Oct 27, 2023 | Termite Control
Georgia is known for its beautiful landscapes, warm weather, and vibrant communities. Unfortunately, it’s also known for its thriving termite populations. Termites can be a homeowner’s worst nightmare, causing extensive and costly damage to your property. In this blog post, we’ll explore why termite treatment is a necessity for your Georgia home, discussing the types of termites found in the state, signs of termites, how to spot termite damage, and crucial tips to prevent and eliminate these destructive pests from your yard.
Termites Found in Georgia:
Georgia is home to several termite species, but the most common ones that homeowners encounter include Eastern Subterranean Termites and Formosan Termites. These voracious pests feed on wood, paper, and cellulose materials, posing a significant threat to your home’s structural integrity.
Signs of Termites:
- Swarmers: One of the most obvious signs of termites is the emergence of termite swarmers. These winged insects are reproductive termites, and their presence in or around your home is a clear indication of a termite infestation.
- Mud Tubes: Subterranean termites build mud tubes to protect themselves from light and open air. You may spot these pencil-sized tubes along your foundation, walls, or in your crawl space.
- Wood Damage: Termite-infested wood often appears hollow or papery, and you may find small, pin-sized holes on its surface. Termites consume wood from the inside, making it difficult to detect their presence until extensive damage has occurred.
- Tight-Fitting Doors and Windows: If your doors and windows suddenly become difficult to open or close, it could be due to termite damage, which warps the wood.
- Pellet-Like Droppings: Drywood termites leave behind small, pellet-like droppings called frass. If you see these near infested wood or in your home, it’s a clear sign of termite activity.
How to Spot Termite Damage:
Termite damage can be difficult to detect until it’s severe. To identify termite damage, look for the following:
- Hollow or damaged wood.
- Cracked or bubbling paint on wooden surfaces.
- Buckling or sagging floors.
- Mud tubes along your home’s foundation.
- Presence of swarmers or discarded wings.
Tips to Prevent and Eliminate Termites:
- Regular Inspections: Schedule annual termite inspections with a professional pest control company in Georgia. They can identify termites early and recommend appropriate termite treatment if needed.
- Reduce Moisture: Termites are drawn to moisture. Fix any leaks and ensure good drainage around your home. Use dehumidifiers in damp areas like basements and crawl spaces.
- Remove Wood-to-Soil Contact: Termites thrive in direct contact with soil. Keep wooden structures, like fences and firewood, off the ground or at least 18 inches away from it.
- Termite-Resistant Materials: When building or renovating your home, consider using termite-resistant materials like treated wood or concrete.
- Regular Yard Maintenance: Keep your yard well-maintained by removing dead trees, stumps, and wood debris. Termites often start infestations outdoors before moving indoors.
Request a Free Termite Control Quote:
Protecting your Georgia home from termite damage is essential, and timely termite treatment is crucial in this battle. If you suspect or have confirmed termite activity in your home, don’t hesitate to seek professional assistance. Request a free termite control quote from our experienced team. We have the expertise and local knowledge to help you safeguard your home from these destructive pests.
Don’t wait until termites cause extensive damage to your property. Contact your local pest control company today for a free termite control quote and take the first step in defending your Georgia home against these silent invaders. Your peace of mind is just a call away!
May 25, 2023 | Florida Termite Control
South Florida Termite Control: Types of Termites
In South Florida, our warm, humid, and tropical weather is the perfect environment for termites to thrive. If these silent destroyers invade, their damage to your home or property can be devasting and could cost thousands of dollars in repairs. In Florida, there are two common types of termites that homeowners should be aware of: drywood termites and subterranean termites. To prevent these termites, it’s important to understand their differences and methods to keep them from infesting. Read more to learn about drywood termites and subterranean termites.
Common Termites in South Florida
Drywood Termites
- These termites are brown or white and are larger than subterranean termites.
- They live and nest within wooden structures or dry wood.
- They do not need contact with the soil to live.
- One of the most common signs of their infestation is spotting frass, which can appear in piles in the infestation and often looks like sawdust.
Subterranean Termites
- There are two kinds of subterranean termites, the solider and the alate or flying termites.
- These termites need a water source to survive and will live in the soil to get it.
- These termites build tunnels and nests underground to ensure it’s humid enough and where they can obtain water.
- A sign of their infestation is seeing mud tubes, a mixture of soil, wood, saliva, and feces.
- You can often spot mud tubes along a home’s foundation or floor joints inside a building.
Preventing Termites in South Florida
Preventing both types of termites is essential to protecting the structural integrity of your home. When preventing subterranean termites, look to eliminate any moisture problems from your property, including that your yard has good drainage, fixing leaky pipes, and removing items that can hold water like buckets or old tires. Likewise, make sure that you are being cautious of the areas where there is soil-to-structure contact. For drywood termites, keep firewood at least 20 feet from the home and elevated off the ground, and regularly inspect your deck or patio for signs of damage.
One of the best ways to ensure your home is termite free is to get regular termite inspections from your local termite control company. These professionals will be able to give your home a thorough inspection and recommend the best prevention plan to avoid future termite infestations.
Apr 21, 2023 | Termite Control
Termites can wreak havoc on your home, causing substantial and costly damage. These household pests are stealthy, often going undetected for long periods of time. Preventing termite damage is critical, and now is the time to get started.
Termites begin swarming in the South in early spring. So, if you don’t already have a termite control plan, now is the time to consider acquiring one. While swarming termites may not cause structural damage, they are an indication that a termite colony is active nearby. This might result in catastrophic structural damage to your property, resulting in repair expenses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Although spring and summer are peak swarming season, termites can be active year-round, especially in warmer climates like ours.
Termite Control
There are various techniques of termite management, and determining which one is best for your property can be difficult. After all, we’re talking about safeguarding one of your most valuable investments! Because termite damage isn’t usually covered by homeowners insurance, it’s imperative to not only get your property treated, but also to have a solid termite guarantee.
Treatment Options for Termites
If you understand how termites work, you could try your hand at DIY termite control. There are a variety of options available for this, ranging from simple liquid barrier treatments to termite baiting systems. If you have any slabs linked to your home or a basement, this can be a difficult task. To keep termites out, a liquid barrier must be comprehensive with no gaps.
Liquid Barrier Treatment
If you have active termites or damage, several pest control firms will offer a liquid treatment. This offers both immediate and long-term termite protection. Make sure your termite treatment comes with a decent warranty, especially one that covers termite re-treatments and any damage caused after treatment.
Borate Wood Treatment
This method of termite treatment is great if your home is still under construction. The wood structure is coated with borates, which are soil elements that provide long-term termite protection while also repelling common domestic pests.
Termite Bait Treament
Baiting systems have been shown to be efficient at eliminating entire termite colonies underground around your home, are less invasive than liquid treatments, are suitable for both new and existing structures, and typically come with a lifetime warranty. It is also the most environmentally friendly solution to defend your home from termites, as it eliminates the need for hundreds of gallons of chemicals. Monitoring devices are placed strategically around your property’s perimeter. The stations have a bait tube that termites are drawn to.
Termite Prevention:
- Keep mulch away from the perimeter of your home. Termites consume this as food.
- Keep any wood items away from your home. Termites can feed on firewood, crossties, and the building project you’ve been working on.
- Maintain your gutters. Termites thrive in damp environments, so keeping the ground surrounding your home dry is critical.
If you have a problem with termites or any other household pests, contact your local pest control company for an evaluation.
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Mar 23, 2023 | Termite Control
Laurens Termite Control: Termite Prevention Tips
There are two factors to consider when looking at termite control: preventing them from infesting your home and treating established termite colonies. Termites are year-round pests and can go undetected for a long period of time, causing devastating damage in the process. There are several prevention methods to consider when looking to eliminate or prevent termites from your Laurens home.
Remove Entry Point Access
One of the best and most effective ways to keep termites out is to remove any access inside your home, including gaps around water and gas lines where they enter your home. Likewise, inspect your foundation for cracks or openings and repair them immediately.
Reduce Their Food Source
To survive, termites need wood and moisture. Eliminating these factors can help reduce your chance of a termite infestation. If you place mulch against your foundation for landscaping purposes, you could be attracting termites into your home. Mulch is a great source of food for termites as they retain any moisture. Try to minimize the use and keep it at least 15 inches away from the foundation. Additionally, if your crawlspace is experiencing a lack of airflow, it can create an ideal environment for these pests. Consider enclosing your crawlspace to prevent these termites and improve the overall health of your home by reducing moisture and decreasing humidity.
Consider Annual Termite Inspections
Termites can be tricky to control and eliminate! These pests will cause significant damage to your home, sometimes before you even realize they have infested. Placing preventative measures in your home to reduce the chance of a termite infestation will always help, but sometimes it’s best to leave it up to your local Laurens pest control company. These professionals can perform an annual termite inspection and provide you with the best termite control and prevention options for your home.
Mar 7, 2023 | Termite Control
Augusta Termite Control: Signs of Termites
Termites are known as silent destroyers, meaning they can go undetected for a long period of time, making their destruction devasting. Common termite species, such as subterranean termites, will infest our Augusta homes and damage the infrastructure, costing billions of dollars in repair. It can be difficult to detect subterranean termites, often hiding until the damage is done, but it is possible. To prevent termites, every homeowner should recognize signs of termite infestations. Check out our top 5 signs of termites that you might see in your home:
Mud Tubes
Often found on exterior surfaces, subterranean termites create mud tubes that allow them to move back and forth between their nest and their food source, which is often your home. These tunnels help protect termites from any predators and provide moisture for survival. Usually, mud tubes can be found wrapped around walls, ceilings, and floors. Mud tubes are common signs of termites.
Noises
Sometimes, hearing noises is your first sign of a termite infestation. Often, if a termite colony has infested your home, you can hear a faint clicking or knocking sound coming from behind walls and other voids. Termites create this noise when a soldier termite bangs their head against wood or vibrates their bodies to signal damage to their colony. When you listen closely, you can also hear termites chewing through wood.
Hollow Wood
Have you noticed hollow wood inside your home or in trees throughout your yard? If so, this is a major sign that termites have established a colony on your property. These pests destroy wood from the inside out, leaving only a thin layer of wood behind. When checking for hollow wood, try tapping on the area in question. You’ll hear a hollow or paper sound, indicating an infestation. Other signs include blistering or bubbling paint in or near wood structures, including windows and door trims.
Frass
Frass is the name for the waste termites leave behind. When subterranean termites travel through wood, they will push debris and waste out behind them through tiny openings. You may notice small black marks or a dark powdery substance around the infested area with small piles of sawdust-like droppings. These sawdust droppings are frass and are usually the color of the structural wood infested.
Wood Damage
The most obvious sign of a termite infestation is seeing the damaged wood itself. Floor, window, and door damage is a major indication that termites are inside. Another indication includes windows and doors not opening or closing smoothly. Take note of any floors that buckle or sag and have them inspected.
If you’ve noticed any of these termite signs or damage, consider contacting your pest control company for a thorough inspection and treatment plan before any more termite damage is done.
