Why "Trying to help!" Voids Your Warranty
If you receive pest control or have ever in the past you may have noticed in the fine print "Any at home treatments will void warranty." This however usually isn't fully explained. Remember: effective pest management requires open communication and effort from both the technician and the home owner. Whether this help includes vacuuming, limiting moisture, or keep an area clean of food these are just as important as any chemical treatment that may or may not be needed!
Even though sometimes it may appear as if the technician shows up, sprays a bug killer, and leaves there's actually a lot more that goes into it. In our storage closet we have over 30 active chemicals. Each one with their own rules and regulations. We have regulations down to the droplet size of how we spray. Some can be mixed and used in conjunction with each other, while others can't be applied at the same time. In fact... some actually work against eachother!
So when the technician assesses your situation and formulates a plan it usually involves using either a repellant or a non repellant insecticide and a bait. They make this decision based on the species of insect, its behavior, and the most effective way to eliminate the infestation.
Most of the other-the-counter products are watered down versions of basic repellant insecticides. They are affective on insects with direct contact but generally just push issues into other areas of the home. Many times driving insects to "bud" new colonies or act uncharacteristically. So if a technician tries to bait where you spray a repellant the chances of us having to return is almost guaranteed.
This gets even more important with ants and termites that actively avoid certain chemicals. At all times nature is working against us and she has proven to be very clever. So much so that there's an 18 billion dollar industry dedicated to developing target specific chemicals that work on specific insects and do not harm others or plants. We spend countless time in education to understand these chemicals for safe and effective applications. And even more time studying entomology so we know when NOT to use these chemicals and just do some environmental changes or exclusion.
That doesn't mean you can't help! Vacuuming, keeping track of any activity, being hyper vigilant in keeping the area clean, limiting water and moisture, and ASK QUESTIONS! You're technician will be happy to explain the process and what they need from you! But please!! Using RAID never helps!!