Termite control in District 1 — old townhouses, villas, pre-1975 apartment blocks

On 1 July 2025 Ho Chi Minh City replaced its districts with wards, the local administrative units, and Resolution 1685/NQ-UBTVQH15 regrouped the ten wards of the former District 1 into four. Title deeds, leases and utility bills often still show an old ward name; give us the house number and street, or the building name, and we match it.

All four wards are served regularly, every day from 07:00 to 20:00; the survey time is confirmed with our technicians when you get in touch.

Sai Gon ward

The old Ben Nghe ward with parts of Da Kao and Nguyen Thai Binh: the Ba Son riverside towers and, between them, townhouse rows and pre-1975 apartment blocks round Dong Khoi and Hai Ba Trung.

Tan Dinh ward

The old Tan Dinh ward and the rest of Da Kao: family townhouses, old villas and long-established lanes round Tan Dinh market and Tran Quang Khai street.

Ben Thanh ward

The tourist quarter round Ben Thanh market and Bui Vien, formed from Ben Thanh, Pham Ngu Lao, part of Cau Ong Lanh and the rest of Nguyen Thai Binh. Its tube houses (narrow, deep townhouses) are mostly split by floor into mini hotels, restaurants and rooms to let.

Cau Ong Lanh ward

The residential south, formed from Nguyen Cu Trinh, Cau Kho, Co Giang and the rest of Cau Ong Lanh: deep lanes, houses built wall to wall and low-rise blocks near the Ben Nghe canal.

District 1 holds layer upon layer of old housing. Tuoi Tre (March 2025) reported that 89 of the city's 474 apartment blocks built before 1975 stand here, and the classification of old villas reported by Ashui in 2022 recorded about 90 in District 1, second only to District 3. Such buildings usually have beams, door frames, staircases and mezzanine floors of natural timber decades old.

Age alone does not bring termites; moisture and a way in do. The University of Florida's guide (UF/IFAS) describes the Asian subterranean termite, a species native to South-East Asia, foraging inside mud tubes built from soil and setting up secondary nests high in a building where moisture is steady. In a District 1 townhouse that moisture usually comes from a tiled roof, old guttering, a leaking pipe in the wall or a wall base soaked over many rainy seasons.

Houses here share walls, and old blocks have service shafts and common staircases running through every floor, so termites can follow cracks, mortar joints and pipes from one home into the next. Signs worth photographing:

• Door frames and louvred timber shutters at ground level and on balconies: a crumbling foot, blistered paint, wood that gives when pressed.
• Timber stairs and mezzanine floors: a hollow sound when tapped, crumbs of soil on the step below.
• Timber ceilings and old ceiling panels: a spreading stain, with root-shaped trails of soil on the wall.
• Built-in cupboards, bookshelves and filing cabinets in serviced apartments and offices: paper and book covers eaten from behind.
• Winged termites round the porch light on evenings after the season's first rains; shed wings on the window sill.

Guide: termites in Saigon houses

Where to look, what flying termites indoors mean, and what to do once you find signs.

After the survey our technicians propose the method: localised treatment, bait, treatment of the ground slab, or a combination. Your Up specialist prepares, protects and cleans up according to the property:

Old villas and houses of architectural value

Many old villas must keep their original architecture. Drilling, lifting boards or removing mouldings is set out in the plan and done only with your written consent; each timber detail is photographed first.

Family townhouses in the lanes of Tan Dinh and Da Kao

Checked from the ground-floor wall base and under the stairs up to the roof and roof terrace. Timber treads are covered, the mezzanine tidied, and wood dust and fallen soil collected after each area.

Apartments in old blocks

Traces in a shared wall or service shaft mean telling the neighbours and the block's management team first, so that the inspection can go beyond your own unit where needed.

Shophouses

Cafes, shops and mini hotels can be surveyed and treated outside customer hours, within 07:00 to 20:00. Stock, counters and paperwork are covered or moved aside.

Premium riverside apartments

In newer buildings termites tend to turn up in kitchen cabinets, timber door frames or engineered timber flooring. The technicians trace the way in; your Up specialist covers the furniture and keeps the corridor clean as building management requires.

We publish no standard price: a door frame where termites have just started and an old villa with termites in its mezzanine floor and roof beams are different amounts of work. The survey is free. The all-inclusive quote then sets out in writing the method, the areas treated, the re-entry time (how long a treated area has to be left alone), the return inspections and the warranty conditions; nothing is added unless you agree in writing. It depends on:

• The type and age of the building: new apartment, old family townhouse, villa rich in timber detail.
• The extent: one contained spot, or several floors and a shared wall.
• The method chosen and how often the technicians return to monitor.
• How much must be dismantled or drilled for access, above all where the architecture has to stay intact.
• The covering, moving and cleaning your Up specialist does.
• The warranty period, which differs by method and is written into the quote.

Apartment towers in the centre control access quite strictly: many require contractors to be registered, materials declared and work kept to set hours. On a main street the question is where to stop, since some streets have restricted hours; tell us where parking is convenient and the team will walk the equipment in if necessary. Please also:

• Tell us the floor and any working hours building management sets.
• Tell the neighbours if the treated area is against a shared wall or a common staircase.
• Put food, cups, glasses and babies' bottles into sealed boxes or another room.
• Arrange somewhere for grandparents, children and pets to rest for the re-entry time our technicians have written down.
• Afterwards, do not wash treated spots or move a monitoring station until you are told you may.

Return inspections are dated in the quote and we remind you before each. The rest is everyday care of an old house:

• Clear gutters and roof downpipes before the rainy season; have a leak above a timber ceiling repaired early, and in-wall pipes checked when a damp patch does not go away.
• Stand cupboards and bookcases a few centimetres clear of the wall; keep cardboard boxes and offcuts out from under the stairs.
• As each rainy season begins, shine a torch round door-frame feet, the backs of built-in cupboards and the foot of the staircase.
• Have second-hand timber furniture and antiques checked before they come indoors.
• If the house next door has termites, message us; an early survey is usually far simpler than one after timber has gone hollow.
• To book, send photos of the crumbling frame, soil trails or shed wings to 0968 726 135 on WhatsApp or Zalo, with the street and house number or building name.
• On the day our technicians follow the plan you approved; your Up specialist, identity-verified and trained to the Up Standard, follows room by room, cleans and puts furniture, pictures and altar pieces back as photographed.
• Your Up Report then shows the points treated on a floor plan, each monitoring station, comparison photos and the next inspection date.
• Changing or cancelling is free with at least 24 hours' notice; within 24 hours a 30% fee applies. If we arrive more than 15 minutes late, that visit's invoice is reduced by 10%.

Language

Enquiries, the quote, the booking confirmation and the Up Report can all be in English. For an English-speaking specialist in your home, note it when you book; where we cannot arrange one we tell you beforehand and help by phone or message.

Registering the visit

Many apartment buildings want residents to register outside staff with building management in advance. We send your Up specialist's name and photo, with our technicians' details and equipment list, for you to hand in.

When you are away

Nobody has to be at home. Leave a key with building management, reception or family: only the assigned specialist handles it, the times are logged and it is never copied. With a smart lock, use a temporary code. The walk-through can be by video call.

Paying

After the walk-through, by bank transfer or in cash. For a larger job the quote may set a deposit. On request we issue an invoice under Vietnamese regulations, to an individual or a company.