Preventing Termite Damage In Your Home

Termites can damage any house. To keep your house safe, termite prevention is crucial. Each year, termites cause billions of dollars' worth of residential damage. These stealthy destructors gnaw through wood from the inside out, so even a board or wall of wood that looks perfectly undamaged from the exterior may actually be covered in termite damage.

Termites can threaten the very structural integrity of a home. Termite exterminators like Local Exterminator Co. are readily available all around locally in places like Tuscaloosa, Northport, and West Alabama. To prevent termite damage in your home, you must look for the signs of a termite infestation.

Performing periodic checks to find any warning signs of termite swarms, can help diagnose an infestation early. Most types of termites thrive in moist areas and depend on water sources to survive. Stop this perfect termite breeding round by removing sources of moistures, such as fixing leaks and broken pipes. Also make sure gutters and downspouts are functioning properly and are diverting water away from the home. Termites can use any piece of wood in contact with soil as a staging ground for invasion. A simple rule is to maintain a one-inch gap between soil and wood sections of your home. Additionally, avoid stacking, storing, or burying wood near your home. This would include firewood, mulch, lumber, and even sawdust. It’s a good idea to remove rotting or termite-infested trees and tree stumps from your immediate property.

Termite nests appear as a mud-like deposit, usually around wood. Using good termite prevention will help stop termites from invading your home.

Termite Facts

Here are a few important things to remember about termites:

• Termites cause more damage annually than floods, fires, and tornadoes combined
• Termites need only 1/64th of an inch opening t enter a structure
• Termite damage is not covered by home insurance policies in most cases
• Depending on the size of the termite colony, termites can eat the equivalent of a foot of 2×4 a week
• It is estimated that for every human on Earth, there may be 1,000 pounds of termites. That’s about the same weight as a full-grown cow!
• Termites work 24 hours a day and never sleep—and you thought your work day was long!

NOTE: It is very important that you keep a termite contract on your home. As you can tell from the above facts, termites cause a lot of damage. A booster treatment will be required at the end of your contract. By performing a booster treatment, we are making sure the termiticide barrier around your structure remains a level to help prevent a termite infestation.

When it comes to termite control, an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure! To prevent termites from making your home theirs, we treat the foundation of your home as early as the construction phase. We offer an array of different termite treatments depending on the needs of your home.

Termite Treatments

Liquid Termite Treatments— To protect your home from termites, we offer liquid termite treatments. This involves a barrier of chemical that are sprayed on new or existing construction to deter termites. We offer two basic types:

• Repellents: Acts as a deterrent to prevent termites from ever entering the structure
• Non-Repellents: These are undetectable to the termite, allowing it to carry the poison back to its colony, eliminating the issue at the source!

Administered by our highly trained exterminators, these treatments are extremely effective and can protect your house for up to seven years from termites.

Bait Stations

Along with liquid treatments, we also offer Sentricon System bait stations as a great termite control option! These stations are placed in the ground around the perimeter of your house, approximately 10 feet apart. Similar to non-repellent liquid treatments, bait stations give the termite poison to carry back to the colony and eliminate the source of a termite problem. To ensure long-term elimination, we’ll return annually to check the stations, inspect your home, and make sure there aren’t any issues.