Termites are known to cause more than $5 billion in property damage in the U.S. each year. If these insects find their way into your home, they begin a new colony and grow into a full-blown termite infestation over time.
If left unchecked, these silent destroyers can chew through the structural stability of your home, eating away the wood, flooring, and even wallpaper. Thus, checking for signs of termites around your home is very important.
How to Identify Termite Infestation in Your Home
If you notice the wood in your house is caving, cracked, hollow, or sagging, you might have a termite infestation problem.
Another sign of termite presence is discarded termite wings found near doors, closed windows, and other access points. Termites with wings swarm out of their nest to mate and to find a place to start a new colony. However, when they land, they intentionally shed their wings because they will never need them again.
Other signs of termite infestation include termite mounds, red clay or mud trails, and mud tubes on exterior walls.
Take Help of a Professional
Carrying out frequent inspections in your house to check for the presence of termites can save you from a lot of trouble. Regular termite inspections done by a licensed professional will ensure that termite infestation is detected early on, thus preventing extensive damage to property and costly repairs.
There are many benefits of hiring professionals. Firstly, they can identify the type of termite and create a treatment plan accordingly. Secondly, they are trained to discover the source and destroy the colony completely to prevent reoccurrence.
How to Prevent Termites From Spreading
Although getting rid of termite colonies requires professional help, there are a few precautions you can take to prevent the termites from spreading in your home. So, here is what you can do:
1. Prevent moisture and repair water leaks
Moisture is one of the main reasons why termites enter the home and cause damage. So, whenever you notice water leaking from taps, showerheads, toilets, water pipes, or AC units, fix it as soon as possible to avoid attracting and spreading termites.
2. Store firewood away from your house
It is easy for termites to survive in the firewood. The firewood stored against the outside walls of your home can give easy access to termites to enter your house. If this happens, you will see the mud tracks going up the wall into the house. To prevent termite infestation, store firewood at least twenty feet away from your house.
3. Keep weep holes clear
When weep holes are partially or completely covered by vegetation, mulch, or garden beds along the edge of the wall of a property, it becomes incredibly easy for the termites to travel through vegetation or soil into the weep hole and then into your house.
So, don’t cover the weep holes, and there should be at least 75 mm clearance between ground level and the bottom edge of each weep hole.
4. Regular inspection of wood materials and mud tubes
Termites are silent destroyers. You’ll notice the presence of termites only after you discover some form of destruction. So, carry out regular inspection of your wood materials, furniture, and mud tubes to rule out termite infestation.
5. Manage your wastewater
Stored or blocked wastewater allows entry of termites into your home. So, ensure that you redirect your wastewater from your home to downspouts, working gutters, and splash blocks.
6. Keep an adequate gap between wood portions and the soil
Maintain an eighteen-inch gap between the soil and wood portions of your home. This will help reduce the chances of termites entering your house.
Termites do billions of dollars in damage to homes every single year — yours could easily be the next one. The above tips can help prevent termite infestation and avoid costly damage to your house. Also, talk to a local pest control professional for a termite inspection. They are the best way to ensure you don’t have any termite issues in your home or anywhere near your home. Thanks to termitemd.com for consulting.
Author Bio:
Raymond Web has taken the task to educate people on pest prevention and control strategies, helping them keep their surroundings healthy, safe, and pest-free. Being the digital marketing manager for Take Care Termite and Pest Control, a top-rated pest control service in Tracy, CA, he has an in-depth understanding of people and their pain points due to pests, which he uses in his content to educate.
