If you live in an area where homes have a high percentage of termite damage, you may want to take prevention to the next level and actually prevent the termites from attacking your home. While nothing can guarantee your home will never have termite damage, taking all the precautions you can may help you prevent severe damage to you property and help you save money.
Inspection is always your first step to prevention. Make it a habit to inspect your home and your property at least once a year. You should keep records of your inspections and detail what you found. Tracking your insect damage can help you prevent future damage by helping you detect insect paths and migration patterns. You should also take time to repair any insect damage that you feel could lead to additional damage.
Always use termite-resistant building materials when possible. Even if you are building a tree-house or outdoor play area, it is best to use pressure treated woods that termites will not find hospitable. Redwood, cedar, and juniper are all great woods that termites do not like. Choosing the right woods for all your building projects will help prevent termites from slowly moving towards your home.
Termites need moist soil, so make sure you have proper drainage around your foundation. You should also eliminate standing water that can build up near your home. When doing any work around the foundation of your home, always make sure that you slope the area from your foundation to insure proper drainage away from your house. Water damage can bring many issues to your home and termites are only one of the problems assisted by water. You should also keep an eye out for mud tunnels and dirt piles under wooden structures. If you find mud or soil in areas where you know they should not be, you may want to inspect closely for termites.
Creating a physical barrier between the dirt and your home can be a great way to prevent termites from invading. Lay films of 6mm polyethylene in your crawl space and under your foundation to create a moisture barrier between the soil and wood framing of your home. If you are trying to prevent damage to a pre-built home, look for areas where wood touches soil and wrap the wood with the polyethylene sheets.
Take the time to remove any materials that may possibly attract the termites to your house. If you use firewood in your house, stack the wood away from your house and cover with plastic. You can also cover the ground with plastic to create a barrier between the soil and your fire wood. Sand is a great barrier to termites as well. If you have areas where you feel plastic is just not appealing, create trenches around the area and fill with 16-grit sand. Termites can not carry the sand away and they cannot tunnel through it.
Whatever you do to prevent termites, your best defense is to always be mindful. Do not think that just because you have passed a termite inspection today, you do not need to watch for termites tomorrow.
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