Preventing termites is a serious issue for any homeowner. Termites are a constant threat and there is no telling as to where or when they will strike. They could build an entire colony under your very own floorboards and you would not suspect a thing! Unless they have reduced your once strong and sturdy floorboard to pulp, that is.
Termites, along with every other living creature, prefer to situate their habitat in areas that are in close proximity to food and water sources. So the best method of home termite prevention is to take those sources out of this picture so they are forced to forage somewhere else.
It sounds simple enough, right? But if their source of food and water is your own house, how would you exactly “take it out of the picture”? In this case, your best bet for preventing these pests from invading would be to make your home a hostile environment for them, make settling down a bit harder.
Here are a few termite prevention tips on how to do just that:
- Wooden parts of your home should not come in contact with the soil. They should be at least six inches above the soil. Remember that termites tunnel through the soil to reach the vulnerable parts of your home.
- Avoid placing mulch next to the foundation of your home. Mulch is a protective covering that is laid over the soil surrounding plants for the purpose of enriching the soil, retaining its moisture, and preventing it from being eroded.
- Never store or stack lumber, firewood, newspapers or any other cellulose-made product against the foundation or within crawl spaces.
- Likewise, you should not allow trellises or any similar structures to touch your home, and neither should you build flower planters against the sides of the house, they should be kept at least a foot away from the foundation.
- Remove dead trees, stumps, roots, fallen branches, or any other wood debris from around your house.
- As much as possible, prevent water from coming in contact with your foundation. Read this article published on Gutterilla on why you should clean gutters, downspouts, and splash blocks regularly. Use downspout extenders to keep runoff at least a foot away from the foundation.
- Promptly repair leaky faucets, pipes or air conditioning units to keep the ground around your home dry.
- Soil has to be sloped or graded away so that surface water drains away from the foundation and not towards it.
- Regularly check for cracks in concrete slabs around the house because these are already signs of termite infestation.
- Keep vents open and clear. If there are vegetation covering them, removing these as well. Screens should also be placed over outside vents.
Keeping these critters from invading your home is, admittedly, not the easiest task to do. Termite prevention methods tend to be most effective when they are started or incorporated early, during the construction itself, if possible. Once the structure is up preventing termite infestation gets harder. Only time will tell just how long these barriers will hold up.
And, if indeed, it succumbs to the infiltration, keeping it standing may take a major toll on all of your resources. However, losing your home to termite infestation is an unacceptable option so before you are placed in such an unfortunate position, you best protect your own home now.
