Having termite infestations in your home can compromise its
structural stability while causing damage costing thousands of dollars to
repair. This can happen without your knowledge, so it’s vital to have termite inspections on The Gold Coast done regularly by as competent, licensed pest
control professional. But it’s also important to keep a lookout for the
telltale signs you may have termites present between inspections.
These are the five most common signs of a termite infestation:
1. Swarmer’s
One sign that there are swarmer’s
about is their telltale piles of discarded wings. These can be seen around
entrance ways, such as window sills and doorways as well as under lights that
attract them at night. When the young termites leave the nest they’re equipped
with wings, they discard when they locate a suitable place to start a new
colony. Quite often this is the only sign you will see of them before they
become established and cause damage to your property.
2.
Mud
Tubes
Mud tubes are built by
subterranean termites to provide them with protective tunnels to travel from
their colony nest to their food source. Termites need to keep moist and these
mud tubes are built when they need to travel on the exposed surface. Usually
you can find these on or around foundations or in areas where they need to
cross from one timber area to another.
3.
Wood
Damage
Termites like to eat timber from
the inside to the outside, they are not concerned with weakening or destabilizing
the wood they attract, unlike some other wood boring insects. They will consume
the wood until there is almost nothing left.
Termites can often be detected because the wood, when tapped
sounds hollow and often when they are present the timber is weakened so it breaks
easily. The wood work also tend to blister outwards as can sometimes be seen
around windows, doors and architraves in areas that have a termite infestation
and are left untreated. So you need to have termite inspections done on The Gold
Coast Regularly.
4.
Bubbling
or Uneven Paint
Termite can work and eat under
painted surfaces, so are sometimes hard to detect, but one of the telltale
signs is when the painted surface looks uneven or blisters appear. This is
often due to a moisture buildup which is common when termites are active as
they need moisture to survive, so moisten their tunnels as they move around.
5.
Frass
or termite droppings
Termites are busy eating the wood
inside your home, they produce droppings which resemble small hard wooden
pellets about the size of small brown sugar granules. These are often the same
colour as the wood they are eating and are pushed out of very small holes that
are themselves very hard to see, but you will soon notice a small pile of these
droppings in areas where termites are active. So if you find them you are most
likely to have drywood termites in your home.
Having regular termite inspections on The Gold Coast is an
important measure to take to ensure your property is termite free as these
invaders can quickly cause a huge amount of damage that is very expensive to
repair reducing the value of your home.
