5 Damages Termites Will Do If You Don’t Spot Them On Time

Termites are insects that look like ants and appear quite harmless,  yet  have all the capabilities that can inflict serious structural damage to your house.

Termites never stop eating. They feed rapidly on wood all 24 hours, therefore, making destruction at a faster pace.

Termites are found in 45 different kinds of species alone in the U.S out of 2750 known species and each of them falls into three main termite types, which are

1. Subterranean
2. Drywood
3. Dampwood

The first type of termite, Subterranean belongs to the family Rhinotermitidae and they live in the soil and builds the largest nests.

The second type of termite, Drywood belongs to the family Kalotermitidae and they live wood, such as Timbers in Houses, Hardwood Floors & Dead Trees.

The third type of termite, Dampwood belong to the family Kalotermitidae and Hodotermitidae and they live in the wood which consists of high moisture content. Hence, they don’t need contact with soil and are mostly the ones which attack wood in our homes.

Most people hate termites because of their reputation and most probably the difficulty involved in getting rid of termites. But the presence of termites on this planet is from a very long time and they are essential to many habitats and ecosystem. It’s not surprising to see this pest for the first time. Majority of people might have heard or seen about the termite infestations.

The better you understand about these little pesky pests, the better you can safeguard your home.

Unlike all other pests, termites live inside the wall and structure of your home and cause all the damage from the inside out. Termites can sneak into your house through a crack or crevices as thin as the edge of the credit card and that makes it very difficult to avoid them from getting into your home.

Most of the termite's infestations occur at the support structure inside the building and therefore they aren’t easy to spot them.

Even the small number of termites can degrade the value of your house. Most of the buyers will act to play safe and simply avoid purchasing the house which is previously infested by termites.

There are a number of ways in which they can damage your home and we’re going to list some of them below for your better understanding.

• Furniture and Other Wood Items:
  
  They are just around a centimetre in length yet can bite a big chunk of food. They can get into furniture once they enter your home as they feed on wood. It is most likely if you have olden doors, windows and furniture in your home. They will eat up all the antique pieces and the wood around the doors and windows which will make them fragile and jam eventually collapse. This can be dangerous for people living around the house. It poses many such risks if you don’t spot termites on time.
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• Foundation & Structural Damage:

This type of damage is done usually by subterranean termites. The damage to foundation and structure by termites are likely to possible when the colonies of termites located around the perimeter of your home or neighbours are not eliminated or treated.

Termites cause significant damage to your wood flooring, trims and subflooring. It can be detected mostly when you see uneven flooring or swollen flooring around the perimeter of your home. The other way they can be detected is the appearance of tunnels made by such termites on the side of your concrete foundation. This type of termites is usually treated on the ground and outside of the house.

• Roof Space and Walls Damage:
  
  Formosan Subterranean Termites is an invasive species of termites. They are transported worldwide from their native regions, China and Japan. In the 20th century, they were established in Hawaii and other continental United States.
  
  Formosan Termites can swarm in your house and seek shelters in walls and roof spaces. They are quick working termites and do a lot of damage within a short period of time if you don’t notice them on time. Apart from this, they can also seek shelters in the big trees near to your house and makes their limbs fragile or weak and they eventually fall anywhere on your house and that is really dangerous. You can notice such termites by sound. If you hear creaking sounds from your walls then it must be termites eating from the inside.

Termites are known for eating wood-based materials. In fact, they also infest cellulose-based materials like Carpets, photo frames and books.

• Carpet Infestation:
  
  The termites reproduce in early summer and in late springs they often give birth to new colonies. These multiply at a quick rate and find spaces under the carpet or corners of carpet sticking to the walls. They normally don’t do much damage to carpets other than some marks but it is an ideal place for them to grow and later spread all over to your house.
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Can Termites Damage Be Fixed?

Yes, it can be fixed. But it can be a big dent in pockets too. Therefore, spotting them on time and preventing them is always better than treating them.

The two ways in which you can fix the damages are:

1. Replacing all damaged wooden materials with a new one.
2. Adding Wood Support to the structure of damaged wood.

The prevention of termites after finding their activity is the solution for termites infestation. The main aim lies to spot them on time.

If the infestation is getting out of control. You must use liquid termiticide like Tastar. Before they do some serious damage to your property.

They cannot be easily spotted as they do all the activity from inside out. They can be spotted when they create mud tunnels in the cement slabs most of the time. You should inspect it first to catch their activity and then start the prevention.

Termites don’t show any damage to the exterior but they eat everything in the interior hence, it gets difficult to spot them on time. This is the main reason behind giving them the name “Silent Destroyers”.

About The Author

Owais shah is the founder of Townhustle, a pest control blog and resource blog aimed at helping local businesses grow.

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