Termites may be little creatures, but these little pests can do a lot of damage to one’s property. Each colony can have as much as 200,000 termites. The bigger the colony becomes, the more the damages they can inflict to your home. If you think that your home is infested with termites, then you need to get rid of them immediately.
The Damages That Termites Do to Your Property
The most damage that termites can do is to your home. These insects not only eat through the wood of your home, but they can also eat through the insulation. In time and as more damage is done to the wood, the structures weaken, making it more susceptible to collapse. If it does collapse, then you and your loved ones are at risk of being hurt and injured in the accident.
Aside from eating through wood and insulation though, termites are also known to eat through paper products. Let us say for example that you’re keeping all your important legal documents in a box and termites unfortunately got to them, then you can expect that some, if not all, of your legal papers have been ruined by these pests.
If you ignore your termite problem and you don’t make any steps towards getting rid of them, then your financial loss gets bigger. After all, the termites are eating through your asset, which is your home. Aside from the financial loss, you will also have to spend more money in having your home repaired. Not only will you have to replace the damaged wood, but you will also have to replace the damaged insulation. Repairing a home is much more expensive than simply hiring a pest control company to get rid of the termite infestation.
The Invisible Problem
The problem with termite damage is that it is, more often than not, hidden from view. You will only know the extent of the damage when its effects can already be felt like leaking walls and roof due to damaged wood, soft walls due to weak wood, etc. Because they do their damage silently and invisibly, you’ll only find out too late that the damage has already becomes so significant that it’ll warrant a huge amount of cash to have the structures repaired and replaced.
Ways to Prevent Termite Infestation
From the ground, termites will be searching for food. If your home has wooden structures that are in contact with the ground like latticework, they’ll then gain entrance into your home by eating through wood. It is through ground-to-wood contact that they’ll insinuate themselves inside the walls of your home. For this reason, you need to make sure that all wooden structures in your home are at least half a foot higher than the ground.
Aside from this, you also need to see to it that there is no moisture collecting near your home’s foundation. You should also see to it that the humidity in crawl spaces is not that humid. Termites are attracted to moisture, and if you provide these conditions to them, then they’re going to “zero in” on your property. For this reason, see to it that your home has good drainage as well as vents and vapor barriers.
If all else fails, then a call to your pest control company will help a lot.
Citations:
- creativecommons.org
Jennifer Daleo specializes in pest control articles and is mostly writing about organic and natural ways of preventing pest infestation. She regularly contributes articles to the blog of an exterminator Nashville.