New York City Termite Pest Control, Exterminator, Inspection and Fumigation

HOME depot is a great place to shop for people who are looking to stock up on DIY products for their latest projects.

But some pros warn that some of the chains stock is not suitable for home improvement.

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Best Life Online claims that certain products from Home Depot should be totally avoided.

Among them are throw pillows, curtains and rugs, which experts say are cheap and overpriced.

Maria, the founder of Chic Pursuit, claims customers should stay clear of this store when it comes to home improvement.

"The one thing to avoid at Home Depot is their decor section as the selection is weak and the products are overpriced," she told the outlet.

"Plus, it's a load of mass-produced products that you can find at cheaper prices at Target, Ikea, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, or Home Goods."

She added: "For your best decor options, look for retailers that specialize in home decor for better prices or source from local makers for unique statement pieces.

Plants and flowers are also a great way to spruce up your home with a bit of color.

But experts say that Home Depot should not be your number one destination when it comes to making your personal space feel fresh.

Instead, you should opt for a specific plant-centered retailer.

Andrew Griffith, a household expert and owner of Garden Furniture, said this is because plants from the bargain store tend to die off quickly.

The only time you should use the retailer for floral-based decorations is within the first couple of days of the floral department's opening time, usually around spring.

"Many of the plants they receive come in bulk and some of them are not even meant for our American climate. They are also often treated the same which leads to overwatering, and root rot, and are more exposed to pests," he said.

"It is best to buy your plants from actual plant shops as there are experts [there] who can help you make the right choice for your lifestyle."

Experts say you could be compromising on a healthy selection of cleaning products by shopping at Home Depot.

And thats not the only reason you should avoid cleaning materials sold at the retail store.

Kyle Richards, a residential and commercial contractor, said: "In general, you will find better deals on these products in big-box retailers like Walmart and Target. It's even better to buy them from local grocery stores."

And all these stores have something that Home Depot doesn'ta better selection, especially when it comes to environment-friendly cleaners.

The ones available at Home Depot tend to be the toxic chemical-laden products of 20 years ago."

Countertops are a huge part of home decor and retailers are all too aware.

Consequentially, many experts say that kitchen products can be overpriced and Home Depot is no exception.

Aviad Faruz, a retail expert and CEO of e-commerce company Faruzo, said: "The biggest reason behind avoiding this one item is that it's insanely overpriced at Home Depot. Home Depot doesn't have as many competitors when it comes to warehouse stores dealing in home improvement.

As such, they can price their products higher than the market.

"You can find countertops for much cheaper at a stone yard or a fabricator," he added.

Similarly, hardwood flooring can also be a money-pit, given its popularity with amateur designers.

And experts warn that if you're in the market for this product, don't buy it from Home Depot.

David Floyd, a home services expert and owner of The Pest Informer, says that many exotic kinds of wood are prone to termites.

He said: The last thing you want to do is spend thousands of dollars on new flooring only to find out that it's been compromised by termite damage or even has a current termite infestation.

"Now often times this won't be an issue, but large box stores such as Home Depot aren't going to be as diligent as a hardwood specific retailer in checking for termite activity.

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Were home experts five things you should never buy at Home Depot, you probably already have one in your... - The US Sun

Biosecurity New Zealand has successfully trialled a new method of treating invasive termites on an imported yacht.

Non-native termites and other wood-boring insects are occasionally found on recreational vessels on arrival from overseas.

Until now, they have been treated by gassing the vessel with a fumigant such as methyl bromide to kill the insects.

Biosecurity New Zealands director of readiness and response, John Walsh, says the recent successful use of heat treatment is a significant achievement and represents a milestone in the use of non-fumigant solutions to treat pests.

"Being able to treat a vessel at berth is quick and convenient. It also supportsour drive to use environmentally sustainable treatment options and reduce theuse of chemicals and fumigants where possible."

Recreational vessels coming into New Zealand need a full biosecurity clearance to ensure pests dont become established here and potentially damage our environment, health, or economy.

The yacht in this trial was found to have an infestation of the West Indian drywood termite,Cryptotermes brevis, which meant treatment was required to prevent this invasive pest from escaping and establishing here.

Internationally, Cryptotermes brevisis regarded as one of the most damaging drywood termites. It feeds on dry wood and poses a significant threat to untreated timber framed homes and items made of timber.

Mr Walsh says the new treatment involves circulating air throughout the sealed vessel at a constant temperature of 55C for a minimum of 5 hours with close monitoring.

"Subsequent testing confirmed the treatment killed all termites present. Post treatment sample analysis by Biosecurity New Zealands Plant Health and Environment Laboratory has confirmed the effectiveness of the treatment.

"Our team is now monitoring the yacht, but we are confident this is a step in the right direction for New Zealands biosecurity, supporting our environment and biodiversity efforts," Mr Walsh says.

"We will be exploring other uses for this method across our biosecurity system."

More information about yacht hitchhikers Fact sheet [PDF, 849 KB]

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Before the third season's title card appears, "The Boys" thrusts to the center of what its conflict between men and bermensch is really all about, via an allegory about size and strength starring a villain known as Termite. Most of the series' supers parody famous heroes from the Marvel and DC Universes, and Termite, as the moniker suggests, is the show's perverse answer to Ant-Man, minus the goodness and charm.

What Termite lacks in those virtues he compensates for by overcompensating, as it were. In this case, he makes himself small enough to sprint between rails of coke as tall as he is before leaping inside of his lover's urethra and gently walking toward the prostate as he strokes its walls.

Cocaine is a helluva drug, and Termite, who had a bump before shrinking, can't stop himself from sneezing which instantly reverts him to full size, exploding his ecstatic lover in half. Even by this show's standards, this was an extreme gross-out, one doubling as a red carpet leading into a season thumping with parallels to real world threats shadowed by distressing social and political shifts.

There's no evidence that its showrunner Eric Kripke intentionally pumped up the phallus references in the first few episodes for any other reason than to have fun with streaming's liberal policy concerning full-frontal nudity. (We reached out to Amazon in the hope of interviewing him for this story; unsurprisingly, we did not hear back.)

Still, in a show that counts among its second season highlights having one of its heroes do battle with an expanding super-schlong whipped around by a character called Love Sausage, this season seems to plug into its BDE with renewed vigor as the country faces an unforeseen masculinity crisis . . . in the form of its top hero Homelander (Antony Starr) coming unhinged.

RELATED: In the new season of "The Boys," everyone's selling out, and society gets stuck with the check

By nature of what its title suggests, "The Boys" doesn't need to show its fleshy bits to thump the table with its points about fascism and toxic misogyny. Homelander was ready to go full Nazi in the second season before his fascist lover was exposed and blown apart. Now he's lonely, horny, and insecure which, combined with ultimate power and thin skin, is a deadly cocktail. Whether in full costume or completely nude, he's an unapologetic you-know-what.

"The Boys" doesn't need to show its fleshy bits to thump the table with its points about fascism and toxic misogyny.

Only one thing stands between his misdirected rage and a populace unable to defend itself against his power, and that is the public's adulation. Worship is Homelander's personal male enhancement drug, as it turns out. Being informed by his assistant Ashley (Colby Minnie) that his admiration among white males in the rust belt has gone up by 44% gives him a massive hard-on she can't ignore, especially since he's naked when she delivers the news.

When she becomes so flustered at his boner to continue delivering her status report, he yells at her, "That's got nothing to do with you. Just keep going!"

The bleak undertow here is that Ashley is both a masochist and a sadist, taking her boss's abuses and passing them down the line to ensure nothing ever gets better. Her utter loyalty to Homelander is rewarded by him asking her, with a look that truly threatens to kill her, if "her idiot brain is getting f**ked by stupid," only to have her repeat the same line to an underling later. The cocky message here is that you're either stabbing or being stabbed; lose control of the joystick and, as Termite's unlucky lover found out, it's game over.

Within "The Boys," though, penile representations are always employed transgressively for laughs, shock, or horror.

Scenes like the fourth episode's hand-to-dildo battle check all three boxes, which kicks off with Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) assassinating a Russian oligarch by penetrating his skull with a device called the Black Noir Silent Screamer.

One cannot fully appreciate the irony of that joke without seeing it. Then again, doing that also requires a strong stomach.

Kimiko beating a roomful of armed Russian gangsters to death with assorted vibrators and sex toys is hilarious and awesome, let's be real but it's also a low-key tragedy. She hates her enhanced strength and invulnerability and despises being viewed as a weapon instead of a person. "I'm not your f**king gun," she texts at Butcher.

"That is exactly what you are," he fires back, reminding her and everyone else on his crew who has the biggest bat of the bunch.

Karl Urban as Billy Butcher in "The Boys." (Courtesy of Prime Video / Amazon Studios)

"The Boys" is but one of many shows waxing phallocentric over the past couple of years, and in terms of pole count, plenty of other series are a few lengths ahead of it "Westworld," and "Minx," to name two among HBO's warehouse of options. And for all of its risqu scenes of superhero sexual excess, "The Boys" would have to make a concerted effort to catch up with "Euphoria," which slapped viewers across the eyes with a 30-sausage parade in its second episode. Premium cable has long reigned as the main stage for most scripted drama poker tournaments, purely as a matter of show.

Quite recently, though, man's true best friend has become a featured player in some narratives. There will always be shows that treat views of flaccid peen as a joke, as was the case with Mike Myers' "The Pentaverate" and an opening episode sketch from Amazon's revival of "The Kids in the Hall." But in "Pam & Tommy" Sebastian Stan's Tommy Lee Jr. a prosthetic, to be clear plowed new ground by engaging his owner in a serious vein-to-brain conversation about love and fidelity.

Of course, one can easily view this scene and anything else in "The Boys" as a simple off-color joke way off. The implication of full frontal male nudity is malleable that way on television, even when it's merely implied, as is the case with Homelander's fully raised mast. It can symbolize a broadly apparent wrong or add soft levity to a grim situation.

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In some extensions, though, it is a compass whose true North is authoritarianism. Homelander has personality traits in common with an offstage public persona haunting our own lives. That's certainly no accident, which makes it a scary thought to see him physically and emotionally naked, and tumescent with the realization that he can get away with anything and people will love him anyway.

The implication of full frontal male nudity is malleable on television.

This week of all weeks sharpens the dangerous absurdity of that subplot, what with American TV viewers divided between witnessing the House Congressional Committee hearings on the insurrection that took place on January 6th, 2021, and those choosing to believe the lies claiming its extensively researched findings to be propaganda.

"The Boys" presents a world where propaganda is as inescapable as rulership by force and physical power and between the omnipresent Vought, the government, and Earth's strongest and least controllable, it's a never-ending measuring contest.

The polite way to sum up our situation is that the patriarchy is shoving injustice down our throats. "The Boys" way of describing it is that dicks are everywhere and ready to club anyone into submission who doesn't bow before them. The only defense is to harden up and hit back.

New episodes of "The Boys" debut Fridays on Prime Video.

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How "The Boys" measures up with regard to TV's full frontal assault - Salon