Termites are one of the toughest, most expensive pests to deal with for many different reasons. The sheer destruction they can wreak is one. But another is their unrivaled sneakiness. Termites can infest your home for months or even years without you even knowing. This is why controlling them is such an issue for DIY Ogden pest control enthusiasts.
Easy-To-Spot Signs Of Termites
Termites behave sort of like ants in the sense that they live in huge colonies with one or more queens who supply the offspring to the workers who care for them in return. However, termites are not like ants in the way they eat.
Termites eat cellulose. This means they can consume the wood they live in, which eliminates the need to forage. The ability to avoid leaving the nest allows termites to infest your home for long stretches without being seen. This is one of the reasons termite control can be so tough. The signs of termites in your home are just that subtle.
There are a few things you can watch out for to catch a termite infestation early:
- Wood rot that looks like water damage without the water.
- Windows and doors that don't fit in their frames and become difficult to open or close.
- Creaky or buckled floors.
- Termites swarms or signs of swarms.
This last one is a major sign that termites could be on your property. Termite reproductives do not travel far before pairing off to mate and start new colonies. This means a swarm on your property is a good sign that a termite colony is nearby.
Termites Can Destroy The Structural Integrity Of Your Home
In nature, termites help increase the rate of cellulose decomposition. This helps put vital nutrients back into the soil of the forest. This is great news for the forest but bad news for your home.
If termites get into your home's wooden support structure – such as its floor joists, support beams, or wall studs – it can become a huge problem. Nationally, termites are responsible for over five billion dollars in damage every year. That's more than many natural disasters, like tornadoes, fires, and earthquakes combined. This is why termite prevention measures, including annual termite inspections, are indispensable to protect yourself and your property.
Contact The Professionals At The First Sign Of Termites
If you start to see signs that you have a termite infestation, do not wait to combat it. Every minute you waste is another minute termites are destroying your home.
Furthermore, don't try to deal with the problem yourself. Store-bought termite baits are infamous for their ineffectiveness. What typically happens is you use these baits, and they temporarily reduce your home's visible termite load, leading you to think you're rid of your infestation, when what's actually happened is you've made room for the survivors to spread out and reproduce, eventually coming back even stronger.
This is why you need to contact professional termite removal services the second you suspect you have a termite problem. Only the termite professionals – like the kind here at Mountain West Pest Control – can eliminate a termite infestation from your home for good.
How To Remove Factors That Attract Termites To Your Home
The best way to keep termites out of your home is to reduce wood-to-ground contact:
- Ensure mulch does not touch your home's foundation.
- Keep firewood off the ground and away from your house.
- Trim tree branches and bushes away from your house.
- Ensure all wooden components of your home are dry and in good repair.
And remember, if you wind up with an infestation, treat it like the emergency it is and call Mountain West Pest Control right away.