What Causes Termites In Your Home
What causes termites in your home? If you think of any bug that can cause severe damage to a home, it’s the termites.
Getting rid of these insects as quickly as possible will prevent them from ruining your house. But how do termite infestations happen? Where do they come from?
What is it about homes where these insects choose to reside? If you have the answers to these questions, you can nip the problem in the bud before it takes on a monstrous form like mold or mildew, for example.
This guide has answers to all of these questions plus an actionable step-by-step process you can take to prevent termites from visiting and infesting your home.
What Causes Termites In Your Home
An outdated roof, improper drainage and poor airflow can all contribute to moisture issues that attract termites.
While wood is not an ideal source of nutrition for all species of termite, dampwood and subterranean termites in particular do appreciate having a humid environment.
1. Termites Attracted to firewood piles
Piles of firewood present unique storage challenges, but they’re essential for a fireplace. They keep the wood dry and safe, but these containment areas are also the perfect breeding ground for pests like termites that love to eat wood.
Hardwoods, in particular, have high moisture content and a less dense texture welcoming critters to nest inside. To keep pests away, clean your storage area regularly so they don’t build nests there, and keep the piles away from moisture to prevent the infestation from mold and mildew.
Termites will also feast on wooden structures like foundations of homes or furniture made from untreated woods.
So it’s essential to treat your home’s lumber before placing it in a pile so it doesn’t go down with the rest of the wood when soaked with water instead of deterring termite damage.
2. Termites attracted to tree stumps
In addition to using treatments based on chemicals, there are simple and primarily organic ways that you can deter termites from invading your backyard or even trees on your property.
For example, when it rains, avoid watering the grass in specific areas where you don’t want the risk of termite infestation the most.
Instead, try using a hose instead of a sprinkler when watering plants or lawns. It might even be worth it to explore whether you could water your lawn by hand with a garden hose or bucket system if you feel that would be more efficient.
After all, watering an entire property by hand once is far less costly than paying for expensive chemicals and then tending to each tree stump in your yard (for added protection).
3. Termites Attract Mulch
Mulch is an invaluable resource for your garden. Mulch helps retain moisture, insulates the soil, and prevents your plants from becoming injured through erosion.
But mulch can also be a haven for termites and other bugs if you don’t correctly choose the type of mulch to place in your garden.
If not placed perfectly, mulch composed of decaying leaves or wood can provide a pathway for destructive pests like subterranean termites.
You may want to consider using hardwood bark or small pieces of limestone as these materials fall apart very slowly and do not decompose quickly enough for the pesky termites to eat.
4. Termites Attracted to moist areas
Root damage from termites typically goes undetected. They target dead or dying trees, which often go unnoticed by homeowners until the destruction gets out of control.
Don’t wait for an infestation to happen. If you notice any soft or sunken spots when walking on your property, it is best to contact a pest control company and then for possible termite damage during an inspection.
Doing this early enough may stop the problem before it starts.
5. Termites will infest your home in the neighborhood
When dealing with invasive pests like termites, roaches, and bed bugs, you can’t ignore the effects they might have on your property.
They will be sure to destroy your home if you ignore them by feeding off them and moving into the cracks between your bathroom tiles, for example.
Termites can multiply quickly and travel across yards, eventually infecting neighboring homes, too, if action is not taken soon.
Some types of termite are particularly destructive because when one set of infestation begins, another batch will be nested in neighboring piping systems until it is too late or spread even further using the gaps in pipes connected to other homes.
Please make sure you get a good inspection from an expert as early as possible and take preventative measures so that you aren’t forced to deal with this problem at all.
6. Tree branches touching the roof
Termites can not only fly up into your home from the ground, but they can even fly down from the sky onto the top of your roofs.
Termites can live in trees, especially those that attract termites, because termites will use the branches to attack homes from any given angle (orientation).
This can be dangerous because homeowners have a higher risk of having termites invading their homes. By finding termite swarming insects on the ceilings and walls or even their roofs.
That’s when you know it’s time to call a professional exterminator and get rid of them before you find yourself with hundreds more.
Conclusion
Termites are a huge problem for homeowners, but it’s essential not to get into a panic. Knowing the signs of an infestation is extremely helpful and can prevent you from dealing with a problem that’s already festering before you can call in the help of professionals.
Related Guides
