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There are two main techniques termites can come to infest your home (assuming they werent already there in the first place); by atmosphere and through the ground.

A drywood termite infestation typically occurs when an existing colony sends out flying termite swarmers. Once these swarmers find a wooden crevice in your home, they shed their wings, split out a tiny nest, and begin laying eggs to initiate a brand new termite colony.

On the other hand, subterranean termites, whose colonies are underground, can enter your home through its foundations. Because these termites forage for food, they may stumble upon a wealthy new food source your house. Subterranean termites commonly build mud tunnels over foundation walls to access the wooden parts of the construction.

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Note: While there are other species of termites, these are the two most common species responsible for most of the damage to peoples homes.

One of the main reasons that termites can be so damaging is that by the time that many homeowners discover the infestation, severe damage has already been done. A termite infestation is like cancer; notice it early and chances are pretty good, grab it late and the treatment will likely be painful and intensive. .

Therefore, it is extremely important that you learn to spot the signs of a termite infestation. Keep a watch out to the following:

If you see a swarm of winged termites near or around your home, theres a sure sign that a termite colony is nearby. Similar to winged ants, these winged termites are more likely to swarm around a light source. They also look rather similar,And the layperson will not be able to tell them apart. .

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Termite swarmers dont maintain their wings for long. Once they shed their wings, they're in search of areas to build new nests.

If you notice small piles of discarded swarmers wings on places like window sills, or captured in spider webs, there may be a termite colony nearby; or one going to begin.

Mud tubes are little tunnels built by termites to transport meals back to their colony. Source: masseyservices.com

Subterranean termites construct mud tubes (sometimes known as guardian or foraging tubes) as links between their food source and their colony. These are produced from soil, debris, and timber, and they help protect the colony against predators and conserve moisture.

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If you've got a subterranean termite infestation, you'll find these tubes in the foundations of your house or in its my website own substructure.

As subterranean termites eat through the timber of your house, they create termite galleries. These will be the empty spaces left in the wood as they burrow through it. Typically, termite galleries run parallel to the grain of this timber.

Drywood termites leave behind their fecal droppings as they munch through the timber in your house. Their droppings, known as frass, are pellet-shaped, and seem like heavy grains of sand or sawdust. If you find mounds of termite droppings in and around your home, you likely have a drywood termite infestation. .

Termites will eat your house from the inside out; thats what makes them so insidious. A piece of wood could look perfectly normal on the outside but be completely infested with termites on the inside. Should you imagine that a termite infestation at a certain place, tap or puncture the wood to find out whether its hollow.

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Coupled with other signs of termite infestation, swollen wooden floorboards can mean that there is termite damage underneath them.

Termites like dark and moist areas. Thats the reason why they live just under the surface of the wood and bring in moisture into their official website termite galleries. This moisture can often cause the wood to swell. In case you have termites in your wooden floors, the floors will likely start to swell. Similarly, the moisture can also result in the paint on wooden surfaces to peel or bubble; especially if the termites have eaten all of the way up into the paint coating. .

Since these signs are very similar to the signs of general water leaks (since theyre either due to moisture), make certain to rule out any water leaks . If youve determined that water escapes are not the reason, you can inspect further by seeing whether the timber is now hollow.

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You might have noticed we left off termite mounds off this listing. Though stereotypical, not all termite species build mounds. In fact, no North American termite species construct mounds; the ones who do originate mostly in Australia and Africa.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, termites trigger $40 billion each year in damages worldwide and are responsible for destroying 600,000 houses in the United States annually. The overall annual cost of pest control and damage repair in the United States is $2 billion. This does not include costs to the army from the Formosan termite (a subterranean species).