Termites have the potential to seriously harm your house if they are not treated. Unnoticed, these wood-boring pests slowly eat away at the foundation and interior of your house. Since termite damage is typically not covered by homeowner insurance plans, your best bet when it comes to termites is ongoing prevention.

Termites fall into three main categories that can harm your home: dampwood, drywood, and subterranean termites.

(An illustration of a termite subterranean )

Treatment for Subterranean Termites

Subterranean termites, so named because of their inclination to build their nests underground, typically enter homes through areas where wood comes into contact with the ground. They can do this by squeezing through tiny cracks, no bigger than a business card, or by using the mud tubes they make to travel from their underground colonies to infest wood within your home.

Subterranean Treatment options:

• Monitoring and bait stations
• Termiticide application

(Illustration of Drywood Termite)

Drywood Termites Treatment

For their survival, drywood termites do not require a connection to the earth. They will start a colony wherever they can find a preferred supply of wood, and they have been known to travel up to a mile in search of a place to call home. Drywood termites, which typically infest structural wood in attics, require less moisture to survive than either subterranean or dampwood termites. Dead or dying trees and shrubs, utility poles, fences, and furniture are among the other things they might infest.

Drywood Treatment options:

• Gas fumigation
• Targeted termiticide application

(Illustration of Dampwood Termite)

Dampwood Termites Treatment

Dampwood termite soldiers are much bigger than their underground counterparts, and they have very large pincers on their heads to fend off predators. As their name implies, they like to establish colonies in moist wood that is in contact with the ground, such as logs and stumps, and in damp, decaying wood that has a high moisture content. In most cases, dampwood termites do not build mud tubes or nests in the ground. If their wood source is sound, these termites eat the wood along its grain; if it is decaying, they eat the wood across its grain. Generally speaking, subterranean and drywood termites cause more damage than dampwood termites.

Dampwood Treatment options:

• Moisture Removal
• Termiticide application

Monitoring and Bait Stations

In order to assess the level of termite activity on your property, monitoring stations are placed at strategic locations. Bait stations are erected to draw termites after they are verified. Chemicals are stored in bait stations, where termites consume them and then transport them back to their colonies, where they spread to other colonies and deal with colonies at the source. Larger populations are typically the best candidates for this control strategy.

Gas Fumigation

Since this treatment can reach termites residing deep within a home, it is mainly used to control drywood termites. Fumigants seep into every part of the house and, once inhaled, alter a termite’s metabolism.

Application of Termiticide

Termiticide use is frequently necessary to help eradicate existing termite populations and stop new infestations. This usually entails applying it to the surface of weakened wood or to the surrounding soil, but in order to more precisely target termite populations, it can also be injected straight into the wood.

Moisture Extraction

Moisture is essential to termites’ survival. Ensuring appropriate drainage around your home and prompt resolution of plumbing leak issues can significantly reduce the likelihood of a termite infestation. In order to minimise the risk of wood decay and wood rot in your home, always remove wood that comes into direct contact with the ground and replace it with pre-treated wood.