Termite information

Here is some vital termite information every home owner needs to know.

There are three types of termites:

1) Dampwood Termites

2) Drywood Termites

3) Subterranean Termites

1) Dampwood termites attack timber with high moisture level and live in small colonies… Improving ventilation and drainage is enough to get rid of them. Installing a chemical barrier is unnecessary.

2) Drywood termites live in the tropical area with high moisture content in the air. As the name suggests, they attack dry wood. Like Dampwood termites, dry wood termites live in small independent groups. If the infestation is large, fumigation used to treat them. Companies will encapsulate the whole infested place with plastic marquee and release an insecticide gas into the area.

3) Subterranean termites are the bad, bad guys. They cause the most devastation to homes and live in a centralized colony in their millions. Like ants, they have different casts in charge of different tasks. To reduce the risk of an infestation turn your home into a desert for so no colony can survive.

The thought of having a termite infestation is enough to wake you up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat! The worst thing you can do is empty a can of normal insecticide in and around the area where you find them. You must seek professional help.

Prevention is always better than cure. Fix leaking taps, remove timber under and around your home and ensure plants aren’t growing too close to your home.

Should you find termites, do not panic. One in three homes in Australia have got termite problems,

A lot of my clients ask if I can tell them how much damage they have done to their timber. Answering this is not easy as termites prefer to eat inside of the wood and keep the outside clean and untouched. There is a little comfort in the way termites eat your timber. They are like engineers and normally they stop eating before the timber is going to collapse.

Before you treat the damage caused by termites you must remove them entirely.