What Attracts Termites to your Home? 4 Vital Things

What attracts termites to your home? You may notice termites start to swarm and become more active throughout late spring and summer.

Even being seen swarming in residential areas. They are things that make your home so attractive. As a new or current homeowner, you must learn what they can do to avoid termite activity and prevent costly repairs.

In this article, we’ll go over a few things that can attract termites to homes and some practices you can use to deter them from your property.

 

What Attracts Termite to your Home?

To reiterate, you’ll find termites swarming from late spring to summer, and like other insects, you can find these pests attracted to the following sources:

1. Light Sources

Porchlights, street lamps, and other fixtures. Your windows could possibly be termite hot spots when they’re swarming. When termites are swarming, we recommend you keep any outdoor lighting shut off at night.

You may also need to secure your windows with light-blocking curtains without any lights warming, termites will be drawn to other properties and away from yours.

 

Read also: Early Warning Signs of Termites

 

2. Deadwood Sources

Termites are particularly attracted to yards containing dead trees, stumps, dampened would decaying wood structures, and piles of firewood since their diet depends on wood and moisture.

Reproductive termites will lay their eggs near or underneath these wood sources. We recommend you remove tree stumps or other decaying wood completely from your yard movable would sources like firewood should be stored as far from your home as possible to prevent potential infestations from spreading.

You can also place concrete slabs underneath the wood, and store them on metal stands to raise the wood from the ground damp wood.

 

Read also: How to Kill Formosan Termites Permanently

 

3. Moisture Sources

Termites depend on moisture to help them digest their food, examine your property for stagnant water or other sources of moisture, like pipes, air conditioning vents, and rain gutters.

You should repair any leaky pipes or faulty plumbing you find around your home. Drains and gutters should be directed away from your home’s foundation to reduce moisture in this area.

 

Read also: What is the Life Cycle of Termites?

 

4. Mulch Sources

Mulch in flower beds, provide essential food and water that termites need to survive. Additionally, mulch creates a damp dark environment conducive to termite and larval development.

Ideally, mulch in flower beds should be established several feet away from your home. You may also want to consider using materials that termite canton.

Just like gravel, if you found termites already inhabiting these areas or in your structure, you’ll need to conduct a trench application with the termiticide.

 

Read also: Termite Season | When is Termite Season?

 

How to Prevent Termites from Your Home

You can get rid of what attracts termites to your home, termite preventive measures must be taken quickly if you have discovered termites in your home. Termites can be prevented from spreading and the treatment is successful by following these steps:

1. Eliminate all moisture sources: 

Getting rid of moisture is one of the most important things you can do to prevent pests, including termites, from invading your home.

You may keep termites at bay by reducing the amount of moisture on your property. If you live in a humid area, a dehumidifier may be a good investment.

2. Fix all leakage in your home: 

Keep an eye out for any signs of leaks or degradation in your home, and fix them as soon as you can. Water-logged walls and decayed roofs make ideal nesting sites for termites.

Repair and seal any leaks as soon as you notice them, and conduct regular inspections of your home’s dark corners and basements in particular.

These are the first places bugs will gather if you don’t pay attention to them. Termites are more likely to attack a basement leak since it’s closer to the ground, making it easier for them to get there.

3. Clear and Keep your home clean always:

It’s critical that you clear your home after enlisting the help of pest control experts to eradicate termites or bed bugs. Pests like termites thrive in warm, moist, and dark environments, such as newspapers, old cardboard boxes, and magazines.

If you have termites in one of your rooms, don’t move any of your belongings, including furniture, from that room to other areas of your home that aren’t infested.

4. Set a gap between your wood log and the ground:

For those who have a garden, make sure that the earth and the wood are separated by at least three feet. A gap of at least eighteen inches is considered essential by most specialists.

Your home and furniture will be less vulnerable to termite infestation if you use this method. Stones or cement can be used to create a physical barrier between the earth and the wooden area in your patios, gardens, and other outdoor areas.

5. Borate wood:

Borate is a common termite repellent that can be used on wood before priming or painting. Preceding priming and painting, you can apply borate to wood by spraying it.

Termites can’t get to the wood because it soaks up the insecticide. The termite spray can be primed and painted as normal and used to build window frames, doors, and other types of structures. Termites will be kept at bay for decades with this borate spray’s powerful deterrent properties.

6. Sun dry infested items: 

Furniture damaged by termites should be exposed to direct sunshine for a minimum of three days to kill the pests. In the summer, when termites can’t endure the heat, this termite defense approach can be effective.

The heat from the sun will kill the termites and eliminate the moisture from the furniture, preventing a re-infestation from occurring. Before putting the furniture back into the house, it’s a good idea to properly clean it and spray it with a termite spray.

 

Conclusion

Termites are very destructive pests and will cost lots of money to fix damages if allowed to remain on your property. Having known what attracts termites to your home, it should be in your best interest to avoid and put away whatever will bring these pests to your home. 

However, keeping up with the preventive procedures, termites will be stopped and kept at bay ensuring your wood and furniture are safe. Don’t forget to share your experience battling these guys with us in the comment section.

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