4 Termite Treatment Options

Termite treatment becomes necessary once any part of your house is attacked by these pests. Termites can cause serious structural damage to your house by hollowing the wood used in construction. In the natural environment, termites act as scavengers, cleaning up dead wood. This way, they recycle the dead wood and leave behind a fertile soil full of humus. However, due to unavailability of dead wood in open, termites tend to attack wooden materials in our homes.

Statistics indicate that almost $1.7 billion are spent annually on termite treatment in US alone. Therefore, detecting termite infestation at an early stage would save a lot of time and money, but unfortunately this is the hardest part of termite control and treatment. Termites do not make themselves visible until they have completely consumed the entire wood item from inside. They can be seen only after they start scrapping the outer surface of wood, which is usually rather late for initiating any preventive measures. However, some tell tale signs will help you detect termite infestation:

• Powdery substance below wooden articles
• Wooden items that sound hollow on tapping
• Shelter tubes or mud tubes in a damp corner of your house
• White ant-like insects in and around your home

Try some of the methods below to start termite treatment:

Destroy Shelter Tubes

Termites create tubes out of mud and fecal matter to protect themselves from heat and drying out. Once these protective tubes are destroyed, the termites will also die.

Use Termite Bait

Termite bait is used to stop the growth of termite on trees, wood and furniture items in and around your house. Termite baits are plastic tubes with some sort of bait placed inside to attract them. Once the termites attack the bait, it is discarded safely by burning and killing an entire colony of termites. These baits are usually placed on the corner of house and gardens to stop termites from entering the house.

Use Termite Traps

Similar to termite baits, termite traps also use bait in the form of cardboard, which is a magnet for termites. This bait is placed in a plastic container, which restricts the movement of termites outside the trap. Once they start colonizing the termite trap, it then can be discarded safely by various means. Termite traps are extensively used in Australia, but are now available throughout the world.

Home Remedies

There are several ways to treat termite infestation naturally. Orange oil, citrus fruits, and boric acid are effective termite repellents. Inject orange oil or citrus fruit extract into infested wood to get rid of termite infestations. Spraying boric acid directly on wood also does the trick.