Termites are undoubtedly invasive and destructive pests. In fact, termites can cause damage to over 600,000 homes in the country, resulting in a whopping $5 billion spent on pest control services and home repairs every year. These bugs can cause extensive damage because they mostly go unnoticed. But how exactly do termites get into your home, and what can you do to completely stop them? Read on to learn or call us if you have a termite infestation in your home- our experts are highly trained and vastly experienced in eliminating pests and preventing recurrent infestation. 

Key Takeaways:

• Termite infestations in homes typically occur where there’s damp wood in constant contact with the ground or if a water leak keeps wood wet constantly.
• Any crack or fissure in your home foundations, windows or gaps in siding offers all termites the opportunity to enter your house. 
• Covering windows and turning off outdoor lights in the evenings can lower your chances of attracting termite swarmers to your house. 
• Contacting pest control professionals is the best and most effective way to treat termite infestations and prevent further activity. 

Types of Termites and How They Get Into Home

Different types of termites get into your home in different ways. Here are four common types of termites and how they get into your home: 

Drywood Termites

Drywood termites prefer wood without moisture, and hence they’ll infest homes with those wood structures, furniture and floors. They can also establish multiple colonies in one home, making them extremely destructive. And unlike subterranean termites, which build colonies in the soil, drywood termites build their colonies inside of wood. 

How Do Drywood Termites Get Into Your Home

Drywood termites can enter your home through or under the wooden shingles, fascia boards, and eaves, while others may find their way through joints and crevices in door frames or window sills. They can also get inside your home through foundation and attic vents.

What Attracts Drywood Termites

True to their name, dry wood termites are attracted to dry, untreated wood. They love wood with a moisture content of approximately 10% but can also survive on as low as 3%. Their swarmers, mostly active at night or dusk, are attracted to light. As such, during the swarming season, you can see them flying around exterior lights and windows. 

Dampwood Termites

Dampwood termites prefer wood with high moisture content. You can easily identify them since they’re a large species. And since they love damp wood, it’s unlikely to find them in woods where the wood is dry.

How Do Dampwood Termites Get Into Your Home

Dampwood termites often get into your home through infested lumber and, in other instances, mulch. As the name suggests, these termites need wood and moisture to make their homes. As such, to get into your home, they’ll find wooden structures that are sodden from water that enters your home through rainfall or leaky pipes. And should the termites get inside, they create a small chamber in damp wood, mate, and start a new colony. 

What Attracts Dampwood Termites

Dampwood swarmers termites are strongly attracted to light and will often be attracted to porch lights left on at night. Moreover, homes with high humidity in basements and kitchens and leaking pipes attract dampwood termites. 

Subterranean Termites

Subterranean termites generally build their colonies in the soil and later move into wooden structures. Many of the subterranean termites have oval-shaped heads. 

How Do Subterranean Termites Get Into Your Home

Typically, subterranean termites will make their way to your home through a network of underground tunnels. They look for openings and gaps around pipes, cracks in foundation walls, or any area where wood directly touches the solid. That can include wood structures like porches or deck steps. And if they can’t find these openings from underground, the termites will go aboveground by constructing mud tubes. 

Mud tubes look like narrow patches or lines of dried mud that seem to branch out of the ground and up the sides of structures or walls.

What Attracts Subterranean Termites

Subterranean termites are typically attracted to sources of food and moisture. Conditions that can make your home attractive to these termites include: 

• Standing water
• Indoor humidity
• Leaky pipes
• Clogged gutters
• Poor drainage
• Wood in contact with the house foundation

Formosan Termites

Formosan termites are aggressive termites that love dry wood. They build tunnels in dry wood. A colony of Formosan termites can have over 10 million termites. They live in the solid around properties and enter homes to eat. They have a dark, yellowish-brown color. 

How Do Formosan Termites Get Into Your Home

Formosan termites enter your home by building mud tubes from the soil to wood, touching the soil or sitting atop the foundation. They’ll then go through unsealed cracks and joints or through roofs since Formosan termites can have aerial colonies. 

Signs You Have a Termite Infestation In Your Home

Unless termites are swarming, you might not actually see them. Instead, you might notice the following signs:

• Damage to structures near your garden
• Damage to foundations, shingles, window frames and exterior doors
• Damage to newspapers, boxes, food packaging, and documents- termites eat paper and cardboard
• You’ll spot termite droppings and winds, especially near entrances and in windows
• Difficulty opening and closing doors
• Doors and other wooden structures have a hollow wood sound
• Mud tunnels and tubes around your home
• Noise- termites make clicking sounds when chewing and might bang their head against the wood in your house

Get Rid of Termites Once and For All!

Enlisting professionals will ensure that you eliminate all traces and potential recurrences of these egregious pests. Nonetheless, not every pest control company is equal. For termite infestation, your first call should be to the pest control professionals at Classic Pest Control Operators, Inc. With decades of experience in the pest control industry, our team has the skills and employs the latest technology to effectively combat all types of termites. Call us today to get a free quote and get rid of termites once and for all!