Home Exterior Ideas

Lets Take A Walk

Termites will eat most of your house...

Now that you have your home repair checklist printed out or copy & pasted we can finish walking our homes property to see if there are any other problems starting, that we should be aware of.

Termites will eat your house... Seriously... I AM NOT MESSING WITH YOU!

Now are there any signs of a raised mud line or what we call a termite mud tube, from the ground up the side of the concrete at the homes foundation. And there may be signs of a wet, or damp sawdust in any areas on the ground or under the house if it is a raised foundation or wood floor, cobwebs hanging around that area might be full of this material. This would be a sign of Termites. They only need two things to survive, one being water and the other some form of food (ex. wood, paper, etc.). They will carry water a long distance and the other is provided by your home. It is not always at the base of the home either. It can be anywhere, so keep an eye out for these situations. All of the Termite damage will need to be removed and replaced with new material. A good termite and pest control company can treat the termites with chemicals.

It's Post Time

If you have a porch at your house and you have posts holding it up, look at the bottom of those wood posts. Are they a little off the concrete. Can water flow under them without them actually sitting in water. If they are about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch off the surface of the deck, concrete, brick, stone or whatever your porch is made out of, that is great, but if not and they are either; sitting in water or would be if it were raining, that is not a good thing.

How To Do It

At that point you would need to have those cut off or replaced if they have dry rot on the bottom. It is generally found in the first 3 inches. So get the weapon out and see if it pushes in easily or is it good and solid. There is normally a metal cap holding it in place or in the really old days we put a bolt in the concrete and then we drilled a hole up the post, so that it could fit over it . So be careful when cutting it that you don't mess up your saw blade on the sawzall or handsaw if you hit that bolt. The metal caps just have screws or nails that can be pulled out. Always brace the roof by the post before you do any cutting. And only cut 1 inch or less. Make sure you aren't standing in a wet area using a power tool and trip the GFCI If more than that is required then it will be necessary for you to replace it. I have seen some posts that looked great from the outside, but when I got them out and turned upside down they had a hole where termites had eaten the center out all the way to the top of it. Voracious little critters.

Check Your Wood Floors

If you see holes in your wood floors and some sawdust residue, look closer because termites will eat up through most wood floors. If this happens to your floors that area will have to be treated and filled or replaced. It may look fine on the surface but they had to get to that point some how and I would guess there is hole or missing lumber beneath.

These little guys small, long, and dark to off white body's with little clear wings. Don't worry they can't hurt you!

Well that is if you do the proper maintenance on your home. If there are enough of them though, and left alone for some time with plenty of moisture, Check your Sprinklers, they will eat your house, but leave the metal and glass, So hey, you can have windows to look out and electric. You might be sitting on the ground while doing it... Their wings fall off when they do this. Look for signs like YES, a pile of clear little wings. Also look for mud tubes as above up the side of the wall or concrete or if you take any base board off the may be some on the floor close to the wall. They use these strong mud tubes that they make to travel into your home without even knocking, or calling first,( well I've never). If there is water or even just moisture of any kind near by, then they have all they need to just keep munching away until you see the damage and repair it, or get smacked on the head because they just ate your walls.

Want to fix Your Siding?

Also Look for tiny holes that look like someone drill them in a piece of wood that is either part of your house or attached to it. There will generally be a lot of them in one piece of lumber. If you see the holes, Get your weapon (screwdriver) and poke those areas. They most likely went through those holes that they made and are now eating the inside out of the wood you saw them in. Don't poke to much. Just enough the confirm your findings.

Bugs!

You now will need to plan on having that material replaced. At the same time you will want to get a pest control company to estimate what it will cost to treat for termites. Now that doesn't mean that you will never get them again so a regular treatment program is advised. If the Queen is not found( and she probably won't be) they will still be around to protect her. So you need to clear the area of What?

That is correct, Water, moisture and any sawdust or cellulose debris ( sawdust, paper, wood scraps, cardboard, etc.).

If you have any stairs, steps, or a wood fence attached to the home wood or concrete, there should be a sheet metal shield between them and the wall. This keeps the critters at bay. They don't eat metal remember? If it can not be installed at the concrete steps, then the pest control company can drill holes (which they will plug after it is done) in the concrete and spray a termite control chemical into those holes to act as a shield. This a another option or in addition to the metal type.

Unfortunately termites come and go every spring and you can lessen their attacks and sometimes if above is followed, you may kept them away for years. They are very persistent little bugs.

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