Termite infestations can cause serious damage to a home’s structure, costing homeowners unforeseen money and time. Plus, it’s just plain gross knowing there are literally thousands of insects crawling around your home’s walls. That’s why it is important to monitor your home for signs of a termite infestation, as these colonies spread quickly. In some species,the queen lays up to 40,000 eggs per day!
Knowing exactly how to check your home for termites is part of general household pest control best practices. Know when it’s time to stop the colony in its tracks by taking these steps.
- Check for Structural Damage: Termite control for homeowners starts with paying attention to changes in wooden materials. Keep an eye out for unexplained damage to furniture, cabinets, ceilings, and floors. Check exterior structures, such as decks and porches, for damage such as buckling wood. Swollen floors and ceilings are often indicators that termites may be feasting underneath.
- Look Closely: If you suspect damage, cut away a piece of the structure’s wood. Different types of termites leave behind different patterned traces. Subterranean termites eat in a honeycomb pattern, eating with the grain. Drywood termites chew against the grain in large sections.
- Check for Biological Traces: Subterranean termites leave shelter tubes (also called mud tubes), enclosed passageways made from soil, fecal matter, saliva, and other materials. They form these tubes when moving from the ground to your home’s wooden structures. Drywood termites, though staying primarily inside the colony, leave little fecal mounds outside of their tunnels. These sawdust-like pellets stick to the underside of infested wood.
- Listen Closely: Though you will not be able to hear termites scurrying around underneath the wood, you can check for damaged areas. Using a hard object, tap sections of the wood to check if it is hollow. If you lean in and happen to hear critters shuffling underneath the wood, you might actually have carpenter ants or rodents.
- Call an Exterminator!: When in doubt, call a professional pest control company to perform a closer inspection of your home.
When having a plan for general household pest control, it is important to know your termite control options. If you perform all of the above steps and do believe that you have termites, it is time to call a professional. Termite control services are available to safely perform termite infestation control and removal. Your local pest removal professional and exterminator will be able to answer any questions you may have about the safety of your home and its structures.