How Do Termites Access Your Home?

How Do Termites Access Your Home?

If termites are tiny creatures that live in the wild, then how do they make into suburban areas and into peoples’ homes? It would be easy to imagine termites invading an isolated home within a forested region, but how termites find their way to the wood within your home is not so easy to imagine. It turns out that termite workers are pretty good at locating wooden structures that make contact with soil, and the soil around your home is sufficient to keep termites healthy.

It must be remembered that not all termites are into consuming the wood in your home. Many types of termites stick to forested areas in order to find sustenance, and the vast majority of termites are not even located in the United States; instead, most termites can be found in tropical regions. Subterranean termites are the types of termites that can be found in soil that is located around peoples’ homes. Subterranean termites can also build vast underground networks that could eventually lead into residential areas. Once subterranean termites have found their way into the soil around peoples’ homes they can then find their way into a home through cracks in the foundation. Even if a home’s foundation is free of cracks, subterranean termites can still enter the home through openings where electrical and/or plumbing lines lead into the foundations concrete. Foundations that are constructed from hollow blocks, or even concrete and bricks are particularly vulnerable to a termite infestation. In other words, subterranean termites are determined little creatures.

Subterranean termites don’t cause the kind of damage that is quickly spotted by homeowners; instead these termites cause damage that is only noticeable several months, or even years after a termite infestation has started. If subterranean termites do not sound devious enough to you, then you should know that these termites often hide deep within wood so that they can continue to cause damage unnoticed. Even infested timber and trees can look normal on the outside while being hollow on the inside.

Have you ever heard of anyone being injured as a result of a termite infestation?