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What is worse than finding an insect crawling across your kitchen floor? Learning that there are thousands of insects tunneling beneath your floors, slowly eating the wood in your home. Termites are not like other pests. These invasive and hungry insects do not invade homes to search for food on countertops, but rather to harvest sources of softened wood.
If you do not like the idea of subterranean termites chewing their way through your property, here is a complete guide that will help you keep these pests away from your home and business.
What You Need to Know About Subterranean Termites
There are many species of termites that exist worldwide. In our area, the subterranean termite is the most destructive home-damaging pests in North America. Something that sets subterranean termites apart from other pests is where they decide to build their nests - underground.
These nests are found nearby sources of gatherable wood such as a dead tree, piles of untreated lumber, a wood pile, or a section of your home’s structural wood.
Why Subterranean Termites Are So Destructive
A fully mature termite colony won't demolish your home in a week. It takes these invasive insects' months, or even years, to inflict significant damage on a property. What makes these pests so destructive is not how fast they chew through homes, but how undercover and quietly they are able to do so.
Subterranean termites reside underground and burrow deep into wooden structures within homes, allowing them to feed undetected until the damage becomes apparent to homeowners.
What Are Termite Swarmers?
There is only one time you are likely to see a live subterranean termite and that is when it is born with wings, buzzing around your home. As strange as this seems, it is something that happens every year. Fully mature colonies looking for ways to expand to new locations will produce "swarmers".
These winged, reproductive insects are tasked with leaving their nest and finding new locations to establish new colonies. You can identify these insects around your home by their white, ant-like bodies, and long, oval-shaped, almost see-through wings.
Practical DIY Termite Prevention Tips
We recommend these following tips to prevent termites from entering and damaging your property.
- Use a caulking gun to fill in holes, gaps, and cracks around your home’s exterior.
- Make sure there is a non-wood barrier between exterior soil and your home’s structural wood.
- Address moisture issues in and around your home by fixing piping, repairing broken gutters, and using a dehumidifier.
- Repair or replace structural wood that is negatively affected by rot, decay, or water-damage.
- Store firewood and untreated lumber a good distance from your home’s exterior.
- Avoid using wood-based mulch on your property.
- Clean up sticks, leaves, and other wood-based debris from your yard.
- Remove dead stumps and fallen trees from your property.
How Do I Get Rid of Termites?
There is only one way to identify a termite infestation early and that is with industrial-grade pest control equipment. To make sure your home is termite-free, do not hesitate to contact the experts at EM Pest Control.
Our team has the tools, experience, and treatments needed to identify, prevent, and eliminate destructive termites. We would be happy to put these assets to use around your property. Call us today to schedule your home or business for a detailed service visit.
