Termites cause billions of dollars in structural damage annually, as noted by the Environmental Protection Agency. If this worries you, we completely understand.
Termites can severely impact a major investment, such as your home in New Albany, MS, leading to considerable financial loss, time, and stress.
You might think that solving this problem requires a trip to the home improvement store. However, some pests, such as termites, can be beyond the capabilities of most homeowners. Termites are tiny and often leave no visible signs.
Without knowing what to look for, you might not realize they’re there until they’ve caused significant damage to your home's wood. No one wants to face those repair expenses.
While termite prevention is a much better strategy than treating termite damage or making structural repairs as a result of termite feeding, understanding how termites operate and all of the ways to fight them can help you get a better handle on these pests.
Let’s look at signs of termites, termite prevention tactics, and termite control strategies, so you can shield your home from these invasive insects.
While many insects have a specific season when they are most active, termites can be active in your home throughout the year.
They are known to swarm mainly around April, prompted by warmer weather and rain; they usually swarm after rain to stay hydrated.
Termites swarm when seeking mates and to form new colonies. Usually, colonies don’t swarm until they are well established, which typically takes around three years.
Other than the possibility of seeing more termites moving about in spring, you may not see termites at all until the damage is done. That’s why it’s important to keep an eye out for these signs of termites.
When termites swarm, they fly into the air, drop to the ground, shed their wings, and seek out a mate.
A sign of termites is often observing what appear to be flying ants in motion. Since flying termites and flying ants resemble each other, distinguishing them can be challenging.
If you notice flying pests in spring and suspect they might be termites, it's best to contact a pest professional for an inspection to verify.
Another sign of termites are the vessels they use to travel in, which are known as mud tubes.
Mud tubes are about ⅛-inch thick tubes that shelter termites as they travel between their underground colonies and your home to find wood to eat. They keep termites protected and moist.
These mud tubes typically extend over foundation walls or support beams. You can find the tunnel trails going along wood, concrete, cinder blocks, or even in mid-air to help the termites reach their destination.
Since termites eat wood, an obvious and big sign of termites is damaged wood.
What you’re looking for here is crumbling wood. If you press on it with your finger or a screwdriver, it might collapse because the center is hollow and has been eaten away by termites.
Another factor to consider is the color or texture of your wood. If it’s soft or discolored, try pushing on it to test its strength. If it crumbles under pressure, it’s a possibility that termites have been dining there. You might even notice bigger problems, such as your floor sagging or the wood around your windows or doors wearing, which can cause issues with opening and closing.
Termites are extremely sneaky pests. They rarely emerge from their homes and mud tubes, which makes them hard to spot.
In fact, many New Albany, MS homeowners often don’t even know they have termites until they see a termite swarm or the damage they’ve left behind.
Try these termite prevention tactics to avoid problems with these pests.
Termites love moist environments. They use this moisture in the soil to create mud tubes for their termite colonies to survive.
What can create damp environments around your foundation is poor drainage, low spots, or vapor barriers between the ground and your crawl space that allow for excessive condensation or moisture. Other things that can cause moisture around your home are clogged or overflowing gutters.
Moisture is all termites need, which is why eliminating excess humidity is a great termite prevention tactic.
Excessive mulch, firewood, or scrap lumber left to pile up around your home can attract termites. Add moisture to that, and you’re basically inviting termites in.
A surefire solution to include in your termite prevention strategy is to eliminate moisture, along with any unnecessary wood piles that are too close to your home.
The best termite prevention tip is to get a termite inspection.
Many pest control companies offer a free initial termite inspection, unless it’s part of a home inspection for refinancing or a real estate transaction.
The process is fairly simple. Once you call and request an inspection, a pest control professional will schedule it within 24 to 48 hours. You should be home for the inspection to let the technician inside. They need access to both the exterior and interior of your home, particularly vulnerable areas such as crawl spaces, basements, attics, and garages.
They look for tell-tale signs of termite activity and current or even past signs of termite infestations. The whole inspection process takes approximately an hour.
For the best professional termite treatment, you have some options.
One option is a trench-and-rod treatment, where a pest professional digs a shallow trench around the foundation of your home and injects a termiticide every 1.5 to 2 feet along this trench.
This can be considered an involved and invasive process because the complete surrounding of your home is incredibly important in termite protection, because a break in the perimeter means an entryway for termites. This means drilling into driveways and walkways as well, since you don’t want any perimeter protection openings.
Luckily, there are less invasive ways to tackle termites. At Lawn & Pest Solutions, we offer a treatment using the Sentricon System. As Certified Sentricon Specialists, rather than pumping gallons of termiticide around your home, we place stations that contain a termite bait around the home and monitor them for termite activity.
When the worker termites consume the active ingredient, they feed it to their colony and the colony dies. It’s an environmentally friendly option that is highly effective.
All of our termite treatments include annual interior and exterior inspections, which many companies don’t offer, so that we can make sure termites aren’t returning to your home.
Sentricon typically starts at approximately $69 per month for the first 12 months, after which the price drops to $26 per month. While exact pricing is based on the size of your home, most homes fit into this price point.
If you have had termite problems in the past, notice signs of termites, think you need to try some termite prevention tips to protect your home, or are concerned about needing termite control, involving an educated pest control professional can help.
All homes in New Albany, MS require termite protection, as our region is considered ground zero for termites. It’s not worth the risk not to treat them.
Ease your mind and give Lawn & Pest Solutions a call. You can receive a complimentary inspection, and we can provide a thorough plan to eliminate termites, help prevent further infestations, and protect your home.
We want you to be able to relax in your home. Give us a call today and we’ll bring our proven termite control experience and create a custom plan for your New Albany, MS home. Get started today with a free quote.