Termites are surprisingly crafty when it comes to finding ways to get into your home. Therefore, the last thing you want to do is make it even easier for them to find ways to gain access. There are a number of steps you can take around your home, both inside and outside, to block the termites’ path to your home and keep your house in great condition.
Here are a few tips for better termite control in Bartlesville, OK:
- Be careful with wood: As you know, termites are attracted to wood. They eat through it quickly, especially when in large numbers, and especially when it’s wet. Therefore, you should store any mulch, wood debris, sawdust, scrap lumber or firewood away from your home. If you do keep firewood outside of your home at any point during the year, it should be raised off the ground and not stacked or buried next to your home. Wood-to-soil contact makes it easy for termites to get in and start ruining things.
- Keep up with yardwork: Trim all of your bushes, shrubs, trees and any other dense greenery you have on your property away from your home’s foundation. Keep mulch away from the foundation as well. Termites are attracted to these plants, and you don’t want them to begin building right up alongside your house. You should also remove all infested stumps and trees as soon as possible so you can avoid letting the infestation spread. Never allow leaves to build up in gutters or drains either, as they will become hotbeds for termites and other pests.
- Patch leaks: Fix all leaky roofs and gutters whenever they begin to become an issue, and repair all leaking faucets and waterlines both inside and out. Grade your soil so that all water, even such water as air conditioning condensation, runs away from the foundation of your home. This is effective because termites are attracted to moisture just as they are to wood, so you want to keep the area around potential vulnerabilities in your home as dry as possible.
- Fix your foundation: If you have noticeable problems with your foundation, such as cracks or holes, you should seal them as soon as possible. Otherwise, these openings could act as an easy point of access for termites, which are looking for places to get inside your home and munch on its structure.
- Ventilate: Make sure you have plenty of air flowing through attics and crawl spaces in your home, and run dehumidifiers where necessary. By reducing humidity, you make a space less attractive for termites.
- Use an exterminator: When all else fails, the services of an exterminator are likely necessary. Completely remove all the pests from your home, and then begin following all the other practices to prevent another infestation from occurring down the road.
Need more tips about termite control in Bartlesville, OK? Contact us today at D & Q Pest Control, Inc., and we will be happy to speak with you.