termites

Have a professional look at the site. He will probably suggest treating the soil. No matter what, this is the cheapest way to go. Poured foundation walls are way better than blocks. Poured walls don"t have gaps for them to move through and they are less likely to crack. Clean up all the wood scraps while building. No sense giving them an incentive to hang around. Do not use wood mulch for landscape cover. Local pest control guy calls that termite bait. Do your best to keep the drainage away from the house. They need water and wood to live and wet areas are havens for them.

Best of luck

Had a home that had minor termite damage and post beetles. Caught it early, and got an annual aggreement with the Orkin guy. One thing they did was to put some sort of traps every 10 or 15 feet around the foundation that they'd check quarterly, and knock on wood, never found anymore. I didn't care much for them traps, figured they'd attract the termites, which they were supposed to do, but away from the house. I didn't want them attracted anywhere near the property, but hey, I aint a bug guy, what do I know.

By the way, heard the other day are seriously trying to bring back DDT. Not for farm or commercial use, but light duty to kill mosquitos that are spreading Malaria and other diseases that are on the rise big time because just about every effective pesticide has been removed from every market. The PETA types are going balistic over it. True.

Mark