What can a termite do to my home?

How to save your home, and your budget, from being eaten full of holes.

What can termites do to my home? Termites eat wood. In their natural state, they eat fallen logs and stumps off the forest floor. But on your property, they can eat away the equity you have built. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, termites infest millions of homes nationwide, causing over $1.5 Billion in damage annually.

What should I know about a termite colony?

Subterranean termites are native to every state except Alaska. A colony may include up to several million individuals, living as deep as 20 feet underground. Feeding on cellulose-based material, such as wood, termites find buildings offer an ideal combination of warmth, moisture and food.

Termites are social insects and different members of the "Family" have different roles.

The Queen occupies a "royal cell" with the King. She may live up to 25 years, laying many thousands of eggs annually.

Supplementary Reproductives act as replacements for the Queen if she should die. They may also produce eggs even if the Queen is healthy to help increase colony size.

Soldiers with armored heads and strong jaws, protect the colony from enemies, most commonly ants.

Winged Reproductives are the termites you may see when they "swarm", usually in the spring signaling a well-developed colony. After shedding their wings, reproductives pair off, burrow into the soil and begin a new colony.

Workers represent most of the termites in a colony. Blind and sterile, they forage for the colony's food. Most damage is caused by worker termites.

Each of these important members of the termite "Family" play a key role in sustaining the colony and in attacking your home.

How can a professional pest control firm help?

Only a trained professional understands the intricacies of how a termite colony behaves. Our understanding of termite behavior patterns is continually growing through research programs at several major universities. Knowledge of their feeding, grooming, foraging and communication processes enable us to effectively do our job. Using advanced materials, a skilled professional applicator can effectively protect your housing investment.

This can be achieved in a variety of ways: Prior to the construction of a structure, the soil can be treated with products to prevent termites from gaining future access to the structure. This treatment is known as a Pre-Treatment. If you are planning on building a home or building, we strongly advise that you take the extra step of protecting it from subterranean termites before you pour the concrete.

Next: How do termites get in?