Terri Ramsey Beavers Termites are a nuisance. Once they get into your house they can live there for a surprisingly long time without being noticed. Unfortunately, termites don’t live by themselves. They live in colonies and have a set structure.
That means there is a queen, workers that look after the colony, feeders, reproducers, and so on. The average colony can eat six inches of a piece of 2 x 4 in just five months. That’s a lot of wood and can cause you serious structural issues.
If you see the signs of termites in your walls you need to take action as quickly as possible. However, before calling the experts to deal with the issue it is worth trying one of the termite bait systems. These are effective boxes that go on the floor and have a couple of entrances allowing the termites to go in and out. They take the food from the bait box and take it back to the colony as they are satisfied it is good food. They will also mark the box to ensure they can easily return and get more food.
This is the point where you switch the food for the poison bait. The termites take it back to the colony and kill the rest of the colony. You can then get an expert to verify they are all gone.
As termites are not often visible in your home you should familiarize yourself with the most common signs they are in your walls.
Pin Holes In Your Walls
Termites create tunnels in wood as they eat it. They will eat their way through paper as well. That means you will see small pinholes in your paper or your wood. The more there are the more active the termites are. This actually shows you the damage they can do and how they weaken the wood.
Lines On Drywall
Termites will go through the paper on drywall and tunnel inside the drywall. This can often result in faint lines becoming obvious on the drywall. This is effectively a map of their tunnels!
Hollow wood
You know when you bang a piece of wood and there is nothing behind it the wood sounds hollow. The same is true when termites have been tunneling into the wood. Knock on your wooden wall will sound hollow, warning you that you have a termite issue.
Bubbling Paint
If the wood is painted then the holes in the wood may not be so obvious. However, the movement of the termites will cause the paint to bubble. If you notice this then there is a good chance you have termites.
Soft Wood
The more termites eat wood the less strength it has as there will be a multitude of tunnels going through the wood. If you think the wood is soft then the best way to test it is to push a screwdriver in it. The easier it goes in the worse the termite problem.
Then you know it is time to call professional help.