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  • Do Termites Cause Expensive Damage?

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Termite Control

Do Termites Cause Expensive Damage?

Do Termites Cause Expensive Damage?

The scariest part about termites is that they can eat away at your home for a long time without you even knowing they are there. This allows the damage they create to get much worse before you start treating your home for termites. Because termites affect the wooden frame of your home, the hidden damage can really be a blow to your wallet when you finally start to repair the destruction caused by termites.

Every year in the US, termites cause billions of dollars worth of damage. The average homeowner who discovers termite damage will spend about $3,000 on repairs. That can be devastating, especially in this economy with inflation already making everyday expenses difficult.

Prevention

Keeping termites away from your home is key to not having to pay a dime in termite damage repairs. A few ways you can prevent termites from choosing your house as their new home and meal are:

  • Keep wood piles away from the home
  • Remove dead, fallen trees or old stumps from your yard
  • Make sure soil around the exterior of your home is not above your foundation
  • Keep shrubs and trees near your home from touching your siding or roof
  • Quickly repair any leaks or drips inside
  • Make sure your roof is in good condition
  • Have a yearly termite inspection

Termite inspection

Termites are experts at getting inside your home. Some try to get in by flying inside while others build elaborate mud tunnels so the colony can enter your home without being exposed to sunshine. While you can definitely keep an eye out for signs of termites as well as use prevention measures to keep the termites out, the single best way to safeguard your home against termites is to have a termite exterminator to routinely check your home for termites.

Depending on how at risk your home is for developing a termite problem, you may have a termite inspection every six months to a year. Once your home gets the all clear from a termite inspector, any new termite invasion will first have to find your home, find a way inside, start the colony, and begin eating. A routine  inspection greatly reduces how much damage the colony can make before the next inspection.

What kind of treatment does my home need?

Depending on where you live and the humidity around your home, a termite exterminator will decide on the best way to protect your home from termites. A few ways to treat for termites and prevent them from coming back are:

  • Preventative barrier around your home in the the soil that kills any termite that gets into the treatment
  • Bait stations outside that entice worker termites to bring poisoned food back to the colony.
  • Preventative exposed wood treatment in the attic or any accessible crawl spaces
  • Localized treatment when the technician discovers the location of the termites
  • Fumigation when the infestation is wide spread or in difficult to reach areas of the home

For the best termite extermination services in Upland, CA, give Bug Baron Exterminator a call today.

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Termite Control

How Often Should I Have a Termite Inspection?

How Often Should I Have a Termite Inspection?

Termites can cause extensive damage to your home. The most difficult part about a termite infestation is that this pest is not out in the open where you can easily see it. Termites can be eating away at your home for months before you even realize they are there. By the time you discover you have termites, you may have costly damage in need of repair. In addition, the size of the termite colony may be enormous, making it difficult to eradicate.

To keep from paying outrageous repair bills, the best line of defense against termites is prevention. You can learn the signs of termites and keep out a sharp eye to protect your home. But the single best way to prevent termites from literally eating you out of house and home is to at least have a yearly termite inspection.

If you have had termite damage before, you know you definitely do not want to go down that road again. You may want to set up a regular termite inspection every six months to ensure that any termite damage is kept to a minimum.

Thorough inspection

An initial termite inspection is when a termite control technician comes to your home and looks in key areas for possible termite activity. For a termite colony to thrive, the termites need food and water in order to support their growing colony. Your house is already full of their food in the form of wood.

As soon as the termites find a water source in the form of a leaky pipe or even a humid basement, they will be good to go.  A termite exterminator will definitely want to inspect places where water is allowed to accumulate or drip to make sure termites aren’t using it as a water source.

An experienced termite control technician will not need to tear apart your home in order to find the termites. They will look around pipes and in cool places like in basements or up in the attic for any damaged wood or wood that appears warped and blistered.

If there is any paneling that can be easily removed near pipes in the walls, the technician will want to take a look.

But termite activity can be found outdoors as well. The inspector will look around the foundation for signs of Subterranean Termites who make mud tunnels attached to the foundation.

Peace of mind

While setting up a regular termite inspection when you have not seen signs of termites may seem extreme, the comfort of knowing that your home is termite free is well worth making a simple recurring appointment with a termite inspector. The average amount of termite damage can cost as much as $3000. While in severe infestations, the cost is much higher. Don’t take that risk.

Give Bug Baron Exterminator in Upland, CA a call today for your initial termite inspection.

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Termite Control

Termite Control Experts in Rancho Cucamonga

Termite Control Experts in Rancho Cucamonga

The good news about termites is that you can prevent them from coming into your home by setting up a routine termite inspection and treatment. While there are several treatments that can eradicate a termite infestation, getting a termite control expert’s eyes on your property at least once a year can save you from even a year’s worth of termite damage. Knowing what to look for and what happens during a termite inspection will help you know what to expect and how to get rid of termites from your Rancho Cucamonga home.

Know the difference between ants and termites

If you see an insect in your home, you may first assume that it is an ant.  Ants and termites look very similar if you don’t know some of their subtle differences. While most termites stay hidden in your walls and cannot endure sunlight, swarmer termites leave the colony to start a new one. If you see a termite crawling around on your floor, it may be a swarmer termite. Termites look similarly to ants but have some key distinctions.

  • Their antennae: Termites have straight antennae while ants are bent.
  • Their wings. Both insects have two sets of wings. Both sets of termite wings are the same length while ants have a longer set on top.
  • Their waists. A termite abdomen and thorax are about as wide as their heads, with little variation in width. An ant has a wasp-like waist that comes in sharply in a pinched look.

Signs of termites

Even though termites are mostly silent creatures that steadily eat away at your home, there are some things to look for to know if you have a termite infestation.  A few signs to look for are:

  • Small piles of frass, excrement that resembles saw dust
  • Warped wood
  • The appearance of water damage
  • Tiny holes around your windows
  • Baseboards and trim that appear paper thin
  • Mud tunnels on the exterior of your home
  • Shed wings on your exterior window sills

If you see any of these signs in your Rancho Cucamonga home, do not hesitate to call your trusted termite exterminator immediately.

Cost of damage

American homeowners spend thousands of dollars on home repairs each year due to termite damage.  Termites never completely stop eating so eliminating them at the first sign is crucial to saving your house from even more repairs.

Subterranean termites, the type responsible for the majority of damage in the U.S., only eat the cellulose in the wood instead of eating it straight through like a Drywood Termite. The walls, floor, and ceiling can stay intact when only the soft part of the wood is eaten away, even though the structural integrity of the structure is compromised. This can actually be quite dangerous because you may unknowingly put your weight on the floor or even the roof, only for it to give way.

Termite treatment

Whether you need barrier protections around your home, localized treatment when a colony is discovered, or several bait stations around your yard, an experienced termite control expert will find the perfect termite treatment for your situation.

For the best termite control in Rancho Cucamonga, give Bug Baron Exterminator a call today. 

Categories
Termite Control

What Should I Do if I Have a Termite Problem in My Home?

What Should I Do if I Have a Termite Problem in My Home?

If you have a termite infestation in your home, you likely will not see actual termites crawling around your floors. Termites stay out of view, hidden deep in your walls, floor, and ceiling. They do not come out into the light unless they are ready to branch out and create new colonies. In this case, they send out winged termites to find a new place to build a colony. Knowing how to identify a termite infestation and what to do if you discover termite signs will help protect your home from extensive damage.

What to look for

Termites are wood eating insects that create massive nests inside people’s homes. A few signs that you may have a termite infestation are:

  • Thin or papery looking baseboards and other trim throughout your home: Because termites eat away at the wood from inside the walls or floor, the exterior layer of the surface will be left intact. But as it becomes hollow, it begins to appear thin and weak.
  • Wavy or water damaged looking floors: Similarly to looking thin, flooring, especially wood floors, begin to appear like they have endured water damage. The look appears because of the weakening boards, but it is also true that termites often infest areas of the home that have lots of moisture.
  • Small piles of frass: After consuming wood, it should be no surprise that termite excrement resembles saw dust. If you find little piles of sawdust near light fixtures, under wall hangings, or around the windows, look closely. If the saw dust is a little thicker and has geometric sides, it is most likely that you have discovered frass, or termite droppings.
  • Faint clicking sound at night: If you have a severe termite infestation or a really quiet house, you can hear a clicking sound. Termites thump their heads against their wooden tunnels to communicate. The head knocking often sounds like a clicking noise to the human ear. While they make this sound in the daytime as well, you can usually only hear it in the stillness of the night.
  • Shed wings around the perimeter of your home: When a colony reaches a certain capacity in a space, the termites will send out winged termites to go out in search of a new place to make a new colony. These winged termites are called swarmers. When a swarmer finds your home to be just perfect for a new colony, they will land, usually on an exterior window sill, and immediately shed their wings before finding a way inside.
  • Mud tunnels on the foundation of your house: If you inspect the exterior perimeter of your home, you may notice mud tunnels about the width of a pencil stuck to the foundation. These tunnels allow subterranean termites to enter and exit your home without being exposed to the sunlight.

Call in an expert

If you should discover any of the above signs of termites, calling an expert termite control professional is the next step. Termites are serious business and could end up costing you thousands of dollars in repairs. The faster you can get rid of them, the less damage they can do.

For Upland, CA homeowners, give Bug Baron Exterminator a call today.