Doesn’t nature have a frustrating way of striking when you don’t have time to deal with it? You already have a million things to do, you don’t have time to deal with a termite infestation, but is letting them hang around your property dangerous?
Costly Destruction
Termites are small, wood-eating pests that love to live in damp soil. They’ll crawl around in the soil until they find a sustainable food source. Moist or rotting wood is their absolute favorite. While they may be working on eating the homes out from under us year-round, they typically are most visible in the summer months (when they’re recolonizing).
The termites that will invade your Dallas property can be separated into different classes. Each termite colony has a queen, worker termites who bring wood back to the queen, soldiers, and swarmers. The swarmers are winged termites that are charged with the task of breeding and creating new colonies (most typically on a warm day after a few days of rain).
Since termites can go undetected for months, tunneling within your walls, it begs the question: “Is it bad to live in a house with termites?” Well, no and yes. While these pests have never been linked to disease transmission like roaches or rodents, they can trigger allergies in adults and children.
What you really should be worried about, though, is the damage that termites can do to your home. All across America, they cost homeowners thousands of dollars on average, totaling an average of $5 billion each year in damage and prevention costs. So, if termites are eating your house right now, wouldn’t you want to know about it?
Spotting The Signs Early
When termites invade your home, they don’t cause damage overnight. Most infestations that are dealt with within a year result in less than a thousand dollars’ worth of damage. So how can you tell if termites are inhabiting your home? Homeowners who spot the following signs early may have a chance to stop an infestation from spreading before it’s too late.
- Mud tubes on your foundation in dark, hidden areas
- Swarmer termites buzzing around
- Tightening of doors and windows
- Frass (termite droppings/wood pellets) piled up along baseboards
- Soft clicking noises in the walls
Now, once you do notice these signs, you’ll want to enlist professional pest services as soon as possible. The Internet will tell you that you can create home remedies to repel an existing termite infestation, but that is a risky roll of the dice (especially with thousands of dollars on the line).
While there isn’t anything you can do on your own to totally get rid of termites, there are a few ways you can prevent them from invading your home in the first place.
It all starts with moisture management. Since termites are very attracted to rotting wood or wood damaged from moisture buildup, the best thing you can do to limit termite attraction to your house is avoid this moisture buildup. Using a dehumidifier in basements and crawlspaces is a good place to start, along with monitoring your pipes for even the slightest leaks. You’ll also want to utilize a gutter and downspout system that can keep rain runoff from building up near the foundation of the house.
Other activities such as storing firewood off the ground and away from your home can help, along with creating a buffer to limit soil-to-wood contact in your yard. However, when there are thousands of dollars at stake, the only guaranteed prevention method is available through professional pest technicians. For the best termite prevention and eradication methods that you can truly count on, call Greenforest Termite & Pest Control for reliable home pest control and commercial pest control solutions in Dallas.