Termite Control in Gonzales, CA

Local Context

Gonzales Sits on Flat Ground That Holds Winter Water Right Against the Slab

Gonzales is flat. The city sits on the valley floor with the Gabilan Range to the east and the Santa Lucias across the river to the west, and there is very little fall to the ground under most of it. What rain the valley gets arrives between December and March, and on ground this flat it soaks in instead of running off. That keeps soil moisture high exactly where subterranean termites (Reticulitermes spp.) forage — against foundations, under slabs, and along irrigated planter beds. When the ground warms in late February and March, those colonies send out swarmers. That is the flight Gonzales homeowners actually see, not the late-summer drywood flight the coast gets.

Gonzales housing splits into two halves. The newer half sits on the edges of town, wood frame on a concrete slab with stucco outside, and it includes Mission Meadows and the Canyon Creek subdivision off Burgundy Way and Chablis Way, built out in the early 2000s. A slab does not stop subterranean termites. It changes where they come in. They travel up through shrinkage cracks, at plumbing and conduit penetrations, and behind the stucco at the weep screed, where nothing is visible until damage reaches a baseboard or a door jamb.

Downtown is a different building altogether. The older houses near Alta Street, Fourth Street, and Belden Street, in the blocks that grew up along the railroad, sit on raised floors, and their sill plates, joist ends, and original trim carry both subterranean and western drywood termites (Incisitermes minor). We work both halves of town, and our technicians and office handle Gonzales calls in English and Spanish.