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Your First Line Of Defense Against Termites

Tue 26 Feb 2008 - 11:13

Your First Line Of Defense Against Termites
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Dean_Gallagher]Dean Gallagher

Termites and the damages they cause is a pressing issue faced by many homeowners across the United States nowadays. This is because of the fact that once they get into your home, they are very difficult to exterminate. In addition to this, no home insurance covers your property against damages caused by termites. So, your best line of defense is prevention. Property maintenance and building modifications should be done to decrease or preclude termite infestations. The following property maintenance and building modifications can help preclude future termite infestations.

Property Maintenance

  • Keep your area clean. Clear your area of debris made of paper, cardboard, wood or other cellullosic materials. You should not keep these kinds of materials beneath or near your home. Avoid putting wooden ladders or wood piles against the sides of your house. These items tend to collect or absorb moisture and are ideal initial food supply for termites.

  • Check wooden parts. Regularly check wooden parts of your properties like walls, trellises, fences, and posts for signs of termite infestation. Keep wooden structures away from the ground as much as possible. Eliminating wood to earth contact reduces the chances of attracting termites. If you'd like to have wooden fences or trellises that directly touches the soil, make sure you erect them with a significant distance from your home's foundation or major structure.

  • Eliminate Moisture. Most termites need moisture to stay alive. You should keep your house properly ventilated to help reduce the amount of moisture in it. Look for moisture sources like leaking faucets, defective gutter, pipes, air condition units and sprinklers. Also, make certain that water containers within the vicinity of your house are drained.

  • Keep plants and trees away. Property maintenance includes your garden and shrubbery. Trees and plants can be both moisture and food sources to termites. If you really love plants and want to have them, just plant them at a distance from your home. More so, make sure that their branches don't touch the wooden parts of your house.

  • Use treated woods. Borate treated woods are the best to use for your home's wooden parts. Wood treatment decreases or eliminates the chance of your home timbers becoming food sources for termites.

  • Have home inspection done by experts. To be more confident that your termite protection methods are successful, seek help from the experts. Have experts regularly inspect your home for signs of termite invasion. Termite infestations are often tricky and tough to detect, so an expert's opinion is an added security.

    Building Structure Modifications

    You can also incorporate the use of chemical and physical barriers as precautionary measures to make your structures more termite resistant. Chemical barriers are most effective when used prior to construction of your home. But because this barriers use chemicals to treat soil and construction materials, it is strongly advised that this be done by experts. Physical barriers should be introduced while your structure is being built. There are a lot of physical barriers you can use to modify your home structures, these ranges from stainless steel mesh, coarse sand barrier, fence and deck support that eliminates wood-soil contact, concrete retaining walls, PVC sheds and plastic film barriers.

    Visit [http://www.termitexpel.com]Termite Expel for more information on tackling your termite problems.

    Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dean_Gallagher http://EzineArticles.com/?Your-First-Line-Of-Defense-Against-Termites&id=1002188


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