The best form of defense against termites is having a regular termite inspection on the Gold Coast. This preventative maintenance is one of the best ways to maintain your property value keep it safe from these destructive insect pests.
These five signs show that termites are making a meal of your home:
- Blisters in Timber
Subterranean termites love to tunnel through beams and trusses in the ceilings and subfloor. They often show as blisters or slight bubbling that looks like water damage. Termites can travel long distances causing damage along the way before they are noticed as it can be hard to see them when they are under a few layers of paint
- Hollowed Out or Damaged Wood
Termites often chew their way through wood structures inside walls, floors and furniture in their never ending quest for cellulose, a very hard form of sugar that all the structural parts of plants are made of. This is their main food, which they take back to their nests that are usually underground in areas they consider safe.
They make long groves or tunnels in the timber, which over time causes the timber to become weakened and resemble a honeycomb. You can often hear a hollow empty sound if you tap the area.
Your local termite inspection company on the Gold Coast can remove them for you
- Mud Tubes
Termites require the right levels of humidity and temperature to survive. They usually find this underground and build their colonies near a handy food source such as your home.
Whenever they need to cross an area they cannot tunnel into, they build mud tubes. These protect them from the elements and stop them drying out. You can tell if the mud tubes are new and still in use as they are kept damp and soft. If they are dry and appear old the termites have probably found an easier way or better food source
- Drywood Termite Droppings
Some types of termites called Drywood Termites build their colonies in galleries they create inside the wood. They then make kick out holes or places they can push out their excrement to keep the areas clean. This shows up as piles of small pellets that look a bit like sand or coffee grounds. These can range in colour depending on the type of wood they are eating and the variety of termite. When you see these mounds of pellets you have a termite infestation
- Swarming
Termites swam out of their nests in order to mate and build new colonies on wings that are only used for this swarming. Then, as soon as they land they discard them. Termites often appear in their thousands; usually this happens just after rain in the early morning or late evening when the weather conditions are right for them.
If you find their discarded wings around doorways, under lights, closed windows or other likely places they could have entered your building.
Termites often show themselves by leaving their droppings or by making mud tubes to travel on the surface. They can make the timber appear to have water damage or blisters. A termite inspection on the Gold Coast is the best way to remove or prevent them.