Neighbors Have Termites? Here Are A Few Things You Can Do To Keep The Termites From Moving Into Your House
Termite colonies can quickly take over entire neighborhoods. If you have noticed a termite treatment service at your neighbor's house, it's time to have your own house checked over for signs of termite damage. If damage is found, you'll need to make repairs, as necessary, and eliminate the termites from the structure of your home. Even if you do not find termite damage, it's still a good idea to have your home and property treated.
However, termite treatment is not the only thing you can do to keep those swarming buggers from using your house as their smorgasbord. There are a few additional things you can do around your home to ensure the termite treatment is as effective as possible. First, however, it's important to understand what termites need to survive.
Things that make your property appetizing to termites
Termites are living creatures, of course, and just like all living creatures, there are certain things they need to survive and establish their colony so they can reproduce. One misconception about termites is that they live in wood structures in your home. They actually live in the ground underneath your home and eat any wood they find. They build tunnels from the ground to the wood structure of your house. Therefore, they need dirt and wood.
Termites also need water in order to stay hydrated, just like humans, animals and plants. But, they also use water and moisture to make their tunnels. They combine water droplets with dirt to form mud, and this mud gets packed against the walls of their tunnels. Without water, termites wouldn't survive and they wouldn't be able to make their tunnels.
Eliminate their ability to get what they need on your property
Termite treatment is a chemical substance that gets injected into the ground. While this can definitely be helpful, it's important to make sure no wood is touching the ground and there are no avenues they can take to reach the wood structure of your home. The location where your exterior wall meets the ground is a good example. For this reason, you want to be sure there is a barrier between any wood and the ground. A good barrier is concrete. In some locations where termites are a huge problem, houses are built with the concrete foundation walls extending above the ground.
Do not store wood piles against your house. That would be an open invitation for termites to dine on the wood inside your house. Also, keep shrubbery and trees away from the exterior of your home. Even if your foundation extends high above ground, termites can climb up shrubbery and reach the exterior of your house. From there, they can wiggle their bodies into any cracks they find to get into the structure.
Eliminate water and moisture on your property as much as possible. If water puddles tend to sit instead of drain into the ground naturally, you may want to consider installing a French drain in the problematic area. First, though, have the soil perc tested. This will show how fast or slow the ground absorbs water.
Call your local storm water management office for a perc test. If your soil does not pass the perc test or drains slowly, the office personnel may have additional recommendations for you, such as regrading the property so rain water drains to another area further away from your house.
Since termite colonies migrate, it's important to have termite treatment and do as much as possible when termites are in your neighborhood. Termites can do extensive damage to homes. They eat the wood and make the wood less structurally sound. To avoid extensive damages from a termite infestation, it's important to keep the termites away from your house.
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