Termites are scary because they can make light work if your home in just a short amount of time. They eat a lot, and the costs of their hunger add up in a lot more ways than just lost money to rebuilding.
Swarming is not a pleasant thing to think about, but it’s the best way to tell if you have termites. They’re mostly quiet, so don’t expect to hear them gnawing away within your walls. Swarms don’t happen for very long, but if you do find a pile of wings very near or within your home (most likely the basement or crawl space), then it’s likely from termites. You may also see tiny mud tunnels around your walls, which basically leads the termites back to food (the wood in your home.)
Termites are most often found during construction and inspections, often too late for people who are unknowingly trying to sell or buy an infested home. It’s understandable that people miss termites, but it still means that the damage will have to be dealt with. If you find any type of hollowed out wood in your home, then that’s obviously another red flag.
So what can be done about this? There are things that you can do with chemicals to pre-treat your home or to place baits around the outside of your home to lure the termites to them so that they feed and die. Chemicals can be dangerous and don’t last for longer than a few years, so it’s recommended that you approach that solution with great caution. The baits may not be enough to get them to leave your often much more inviting home, but the technology for baits is getting better every year.
You can also call the professional termite control companies if the problem has already progressed to the point where you can’t handle it anymore. Horizon Pest Control has been handling them for quite some time, and they have the expertise to stop them fast. Millions of termites live in a colony, so it’s understandable that they’re a lot to deal with (for anyone.) Termites can happen to anyone, but being more aware and on top of prevention can help save you from a nightmare.