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If you can't remove a piece of wood, inspect your property for wood that crumbles easily or wood that sounds hollow when your tap on it. If you find damaged wood, look around for termites, which are pale yellow in color and have soft bodies. To learn how to prevent and repair termite damage, keep reading. Termites create tiny pinholes as a way to exit walls and move out of their colonies. They could also make crevices to enter the walls or maneuver around your home.
Termites: How to Identify and Control Them
Homeowners spend five years and 'all their money' repairing horrifying find in walls - Yahoo New Zealand News
Homeowners spend five years and 'all their money' repairing horrifying find in walls.
Posted: Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
It’s kind of gross, but termites produce moisture as they eat and travel through the wood in your home. Make sure to keep reading to read 9 signs you have termites in your house. Taking a moment to check out these facts could save you from serious damages. Each year, termites can cause over $5 billion dollars worth of damage in homes and other buildings. "Termite swarmer wings are pale-colored and are usually ¼ to ½-inch long," says Kelly.
Ants
Laminate flooring is just as susceptible, with signs of what looks like water damage in the wake, including blistering. Tiles can come loose easily from the surface — a sign of excess moisture in your floors from termite activity and uneven leveling. In either case, the internal wear can also result in new squeaks as you walk over weakened spots.
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If there are mud tubes inside your walls, you might notice that the paint will begin to bubble. As thousands of insects move through their tunnels, the structures can trap and accumulate moisture. This is especially true if the termites are feeding on wooden elements in contact with the wall. The trapped moisture can then seep through the wall, affecting the paint. In some cases, as termites hollow out wooden structures like plywood walls, they compromise their integrity, leading to structural instability within the wall. This can cause the underlying surfaces to shift and crack, which can then manifest as cracks in the paint or drywall on the exterior, too.
A Guide to Protecting Your Greatest Investment from Wood-Destroying Insects
The result of this extra moisture can produce obvious signs you have termites in your house. Wood will start to slightly bend and windows will be more difficult to open. Any doors that are suddenly hard to close or open are also potential signs of termites, says Kelly. According to the University of Missouri Extension Service, the termite species most likely to cause damage to homes in the US is the eastern subterranean termite.
As a result, the wood around the windows and doors may appear to be rotting or warping from the termite damage. There are many signs you have termites in your house, but the above signs are some of the strongest. Make sure to check for tunnels in the wood, frass piles, random wings, and clicking noises. For their own shelter and food transportation, they create tunnels of mud on the outside of the walls.
How to Identify Termite Activity
This fact sheet focuses on how you, as a consumer, can identify and help protect your property from termites through effective prevention measures and appropriate use of termite treatments. Known as “frass,” termite droppings are wood colored and about the size of a pepper flake each. That means you may notice small piles of frass near the baseboards of walls or near windows or doors.
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While looking for piles of frass, check the floor and furniture out for small wings as well. If you have a suspicion of termites, walk around your home and look for small piles of frass. Not only do they get a bit rowdy, but they are also loud eaters. If you place your ear to the wall and hear faint clicking noises, there’s a good chance you have termites in your house. To alert other termites of danger, a group of them will headbang into a wall.
Uneven or Bubbling Paint
Soldier termites–with an even larger head and pincers than their worker counterparts–may also be present. Unlike subterranean and Formosan termites, drywood termites do not require contact with the soil and usually infest undecayed wood. They are typically between 3/8 and one inch long and often establish nests in roof materials and wooden wall supports, along with dead wood that may be around the home. This species can even infest wood furniture and framing if they gain inside access.
And if you need more fuel for your nightmares, Webb says he has seen some homes so destroyed by the little pests they had to be completely rebuilt. When it comes to termites, it’s generally best to skip the DIY methods and call in the professionals. On average, it can cost anywhere from $200 to $900 to hire a termite exterminator—although it could be upwards of $6,000 for a severe infestation.
Another issue is if your home has already sustained water damage, then it's easier for termites to infiltrate. This means that termites might signal that it's time to call the plumber. If you notice any signs of a termite pest infestation, be sure to have a pest control technician over to your house as soon as possible. A termite colony can destroy a home's foundation in as little as five years, so don't delay treating this type of pest problem.
Color is a good indicator to distinguish between ants and termites. Even though termites have various shades, their body color is usually much lighter than even the lightest ants’. Two common forms of treatment are conventional barrier treatments and termite baits. During construction, use a concrete foundation and leave a ventilation space between the soil and wood. “I’m not saying a do-it-yourself (person) couldn’t do it,” Webb says. But termite extermination is expensive, complicated and requires some fairly heavy-duty equipment, including a sprayer capable of handling hundreds of gallons of liquid treatment.
These droppings are typically a combination of digested wood fibers and feces. They can vary in appearance depending on the species of termite, but they often resemble tiny, elongated granules or capsules. Termite frass is typically a uniform color, like beige or brown, and may be mistaken for sawdust or sand due to its small size. If you have lots of rotting trees in your backyard, it might be because of termites.
Termites create concealed pathways beneath the tree's bark as they tunnel through the wood. Look for irregular patterns of damage, like cracks or splits on the tree's surface, as these can be indicative of termite galleries. You should also check for sections of bark that appear loose or detached, as termites may ruin it in their pursuit of cellulose-rich wood.
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