THINK YOU HAVE TERMITES? IT'S TIME FOR A TIMBER PEST INSPECTION!

by Dwell Building Services | August 2020 | Pest and Building Inspections Tweed Coast and Gold Coast

With termites, as with tooth-decay, it’s cheaper to get a check-up than to fix a problem.

Termite inspections are a hugely important aspect of home maintenance, especially in this part of the world.  The Gold Coast and Tweed Shire are both noted as “Areas Of Concern” for timber pest infestation. Unless you live in a concrete box, an annual pest inspection is vital for all home owners.

To thrive, termites need a food source and a water supply. If those two possibilities are removed, they usually won’t settle in.

From a builders point of view, here are a few things you can do to reduce the likelihood of attracting termites to your home:

1. Make sure you don’t have a lot of timber laying around your property or stored underneath. If the timber is touching the soil, termites can burrow under, have a feast and then use the “cover” to get further.

2. Make sure the drainage away from your house is in good order – that means working out if your plumbing and overflow pipes, taps, drainpipes and guttering are in good order. The more constant water there is near your home, the more at risk you may be.

3. If you have a brick and tile home, check to make sure your weep holes aren’t covered by garden. If they are, it’s just like having a little ramp up into the house that they can use to come and go by.

They are a lot harder to see when your home is a slab on ground brick construction – with pole homes you can see them coming because they have to actually climb to get in – and to do that they have to build a little mud trail (tunnel) which is obvious to the naked eye.  If you see a mud trail, then they have passed that way.  There are other ways to detect them but the best way to work out whether or not you’ve got termites living with you is to organise a pest inspection with a local knowledgeable pest inspector. If you don’t know of one, ask us!

As previously mentioned, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A pest inspection will cost you a couple hundred dollars. Eradicating a colony and fixing timber pest damage can cost thousands!