Walla Walla Termite Control
Many homeowners do not pay enough attention to their foundations, and that is dangerous. It is already difficult to spot subterranean termites due to the fact that they are in the soil and come from below. As such, without regular inspections, termites may destroy much of the home before the homeowner is even aware of the problem. Homeowners can conduct regular inspections of their foundation and simply look for cracks or gaps that can allow termites inside.
Identifying Termites
Termites are often mistaken for ants, which is not surprising considering that both insects share a lot of the same DNA. Still, it is important that termites are identified as soon as possible to mitigate the amount of damage they cause.
Termites are much lighter than most ants and that coloring can range from a creamy white to a dark brown. Their heads are quite big, making it easier for them to gnaw through wood, and their bodies are thinner and appear translucent. Even if you do not spot the actual termites, you may notice the damage they have done to your home first. These signs include:
- Hollow wood, from termites that eat the wood from the inside out
- Discarded wings, which indicates that swarming termites have set up a colony
- Cracked paint, particularly on wood surfaces
- Mud tubes, which are created by subterranean termites as they tunnel their way to a food source
- Piles of debris that look like salt, but are actually the waste of the termites
When any of these signs are noticed, it is important that you call a termite control specialist right away, before the termites can cause any more damage.
How to Get Rid of Termites
There is a do-it-yourself solution for any pest that could cause a problem in Walla Walla, and the same is true for termites. No matter the pest, most of these products do not work and homeowners waste a lot of time trying one after the other only to become more frustrated that they all fail. When trying to get termites out of the home, these products are especially dangerous. This is because the more time you spend trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the termites, the more damage they are doing to your home.
The biggest problem with most termite solutions is that they do not get rid of the entire colony. The size of termite colonies can range from just two, the king and the queen, to over a million. Killing just a few of the termites, or even hundreds of them in a large colony, is not enough to eradicate the problem, as colonies are big enough to simply repopulate when they lose some members. The only way to ensure that the entire colony is wiped out is to work with a professional termite control company.
