.7 2.8

3.8 3.8 4.7 2.7 1.9 3.3

‘The percentages shown are based on the mean of the number of houses reported for the 1960 and 1970 census in each State.

‘These percentages, based on 1970 houses, are higher than the actual levels of treatments done because some treatments were

retreatments of previously treated houses and some were pretreatments of new houses built since 1970.

5
Table 5.- Comparison of the increase in houses from 1960-70, reported WPI treatments, and estimated

pretreatments in six States

Increase in

State houses from Reported Estimated

1960-70 treatments pretreatmentsl

Alabama 147,328 331,696 12,641

Arkansas 86,463 137,581 30,130

Georgia 296,712 442,181 102,586

Louisiana 167,680 230,779 50,540

Oklahoma 122,179 146,164 15,347

Tennessee 212,660 329,637 34,611

Total 1,033,082 1,618,038 305,855

‘Pretreatments in Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana are estimated as 21.9 percent from 1967 data in

Arkansas; number in Georgia as 23.2 percent from 1967 data in Georgia; and number in Oklahoma and

Tennessee as 10.5 percent from 1967 data in Tennessee.

than 17 percent in Tennessee.

Treatment numbers increased markedly from

1961-72 then decreased, probably because of the

recession in housing construction (fig. 2). The increase since 1974 suggests more pretreatments are

now being done.

Estimates of Southwide WPI Treatments

In table 6, termite treatments for 1970 and WPI

treatments for 1965-69 are the number reported in

six States and estimates for the remaining States. In

all States, however, the composition of termite treatments is estimated as the same as the mean 1967

composition for Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee

except that remedial treatments for termites treated

alone have been combined with those for termites and

beetles.

Most termite prevention or control treatments include a warranty or insurance for future damage,

provided an inspection contract is purchased annually. For example, over 2 million termite treatments

were done in the 11 States from 1965-69, and an

estimated 1.2 million were renewed annually (table

6). Most were remedial treatments with the annual

inspection charge often being a percentage of the

initial treatment cost.

32-

26 -

24 -

2 2

t

01 ’

I I I I I 1 1 I I I I I I 1 I

1960 1965 1970 1975

YEAR

Figure 2. - Trend in numbers of treatments annually reported to regulatory offices in Alabama, Arkansas,

Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Tennessee during 1961-76.

6
Table 6. - Estimated number of remedial or pretreatments for termites in 1970, WPI treatments for 1965-69, and estimated number of

contracts renewed annually in 11 southern states

State’ Houses in

1970

Termite

remedial

treatments

Termite

metreatments

WPI WPI contract

treatments guarantees

1965-69 renewed*

Alabama 1,114,845 26,389 9,426 167,476* 99,145

Arkansas 672,967 11,831 4,227 75,852* 44,904

Florida 2,490,838 50,101 17,899 316,835 187,567

Georgia 1,466,687 39,447 14,091 231,517* 137,058

Louisiana 1,146,105 19,894 7,106 122,380* 72,449

Mississippi 697,271 14,025 5,010 88,693 52,506

North Carolina 1,619,548 32,577 11,637 206,006 121,955

Oklahoma 937,815 7,587 2,710 74,804% 44,284

South Carolina 804,858 16,190 5,783 102,378 60,608

Tennessee 1,297,OOO 28,169 10,063 171,825* 101,720

Texas 3,809,086 76,618 27,370 484,516 286,833

Total 16,057,020 322,828 115,322 2,042,282 1,209,029

‘Sums of reported treatments in States asterisked were 2.73 percent for termite treatments in 1970 and 12.73 percent for total WPI

treatments of all houses in the six States from 1965-69. To estimate treatments in each of the five remaining States we applied these

percentages to number of houses in 1970 in each State.

*Twenty-six percent of the treatments were considered pretreatmentsand about 37 percent of these were renewed. Estimated 67 percent

of the remedial treatments were renewed. Percentages of renewal are estimates of regulatory officials.

Estimates of Treatment and Renewal Costs

The combined total cost of WPI treatments in 1970

for the 11 States is $143.1 million when inflated 100

percent to 1976 dollars (table 7). Figure 3a shows the

composition of WPI treatments when termites and

beetles could be treated with the same insecticides.

Now, however, termites and beetles must be

treated separately. Figure 3b shows the 1970 composition if each treatment of beetles and termites

together is considered as two separate treatments.

Remedial beetle control becomes 10.8 percent of all

treatments and 9.0 percent of total monetary loss

(fig.4). Termite pretreatments represent 13.5 percent

of all treatments, but because they are inexpensive,

they make up only 9.7 percent of the total monetary

loss. Contract renewal charges are 25.8 percent of the

total loss estimate for WPI and 28.4 percent of that

for termites.

We believe the $130.2 million loss estimate for

termites reasonably represents losses in single-family

dwellings. Our means for pretreatment and contract

renewal - $60 and $17 - compare favorably with

the 1970 National Pest Control Association (NPCA)

means- $63.79 and $18.76 (renewal of remedial) or

$18.07 (renewal of pretreatment), but our estimates

suggest that fewer contracts were renewed than

Table 7. - Estimated costs of wood-destroying insect treatments in 1970, ajier 100 percent inflation to I976 dollars

State

Termite

remedial

treatments

Termite

pretreatments

Beetle

remedial

treatments

Renewal

contracts

Total

for all

costs

Alabama

Arkansas

Florida

Georgia

Louisiana

Mississippi

North Carolina

Oklahoma

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Total

_____________________________________ t housan d s of do,,ars______-__--___-______________________

6,492 1,131 1,119 3,034 11,776

2,910 507 414 1,374 5,205

12,325 2,148 1,908 5,740 22,121

9,704 1,691 1,653 4,194 17,242

4,894 853 921 2,217 8,885

3,450 601 659 1,607 6,317

8,014 1,396 1,415 3,732 14,557

1,866 325 274 1,355 3,820

3,983 694 752 1,855 7,284

6,930 1,208 919 3,113 12,170

18,848 3,284 2,869 8,777 33,778

79,416 13,838 12,903 36,998 143,155

7
TERMITE CONTROL - 62 6 %

TREATMENTS

PREVENTIONTERMITE CONTROL - 65.7 %

TREATMENTS

PREVENTION -

BEETLE CONTROL2 .6 %

Figure 3. -Percent composition oftotal WPI treatments in 1970: (a) when the same insecticides were used for treating termites and beetles,

and (b) now when each must be treated separately.

NPCA estimated.* We can assume that more pretreatments are being done now than in the years our

samples were taken. And because our estimates are

based on 1967 composition, our 1970 estimates may

be slightly low. The trend toward more pretreatments

should reduce the number of costly remedial treatments needed.

Because of variations in construction characteristics, labor costs, and extent of repairs, remedial

treatment cost and damage repair expenses are portions of total losses most difficult to estimate accurately. Remedial control cost estimates for the 11

States are: $79.4 million with the $246 mean of 1967

remedial treatment costs from Arkansas and Tennessee inflated 100 percent; $91.7 million with the $284

mean of 280,510 treatments performed during 1977

throughout the nation;3 or $98.9 million with the

1967 mean remedial cost in Arkansas inflated 100

percent (table 3).

Because we lack data on the present composition of

treatments and performance of repairs, we think the

$79.4 million estimate is preferable because it was

derived with a mean that represents some damage

repair expense and includes some low-cost partial

treatments. Though arbitrarily inflated and derived

from data for only two southern States, the $246

mean does represent over 6000 sample treatments by

about 250 SPC firms, and it was selected after evaluTOTAL LOSS

1976 DOLLARS

RENEWAL - 25.6 %

Figure 4. - Type of WPI treatment and percent that each (including

contract renewal) contributed to total loss in 1970.

2National Pest Control Association correspondence, from: NPCA

Staff, To: Marketing Management Committee, Wood Destroying

Organisms Committee, Subject: Termite Survey Results, dated

January 22, 1970.

%orrespondence dated June 14, 1978, from Dr. Philip J. Spear,

Senior Director, Research National Pest Control Association, to

Lonnie H. Williams.

8
ation of repairs performed with over 2000 treatments.

For expenses of damage repair done by someone

other than the SPC industry, we derived an estimate

of $38.6 million by applying the repair performance

percentages in Arkansas (table 3) to the 322,828

remedial treatments in the 11 States during 1970.

Our estimate assumes 70 percent required no repairs,

10 percent required repairs costing $196 per treatment (adjusted for inflation), and the remainder presumably cost $500 each in repairs.

Our loss estimates (fig. 4) would be increased significantly by adding losses to multifamily dwellings,

commercial establishments, public buildings, buildings maintained by the military, and by some allowance for costs of preserving poles, pilings, and posts.

Many houses have been built since 1970 and more

treatments are now being done, but because a greater

proportion of treatments performed now probably

are low-cost pretreatments, the total loss has not

necessarily increased. Changes in construction also

may influence losses. From 1960-70 in the 11 States,

the number of houses built on concrete slabs or with

basements increased 14.8 percent and 2.1 percent

respectively. Remedial treatment costs will be high

for such construction because applying insecticides

beneath existing slabs or basements is difficult.

We have contributed toward documenting termite-caused losses in the region where hazard is

greatest, but documenting national loss estimates and

showing differences by hazard region require data on

treatment incidence, composition, and costs for

Hawaii, for some of the 14 States in Region 3 and for

some of the 23 remaining States in Region 2 (fig. 1).

In 1970, there were about 15.3 million single-family

dwellings in Region 3 and about 36 million in Region

2, but treatment totals by State were only available in

California and Kentucky (Smythe and Williams

1974), though Kansas has made survey estimates.“

For 1970 in the 11 States, the median value of

single-family dwellings ranged from $6.2 billion in

Arkansas to $46.5 billion in Texas and totaled over

$200 billion. Because the 1970 median value of

$17,000 had risen to $27,200 by 1974 and because

houses built since 1970 have an estimated median

value of $36,300 (Myrtle 1976), the total value now

exceeds $400 billion. Use of effective controls has

reduced estimated termite-caused losses to much less

than 0.1 percent of the total housing value. However,

41972 Activities of the Division of Entomology, Kansas State

Board of Agriculture, Topeka, Kansas, report.

our estimates suggest nearly 8.5 times more money is

being spent on remedial control and damage repair

than on prevention. Because a median valued house

can be protected through pretreatment for less than

0.5 percent of its value, we believe expanded research

application efforts would reduce losses further.

References Cited

Anonymous

1959. MPS take effect next month. Pest Control

27(2):9-10, 12, 14, 16-17.

Ebeling, .Walter

1968. Termites identification, biology, and control

of termites attacking buildings. The world-wide

problem. Calif. Agric. Exp. Stn. Ext. Serv. Man.

38, 74 p.

Gerberg, Eugene J.

1957. Lyctid powder post beetle second only to

termite in wood damage. Pest Control

25(5):37-38,40.

Hatfield, Ira

1950. Order Coleoptera. Anobiid beetles (furniture beetles, deathwatch beetles), various

species. Pages 217-218 in C. J. Weinman, ed.

Pest Control Technol., Entomol. Sect., Natl. Pest

Control Assoc.

Levy, Elliot

1977. Construction cost indexes, 1915-76. Constr.

Rev. 23(4):4-17.

Lund, Anders E.

1967. The laboratory and field study of subterranean termites. Int. Pest Control 9(4):29-33.

Mountain, George

1977. WDO inspections-too much government

apathy. Pest Control Technol. 5(4):20, 22.

Myrtle, James W.

1976. The annual housing survey. Constr. Rev.

22(7):4-9.

Smith, Virgil K., Raymond H. Beal, and Harmon R.

Johnston

1972. Twenty-seven years of termite control tests.

Pest Control 40(6):28, 42, 44.

Smythc, Richard V., and Lonnie H. Williams

1974. Structural pest control regulations. U.S.

Dep. Agric. For. Serv. Res. Pap. SO-93, 78 p.

South For. Exp. Stn., New Orleans, La.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

1974. Insects affecting man and his possessions.

Research needs in the southern region. Joint

Task Force Rep. of the South. Region Agric.

Exp. Stns. and U.S. Dep. Agric., 34 p.

9
Williams, Lonnie H., and Richard V. Smythe

1978. Wood-destroying beetle treatment incidence in Arkansas and Georgia during 1962 and

1967 with estimated losses by beetles for 11

southern States during 1970. U.S. Dep. Agric.,

For. Serv. Res. Pap. SO-143,8 p. South For. Exp.

Stn., New Orleans, La.

10
Williams, Lonnie H., and Richard Smythe.

1978. Estimated losses caused by wood products insects during

1970 for single-family dwellings in 11 southern States. U.S.

Dep. Agric. For. Serv. Res. Pap. SO-145, 10 p. South. For.

Exp. Stn., New Orleans, La.

Estimates based on data from State regulatory agencies suggest

owners of single-family dwellings in 11 southern States spent about

$143 million (1976 dollars) in 1970 to control subterranean termites and wood-destroying beetles. Losses incorporated into this

estimate include: $79.4 million for remedial termite treatments,

$13.8 million for pretreatment for termites, $12.9 million for remedial beetle treatments, and $37.0 million for contract renewals.