How to Protect Your Home From Termites & 4 Signs You Need To Know
Protecting and ridding your home of termites is serious business. It’s not something we often think about until it’s too late. Last year, I witnessed exactly what a termite infestation can do to your home if you don’t protect your home from termites and know the signs to look for in advance.
Protect Your Home From Termites
A good friend had a serious infestation and it ended up costing her thousands of dollars in removal and prevention fees. Now, she knows exactly what to do to protect her home from termites. Unfortunately, she learned that lesson late but at least she armed herself with the knowledge now. Don’t end up like her. We check our home for termite infestation every year. You should too!
If you have problems with mosquitoes be sure to read this article too! They can cause problems all year around both indoors and outdoors!
The main thing that you need to remember about these buggers is that they can cause a whole lot of damage if they are not dealt with. This is why you always need to be on the lookout for potential termite problems. These pests chew away at the interior of wooden structures, so unless you are very alert, they can go undetected until serious damage has been done.
It often makes sense to use a pest control service to carry out regular inspections of your property. They have the knowledge and experience to put to use in identifying if there is a termite problem in your home. There are also certain signs of a termite infestation that you can look out for.
If you are a new homeowner, it might come as a shock to discover preventing these little buggers is a serious issue! Add this to the list of must-do things!
Signs that you may have a problem with termites
If you are not vigilant, the first sign of termites in your property might be when wooden structures start to sag. This happens when termites have already chewed away the interior of the structure. Obviously, you do not want the situation to get to this point. This is why it pays to be aware of some signs that you can spot earlier.
- Termites use earth tubes to travel along and store food in. These are thin tubes that have a clay-like appearance and may be visible on and around your property when termites are about.
- The droppings of termites may appear like pepper that has been spilled around your property.
- A tapping sound may be the soldier termites using their heads to send a signal to the other.
Recognizing that you have termites in or around your home is the first step to getting rid of them. Once you know they are there, get some help from a pest control service.
Pest control to deal with termites
If there are termites on your property, the best way to get rid of them is to have them exterminated by professionals. They will call out to your home and carry out a full inspection. They will then discuss an extermination plan with you and tell you how many visits will be needed in order to deal with the problem effectively. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and you will be informed about any preparations you need to make.
The professionals will also recommend how often your home should be inspected in future. In areas where there is a high incidence of infestations, this may be as often as every six months.
This may seem like a lot of inspections but sticking to a regular inspection routine is one of the best ways of reducing the chance of termites invading your property and causing a significant amount of damage.
It’s better to follow the advice provided by the experts than to risk not having your home inspected and end up with a termite problem that is difficult, and expensive, to deal with.
How to Identify A Termite Infestation?
1 – Look for dead termites, wings, and droppings – Obviously, these are tell-tail signs of a possible infestation. Basically, they will leave mud tunnels that are clearly visible on surfaces in your home. You can spot the difference between a flying ant or termite by looking at its antennae. If they are bent this is a sign you have flying ants. If they are straight it’s most likely termites.
2 – Examining the wood in your home – There are termites that build their homes in dry wood – while subterranean termites live in the ground. Always look for a sawdust-like material around any holes or cracks in and around your home. This sawdust-like material is known as frass, which is a form of their excrement. Be sure to probe the small holes with a pin to see if you can locate an exit hole for them.
3 – Cracked or bubbled paint – The tunnels that run close to the paint on the surface of a wall can leave cracks or bubbles. This is generally a sign that termites have created colonies in and around the walls in your home.
Be sure to check places like doors, window frames, and trim and check places in your home that contain wood.
4 – Foundation and crawl spaces – Termites love to make a home beneath yours. Be sure to check the inside and outside of your foundation, crawl space and check your support beams for termites and any sign of damage too.
It’s a good idea to knock on non-hollow walls as well to see if they’ve been hollowed out by them too. Doing this simple check will help you protect your home from termites.
Bottom line, always protect your home from termites using these tips. If you find these critters or signs of them, be sure to contact a pest control company. There are some issues you just can’t fix yourself and this is one of them.
Be sure and read First Time Homeowner’s Guide To Basement Redesign too!
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