How Do You Get Rid Of Termites?
It is challenging to remove termites from your home or business permanently. Gain insights on how to do this for two types of termites.
Exterminating Subterranean Termites
Below are four ways on how to make subterranean termites leave your home or business:
Termiticide Barriers:
Termiticide barriers are chemical treatments applied on the soil around the structure. A thick ring of Borax powder is also put on top to get rid of termites. The method works when the subterranean termites move from inside wood to its exterior.
The most widely used termite control technique today is termiticide barriers. Physical structures like stainless steel mesh and other construction materials block access to the bait through insects similar in appearance.
You are trying to eliminate them from your home as an effective method of prevention against such incursions on your property. But they cannot provide complete coverage for all areas within a structure where these annoying creatures may travel during their subterranean movements.
Direct Chemicals:
Termite killer 5 is a powerful tool for fighting and controlling subterranean termites! These chemicals are for soil treatment and applied to establish an effective barrier against these annoying termites. They may cause damage such as destroying your home or biting your family member.
The chemical emulsion must coat every square inch near their colony. It protects them while also keeping you safe at night in sleeping soundly. No worries about bugs coming through your windows or doors.
Do not worry. Barriers do not need complete coverage. Some parts will most likely stay outside on perimeter walls. Just make sure there is plenty around where anyone spends time during the day.
Termite Baits:
Baits are the most successful way to get rid of termites permanently! Subterranean termites depend on moisture for survival. It makes them come out through the mud chambers that connect parts of their colony. These structures also contain a certain type of fungus, which they eat.
Termite baiting systems use this fungus called glomalin as bait. The exterminator sets it out on a special tray. The worker termites carry pieces of this substance back to their colony where it becomes the major source of food. They die from consuming insecticide hidden inside it instead of fungus.
Beneficial Nematodes:
Beneficial nematodes are microscopic roundworms that kill termites by infecting them with bacteria. You can use this to get rid of termites. They work best in warm climates! But they can also function in areas where temperatures drop below freezing. The nematodes survive the winter months because they form protective cysts.
They are naturally occurring creatures that appear in many soils everywhere on earth. These nematodes kill termites without harming you, pets, plants, other wildlife, or insects.
The two most common genera of beneficial nematodes are Steinsena and Heterorhabditis. There are four species in Steinernema, which means it is the easier one to work with for production purposes. However, both are very effective.
Exterminating Drywood Termites
Below are two ways on how to make drywood termites disappear from your home or business permanently:
Spot Treatment:
Spot treatment is how you can get rid of drywood termites. They are tiny and blind insects that like wood but not the actual tree it comes from. The female has a rounded abdomen and lays eggs in cracks on the surface or behind loose pieces of wood.
You can spot these pests using a magnifying glass during the day. But remember to do so during the early morning or evening hours. It is when termites are most likely to become active! This is because of how cold it feels for them outside compared to how warm they are inside their wooden homes.
Essential Oils:
Familiarize with how to kill termites with essential oils to make them disappear naturally. You can use any of the multitudes of common oils available at your local stores, hardware stores, or even gas stations. Just make sure they are 100% pure and only contain pure chemicals labeled as an essential oil.
But keep in mind that not all work against termites. Some of the most effective are:
- tea tree
- lavender
- cedar
- peppermint
- pine
- clove
- eucalyptus
- citronella oils
Always use any essential oil as you do with regular cooking oils to keep it fresh for years.
Exterminating Both Drywood Termites and Subterranean Termites
Learn about three ways to get rid of drywood and subterranean termites:
Boric Acid:
Boric acid can kill termites for good! It helps break down their outer shell. They then take in this substance from their mouths, stomachs, and other parts of their bodies. It starts destroying them shortly afterward and continues to do so until they die within six weeks.
The best time to use boric acid is during the day when termites come out of their dwellings. You can also do it at night using a flashlight. Just remember to avoid breathing in this substance and keep yourself and your children away from it completely.
Diatomaceous earth:
Diatomaceous earth consists of the remains of tiny organisms. It works by puncturing any living creature’s exoskeleton that comes into contact with it, including termites.
This substance cuts through their bodies to dehydrate them. This is how you can get rid of drywood termites once and for all! But make sure to wear a mask and gloves to avoid getting it in your nose, mouth, or eyes.
It is a powder containing about 80%-90% silica. Dried into fine particles, this natural product has been used for centuries as food decoration and pest control in homes. You can kill insects by dehydrating them or drying them out.
Cardboard trap:
The final way how to make drywood termites disappear is by using cardboard traps. These are how you can kill termites with wood.
Get a piece of cardboard, thick enough that it does not bend, and cut or fold two sides into triangles. You want to create a hole in the center like how you would for a paper cup.
Make sure to glue the two triangles together at the bottom. They should stand up with just enough space for termites to enter through their hole in the center.
Next, put some bait inside the triangle that will attract termites! This can include:
- honey
- syrup or molasses
- soaked carrots
- a piece of fruit
- some chewed or wetted bread
- cardboard with water on it
You can then place the trap in an area where it can kill termites. Like any other pest, the smell will attract them and end up walking inside the triangle through its hole in the center.
Different Types of Termites
Knowing how to get rid of termites is not enough. You also need to know how long it might take and what you should do for your specific type of termite infestation.
Drywood Termites
These come in two types: alate (winged) and dealate (wingless)
Drywood termites usually communicate through pheromones and vibrations of the wood. They can find entry points in your home by following these signals. You can prevent them from coming in by keeping humidity levels low and fixing leaky pipes, windows, and doors.
They can infest any type of wooden construction. Preference is warm and damp climates with humidity levels between 50%-80%.
Subterranean Termites
These termites live in contact with the soil outdoors or inside moist areas indoors. Examples are foundations, crawl spaces, and basements.
They can eat through wood, leaving mud tubes and sometimes holes as signs of damage. Structural damage to houses and buildings is possible with a prolonged lack of attention.
How to Identify a Termite Infestation
Below is a guide on six ways of knowing the presence of a termite infestation:
Hollow wood:
You can easily check the presence of termites by looking at how wood is rotting. This issue comes from how they hollow out tree trunks to live inside them, leaving behind empty tunnels in the process.
Take it as a sign that there are drywood termites inside your home when there is damage. These tunnels look like swiss cheese because of how small holes fill them.
One of the most obvious signs that you have termites in your furniture is hollow wood. By merely sitting on a couch, one can feel an airy vibration from within its frame. Know for certain they are not alone. There is more than just fabric filling this space!
Mud tubes:
You can often find subterranean termites in places with high levels of moisture. That is how they live. They build mud tubes that look like miniature train tracks or pencil lines by linking their tunnels. See these tubes on the home’s exterior, where they use it to reach wood deeper within the ground. This is how to kill termites with concrete.
A telltale sign of drywood termite tunneling in your home is their mud tunnels. These small bricks are part of their nests and consist of the same material as how you get rid of ants: mud. For reasons unknown, they often build them on doors leading outside.
Strange clicking sound:
This sound comes from how termites form their colonies. This is how you know to kill them in your walls. When they are inside, drywood termites make this noise. They rub their bodies together to communicate. There is an infestation nearby in hearing it.
The easiest way to kill termites is to listen to how they communicate. It is how they find their way around your home and where you find them. Hearing clicking noises means that somewhere nearby, there are thousands of drywood termites gathering together.
Pile of Shed Wings:
You will know how to get rid of termites by seeing them. Find wing piles on fence posts, tree branches, and inside doors. Kill them in your grass. It is how they are born. Observe piles of shedded wings left behind where you find the queen termite upon her death.
Drywood termites also leave behind sagging floors, walls, and ceilings. This is possible because they cause structural damage as well. It includes an increase in weight after an infestation of more than two pounds per day. The wings shed from winged drywood termites look like fish scales. These make them easy enough for detection.
Paint Peeling:
Termites mostly attack hardwood trees! They leave behind sawdust-like material that looks like flakes of paint or shavings of chocolate. Kill them in your yard.
Look for this evidence from infested wood from which they eat, leaving their droppings behind. Know how to exterminate termites for an infestation of drywood termites after finding them. They are easy to notice once you know how to look.
You may see paint bubbling or peeling off the walls and think it is just water damage. While that is always a possibility, it is also a sign of termites. These insects survive by bringing moisture with them wherever they go.
Termite Dropping or Frass:
Termite droppings look like sawdust or soft feces. Kill them in your home, as termites eat wood from the inside out. They even infest other insects and suck their nutrients from within.
It is how they reproduce themselves as well as how they communicate with each other. Termite droppings make it easy to kill with a chemical. They look like crumbs of food and indicate that there is termite activity.
Get rid of termites by looking at where to dig up how they are getting into your home. They also carry bacteria that can cause you serious problems and animals, including anaphylaxis in the most extreme cases.
Professional Pest Control Services
Get a professional pest control service to take care of how to kill termites. Biotech Termite and Pest Control provide termite control in NYC, Long Island, NJ, and CT.
Termites are a costly threat to homes everywhere! They cause serious structural damage and have been known in some cases to move into buildings, eat their way through the drywall.
Do not worry. Biotech’s treatment will get rid of them for you without costing too much money or time. Its formula guarantees you a safe and effective treatment. Likewise, there is no harm around pets or children. Call today before termites give you stress!
Leave extermination of subterranean and drywood termites to Biotech Termite and Pest Control! Feel comfort back in your home or business afterward.