When Termites Attack: How to Deal with Your Worst Nightmare
As many expert exterminators will tell you, termites are one of the most dangerous pests to have around the house since it’s incredibly difficult to detect signs of infestation. Yes, termites are secretive little critters that could infest for years without any visible signs of damage – yet.
What Happens When Termites Infest
If left unchecked, termites can continue to eat away at the wooden skeleton of a house until it becomes entirely unstable. At this point, a homeowner will be forced to pay for expensive repairs to the structure of a home or demolish the entire property to start over from scratch. Granted, this is a worst-case scenario that can occur if signs of termite damage aren’t detected early on.
Once you have a full-blown termite infestation on your hands, it could cost up to $318.96 to repair minimal structural damage, based on 2012 estimates. Yet throughout the US, serious termite infestations have racked up hefty bills of over $5 billion in property damage per year.
Even worse is the fact that basic homeowner’s insurance often doesn’t cover termite damage, meaning that a homeowner will have to pay for labor and material costs to repair any structural damage out of pocket.
How to Check for Termite Damage
By this point, you may be shaking in your boots at the thought of paying for hundreds of dollars’ worth of damage to your home because of a simple termite infestation. As a smart homeowner, it literally pays to investigate your property regularly for signs of termite damage to keep your structure safe and sound.
Obvious signs of termite damage include:
- Rotten or distorted wood in doors, flooring, furniture, and cabinets.
- Mud tunnels near the slab of your home.
- Tiny pinholes in walls and wood materials in your home.
- Distorted or blistered paint on wood.
- Termite swarms or detached wings on the property.
Termites are best prevented by installing proper drainage in a yard to make sure that excess water is routed away from the foundation of a home. If there are gutters on the roof of a home, this water should also be diverted away from the property.
If you have already found termites in your home, it’s not too late to seek professional help. You can contact a Birmingham pest control company to assess the problem. They can determine what type of treatment to use to get rid of termites quickly before they damage your property any further.