The Real Truth about Termite Damage

So you want to know the real truth about termite damage? Can you handle the truth? The only reason we ask is because it really is disturbing when you think about these unwelcome guests coming into your home and eating to their heart’s content without even bringing a dinner gift.

Some estimates place the annual damage to homes at over $500,000. Others say it is well over a million dollars. Most of the worst termite damage is located in the Southeast portion of the United States as well as arid savannah regions in places like Africa and Australia.
It doesn’t matter where you’re located, termite damage can be utterly devastating for the homeowner. It is true that the worst damage can take years to cause problems, but still, that damage can cause a home to become unsafe to live in.

One woman tells us that she had no idea about the amount of damage a termite can do. She never even thought about it until she felt a floorboard that was loose. She went outside and saw a swarm of bugs around the foundation of her house, and she began to do some research.

A pest control company was called in and she found out that she did, indeed, have a termite infestation. What surprised her the most was when the termite inspector showed her the amount of damage that a termite could do as she looked into the hole the inspector had cut into her wall. She was amazed and shocked.

Not only will termite damage cause a structure to be unstable, it can – and, if left untreated – even cause the structure to collapse around you. It’s frightening when you think about it.
Those worker termites get inside your home and start burrowing through the studs, the door frames, and the drywall of your home.

They gnaw through the material your home is made of and make trails through the wood that can weaken the wood itself causing problems with the integrity of the wood.
The amount of damage a termite can do is multiplied by the fact that there is more than one termite working on the wood. They work together to get food for the colony and thus cause a huge amount of damage to your structure.That is why it is so important to pay attention to what is going on around your home and always check for signs of termite damage. Many people don’t do this. They just sit around hoping that their home is safe.

Infrared Technology in Termite Detection

One of the most exciting innovations in the pest control industry is the use of infrared technology and termite inspection. Infrared technology is used to detect heat in small spaces and is perfect for use in the termite inspection because it can detect colonies that are massed together and make it easier for the pest control operator to pinpoint the location of the infestation and effectively get rid of the problem in one fell swoop.

Finding termites can be difficult, yet knowing where they are located is important when deciding on the correct eradication program. The traditional method is to simply tap on the wood with the back of a screwdriver, or to poke holes in walls or even pull them apart.
Infrared technology and termite inspect now offers a new, high technological detection system that is quick, effective and does not require any damage to houses.

Infrared technology and termite inspection is being used with an increased frequency because it can easily detect the presence of termites by simply inserting a small camera at the end of a thin rod and then manipulating the camera around to find the termite swarms.

Because termites mass together to work on the wood, where there is one, there is always more. That’s why infrared technology and termite inspection go hand in hand.
Thermal imaging technology detects heat patterns. When termites invade buildings, the normal heat patterns of the walls, floors and roof are changed due to the presence of termites. The thermal camera records this change in heat patterns and indicates the exact location of any termite infestation.

A color image shows hot spots as red or yellow and cold spots as blue or purple and these heat patterns indicate termite infestations. That means that infrared technology and termite inspection can be much more effective than the normal ways of doing a termite inspection.

However, termites are considered cold blooded insects, so how can they generate heat? Termites are hosts to bacteria, which live in their gut, and these bacteria help break down and digest cellulose, the main component of wood. It is this digestion and chemical reaction that generates the heat.

Termite Prevention

Keeping termites away from your home in the first place can be the best way to save money although you will still want to have at least annual treatments to make sure that they don’t come around in the first place. But taking measures to be sure that conditions are not conducive to their survival just makes sense.

First, don’t feed them. Whether you know it or not, by having certain conditions present in and around your house, you are giving the termites a food source that will sustain the colony and keep them reproducing making more and more termites that will damage your home.
Keep your gutters clean. Wet leaves provide moisture and food for the pests, and since the gutters are attached to your home, it's an easy point of entry. Clogged gutters can also contribute to moisture problems by soaking wood off the roof and fascia boards.

Wood piles and construction debris, boards left touching the ground or fences without proper ground clearance can all be food sources. Cardboard is also a favorite food of termites and damp cardboard around or under a house could provide an ideal opportunity for termites.
Building a deck? Make concrete barriers part of your plan and be sure to use borate-treated, pressurized wood. The USDA's Forest Service has a bulletin on subterranean termites with helpful hints on construction practices.

Your contractor may also have suggestions for preventing termite infestations. Stucco facades extending near or into the soil surface provide a haven for termites, allowing them to move into a home undetected.

Termites love moisture which is why they feed on damp wood. Make sure the air conditioner tank is at least four inches from your house. Don't let it leak near your house. Dryers should vent away from the house -- the warm air is moisture-saturated from dried clothes. Washers should drain away from the house, too.

Check for leaky faucets and make fixing them a priority. Flat roofs are a bad idea; they harbor moisture and invite infestation.

Summer sprinkler play is fun for kids, but make sure the faucet is turned off --tightly -- after the water games are finished. Insulation around pipes should not extend all the way from the house to the soil. After cold spells are over, the insulation should be removed or at least have a gap large enough to allow homeowners to detect termites.

Do-It-Yourself Termite Treatment

We are increasingly becoming a world of people who like to do things ourselves. Whether it’s because we want to save money or just like the satisfaction of taking care of our own things, sometimes we like “getting our hands dirty” and learning how to do new things.Even termite treatment is possible for the avid do-it-yourselfer. There are a variety of commercial products on the market with professional strength that you can use. They are available in many places, but we suggest you look in a home improvement store to find the best selection.
There are two ways you can approach do-it-yourself termite treatment: termite baiting and chemical application.

Let’s first take a look at termite baiting. Since this is probably the easiest way to approach do-it-yourself termite control, it seems like a logical place to start. You won’t be working directly with chemicals, so it is probably the safest way to start as well.

Take a quick survey of your property. Draw a rough graph of the home. On this graph...you can show locations of doors, windows, gutter down spouts, air conditioning drains, stumps, firewood, bushes, etc.

As you walk around the perimeter of your home, take note of damp conditions which are conducive to termites caused by shade, poor drainage, air conditioner condensation, etc. Mark these on your graph.

s a rule, you should position bait stations at 8-10 feet intervals. However areas that are conducive to termites such as the following conditions, it would be advisable to have bait positions placed at closer intervals.

Treating for Termites

While you can try treating your house for termites yourself, you will probably want to leave it up to a professional so that you know it’s done right. There are many pest control companies who specialize in termite eradication and control. Much like choosing a termite inspector, you want a company you can trust.

Again, ask for credentials and certifications. See if the company is a member of any pest control societies and organizations. Do they have recommendation letters from previous customers? If so, ask to see them. They’ll probably be more than willing to whip them out for you. You can even take it a step further and call the Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints have been filed against the company.

You’ll probably want to know what the company will do to get rid of your termite problem. The easy thing to do is just ask them for a complete explanation of their treatment methods. But we’ll cover some of them in this section if, for nothing else, just general information so you know what they are talking about.

If you have a particularly bad termite problem, the exterminator may suggest that you have a tent fumigation done. This is for bad infestations that extend throughout the structure, and it is probably the most radical of all termite treatments.
With tent fumigation, you will be required to leave your home for a minimum of three days. The chemicals that the company uses are strong although they won’t cause damage to anything in your home except for exposed food.

Termite baiting is becoming increasingly popular as a way to treat for and prevent termites. Instead of attempting to protect a structure by creating a barrier between it and the termites, baiting targets the termites themselves. Termite baits are designed to suppress or eliminate the termite colony living in the soil.

Commercial termite bait systems are a relatively new technology. The most widely used bait products are applied very similarly. The initial installation of any baiting system involves plastic stations being inserted into the ground around the periphery of the structure approximately every 10 feet.

Inside these stations are untreated wood monitors. The stations are usually inspected every month for termite activity. If live termites are found in the station, a toxic bait will be placed inside and the infested monitor may or may not be removed.

The idea is to get the termites that have been recruited to the wood monitor to now pick up the bait instead. Certain bait products are intended to be used by themselves, while others can be used in combination with spot applications of liquid termiticide (applied only to areas where termites are active) or a complete liquid treatment.

How to Detect Termites

Besides the obvious presence of small ant-like insects or flying swarmers, you can look around your home to try and find out if termites have taken up residence with you in your home or building.

Basically, termites are discovered by property owners in one of three ways. First, when a colony swarms in the first warm part of early spring, winged adults can be seen on the inside or outside of a building moving toward the light, a window, or other lit opening.

Second, as we have already said, termites build mud tubes to travel between the ground and a structure. These mud tubes can often be found on the outside of a slab between the earth and brick line, or on piers which form the foundation of a building.
Finally, because termites like to eat the paper surface of sheetrock, pin holes are left behind when sheetrock has been damaged. There also will be some tubes in the wood indicating that termites have been eating through the wood and making their way from one side of the area to the other.

You will probably rarely see any actual termites because they tend to avoid light and open air spaces. The tunnels give them the ability to go virtually undetected while reaching their food source, wood. Therefore, destruction can be "undetected" as well.

If there is any area of your home where water has accumulated, chances are good that termites are going to be in that area. We’ll talk about prevention later on, but just about the only way you can tell on your own if you have termites is to look for tell-tale signs that they may be around.
While we have already described the damage, you might be better served with some visuals to help you identify termite damage.

What Are Termites

In the basic definition, termites are small, burrowing insects that eat wood – especially damp wood – and resemble small white ants. But there’s so much more than that! In actuality, termites are social creatures – just like we are – that live with a specific social order to take care of the colony that they live in.

That’s right – there are actually levels of termite hierarchy, just like in human life. Because they are social insects, this type of setup works best for them because they don’t possess the same skills that we humans do in order to get things done. But, get things done, they certainly do!
There are basically five levels of termites: the worker, the soldier, the reproductives, the king, and the queen. Each distinctive level has its own duties when it comes to the colony. Termites have long been referred to as “little white ants”, and there are a few – very few – similarities between the two species.

Ants also live in colonies with each level performing specific functions within the community. They all work together to make sure that they all live in relative peace having food and protection. Not so unlike humans, right? But termites as well as ants can be damaging to our structures which is why we don’t want them around.

That’s why we need to better understand how the colonies work. When we understand this part of their living environment, we can better combat them. We are, of course, talking about termites – which is what this book is about.