How Do I Know If I Have Termites?

Termites can occupy and destroy just about any home and unless you do a visual inspection, you may not even know you have termites until the damage is beyond repair. Termites can live in any climate, even in the coldest parts of the United States so no area is 100% safe from their reign of wood eating terror.

A home termite inspection looking for trace signs of these wood eating insects usually consist of a visual inspection that goes form the crawl space to the attic and everywhere in between. It generally only takes thirty to forty minutes to do a home inspection depending on the size of the home and the depth of the inspection. These little buggers may not be obvious but the tall-tell signs of their visits usually are.

If the infestation becomes big enough you may see one or two termites but generally the only visual indicators you will see may be discarded wings or droppings that look like sawdust. Other visual signs include bubbled looking paint or wood that sounds hollow when tapped.

Since termites work 24/7 they can do significant damage to your home long before you see any indicators of their presence so it’s a good idea to have older homes inspected annually and new homes to unless you know the home has been pretreated against termites.

Newer homes usually guard against termites in several ways that continue to evolve with new technology. The latest method is to have a pest control technical spray termiticide over the homes foundation before the concrete is poured. Other methods to avoid an infestation in the first place include making sure your drain pipes are draining away from your home adequately and don’t put wood post directly in the dirt where ground infestations can begin. If you are going to build a deck or other railings attached to the home, put your wood post in concrete to block any opportunity for termites to find you in the first place.

If however your home has already become a gathering place for termites and your termite inspector has found an active infestation, you will need to take steps to stop the damage and get rid of the little buggers.

To stop termites you have to kill the ones that are already there and stop new ones from coming. In order to do this, termitcide is injected into the ground around the home and drilled into masonry around the home to create a barrier between your home’s wooden structure and the termites that live underground.

Another method is to use bait traps filled with growth inhibitors. The worker ants will bring the growth inhibitor back to their colony for food and the result will be the ants will no longer be able to molt and grow and eventually they will die out. The best way to handle any suspect termite problem is to have a professional termite inspection and take evasive action as soon as possible.