Termites can be one of the most difficult and costly pests to control, especially if you don’t have a clear understanding of what you’re dealing with. In addition to being difficult to get rid of, a large infestation of termites can be among the most damaging and costly pest control situations you might ever deal with. The reason for this is that these small pests will often remain hidden inside your home for years without detection. During that time they are going to be eating through the wood of your home, causing thousands of dollars of damage, and you won’t even know it until it’s too late.
Even though this sounds terrible, try not be alarmed. There are some steps that you can take to safeguard, and if need, fight back against termites. Do it yourself termite control can be easy to do so long think as long as you are prepared. These control measures use both preventative matters as well as knock down measures.
There are a few common things you can do to help prevent termites from entering your home. Things like keeping your firewood away from your home, or replacing your mulch with stone. You can also treat your wood with Termidor or Boracare. Another thing you can do is to simply not use mulch in close proximity to your home. These measures as well as making it a habit of inspecting the wood and cardboard you bring into your home will reduce the likelihood of an infestation.
Beyond this you’ll also need to know what to look for when inspecting your home for termites. When termites are working their way into your home they will frequently build mud tubes. Termites used these small earthen tunnels for shelter during their trek from their home to yours.
A great way to prevent termites is with termiticides. These products will protect your home from initial or further termite damage. Termiticides are pesticides that target termites primarily. They can be applied in a number of ways including, soil treatments, injection, or sprayed on as a liquid or foam. When deciding on the best product or method to use you should consider that topical sprays only protect what they cover and therefore don’t usually get to termites that are already within the wood.
An alternative to spraying your home or using soil treatments is to use baits. Baits are the one of the simplest form of do it yourself termite control. These are often times prepackaged systems that simply have to be placed around the perimeter of your home and the rest is up to the termites. Foraging termites will find the bait consume it, and carry the slow-acting poison to its colony infecting others.
Whatever method or combination of methods you choose to use will have some cost associated but those cost are almost noting when compared with the cost of repairs.