There are more termites in the world than there are humans. This isn’t much of a problem most of the time, except for when those termites find their way into our homes.
Once termites infest your home, they’re tricky to get out without professional pest control help. However, there are some important steps to help eliminate the problem on your own.
Keep reading to learn more about how to get rid of termites.
1. Check for Typical Warning Signs
The first thing to know is the different common signs that tell you termites are eating away at your home.
As termites hollow out the wood of the house structure, paint on the exterior side starts to look bubbled or cracked. This is due to the air bubbles collecting inside, messing with the smooth surface of the paint.
Knocking on wooden beams gives a hollow sound after termites eat at them. It’s also possible to check the walls themselves. If you see raised tubes running along the foundation or wooden walls, that’s a good indication that pests are near.
2. Determine the Type of Pest
Sometimes these warning signs go unnoticed until we start seeing the actual bugs themselves flying around and trying to escape. This kind of behavior doesn’t always mean that you’re dealing with termites. Flying ants look a lot like termites at a glance, so it’s a good idea to identify the type of pest infesting your home.
Without knowing, you might employ defensive measures against the wrong one and end up allowing the problem to worsen.
The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is to take a look at the thorax of the pest. Flying ants have distinctive body segments while termites have a singular body without any segments.
3. Remove Simple Food Sources
Once you’re certain that you’re dealing with termites, it’s time to stash away any of the easy sources of food lying around.
Fireplace wood situated both inside and outside of the house needs to be put elsewhere for the time being. This is even more important if you store your fireplace wood up against the foundation of your house as that leads the termites straight inside the building.
Paper debris and extra wood pieces can’t stay out, either. Even stumps in your landscaping could be an easy place for the termites to thrive.
4. Implement Bait Stations
One way to control termites is to set up bait stations around the perimeter of your home. These bait stations draw out the termites from their nest. They entice the termites to go inside the station which coats them with a slow-acting termite poison.
The termites travel back to their nest and infect other termites, causing a cascade effect until the colony dies off.
The most effective way to use these kinds of stations is to put many of them all around the outside of your house. This way, no matter where the termites are, the bait draws them out regardless. It makes for a great solution when you know there’s a termite problem but you aren’t certain about the location of the termites.
5. Treat Surrounding Soil
Another way to get rid of the termites is to spray a termite-specific pesticide all around the perimeter of your house. This spray keeps the termites from wanting to infest or even go near your home, leaving you without any pest problems.
The main drawback of this method is that it only treats the topsoil rather than any of the soil underground. If the termite species affecting you is a notorious digger, then this might not help you in the long run.
On the plus side, this is an effective method if you know where the termites are and have access to that area. Instead of spraying the soil, spray the affected wood instead. This will help kill off the termites and will also poison the wood, harming their chances for survival.
6. Set a Wet Cardboard Trap
Sometimes we prefer to not use harsh chemicals in or around our house. Those chemicals last and could be dangerous if children or pets end up messing with the affected areas.
There are several natural ways to deal with termites that have the potential to be as effective as chemical solutions.
If you have a lot of corrugated cardboard boxes lying around, these make excellent traps for controlling termites. It’s easy to buy some if you don’t have any available. Wet the cardboard and set it near the termite hive or in the suspected infected area.
The small holes and the cellulose material are perfect for drawing out the termites. Instead of eating your wood, they’ll eat the cardboard. With the termites drawn out and embedded into the cardboard, getting rid of them is much easier.
7. Make Use of Bright Sunlight
Termites don’t do well in sunlight. This is why they burrow away and stay in the dark.
Once you’ve located the infested area or object, open the blinds and let the sunlight do all of the work for you. The termites won’t have an easy time dealing with direct sunlight and will die off after an extended period exposed to it.
If the infestation is in a place that makes it impossible to use sunlight, UV lights do the trick in a pinch. Set up the lamps and leave them on for several hours, then check back and readjust the angle if necessary.
Professional Pest Exterminators Know How to Get Rid of Termites Fast
With the help of these tips, you’ll get a head start on any termite infestation. To ensure that every single termite disappears from your home quickly, it’s best to call a pest control company to take a look.
These experts know how to get rid of termites in any kind of situation, and they’ll give you the best results. They’ll also help you with preventative measures to keep this problem from happening again. Soon, you’ll never have to worry about termites causing damage to your precious home!
Need help getting rid of pesky termites? Contact us today!
