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The Importance Of Termite Inspections And Prevention In Your PA Home
7/29/13
So your older home doesn’t look so great anymore. Maybe the exterior paint is peeling, or the roof is starting to look a little “saggy”. Perhaps you’ve just thought this is typical for a home as old as yours, but what if these signs of wear are a sign of something more serious going on inside the structure of your home? The presence of termites in your Pittsburgh home can cause paint to look blistered and wooden beams to appear to sag; so before you set about fixing beams and repainting your PA home, think about having a termite inspection completed to rule out termites as your problem.
What a termite inspection can reveal
If you contact a professional termite inspector to examine your home, they will visit your home looking for signs of termites that may not be obvious to the naked eye. One of the most prominent signs of termites is the presence of mud tubes along dry wall or your foundation wall. These tubes are the protective tunnels that termites create for themselves so that they can travel into your home from their outdoor colony protected from the sun and dry air. The inspector will check both inside and outside on foundation walls, in cracks and crevices of the exterior, under the siding of the structure and on piers and pillars of decking. They may even attempt to crawl under your home to inspect the wooden support beams for signs of termite damage. Signs of termite damage can include:
Wood that sounds hollow when knocked.
Wood that looks water damaged or darkened.
Termite bore holes in a wooden beam or in furniture; these holes are usually no larger than a pencil lead and sometimes have small piles of sawdust around them.
Wood that looks like it’s buckling.
Floors and ceilings that appear swollen.
Actual visual mazes within walls and furniture.
If your termite inspector should come upon any of these signs of damage, they will let you know. They will also be looking for signs of termites themselves. Termites, specifically Subterranean termites, are cream-colored and between 1/8 and 3/8 of an inch long. They have straight antennae, broad waists and long and narrow bodies. Besides recognizing the insects themselves, inspectors may also spot shed termite wings. Shed termite wings are what can be found after a termite “swarm” has occurred; this is when the reproductive termites exit their ground colony and fly up into the sunlight (or a house or street light, should the event happen at night) to search for a mate. Once the appropriate mate has been found, their wings drop off, they fall to the ground and the newly coupled termites crawl back into the ground to create a new colony together. Obviously having a swarm like this happen on your property is bad news; if you have thousands of termites swarming and then building colonies on your property, there’s a good chance at least one of their colonies will find your home suitable for infestation.
If you think you may have a termite infestation or just want the peace of mind that termites are not present on your PA property, give a professional and qualified termite control company a call. They can determine if the pest is a problem for you and then devise a treatment plan that is suitable for your specific needs. Don’t let termite damage get out of control; costly repairs are required if these insects are not treated and properly controlled.
What can you do to prevent them?
Besides having periodic termite inspections performed on your property, there are a few things you can do to try to make your property less attractive to hungry termites. These can include:
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Repair or replace areas of damaged wood in your structure. Termites are attracted to damaged wood initially but will work their way into healthy wood if they’ve already devoured the damaged wood.
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Eliminate areas of moisture around your property; this can include installing gutter systems that drain away from your property and regularly using a dehumidifier inside the home.
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Painting or sealing exterior wooden surfaces regularly can help make your property less attractive to termites.
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Don’t store wood piles near your home or eliminate them entirely if possible.
These tips can help limit termite infestations on your property and make you less likely to have to deal with termite damage inside your home.
For more information on termite control and termite inspections in PA, contact the professionals at Witt Pest Management. Serving Pittsburg and the surrounding areas since 1908, they have the expertise to take care of your termite problem as well as any other insects or rodents that may be bothering you.