What Not To Do About Termites On Your Greensboro, NC Property

When it comes to termite prevention and control, Greensboro property owners can find themselves making mistakes they regret. Termites are sneaky and destructive insects that cost U.S. property owners billions of dollars each year. Over time, termites can completely total a Greensboro property. We hope that never happens to you. Here are a few important things you should know about the prevention and control of termites in our area.

Subterranean Termites

It is important to know your enemy. The termites you need to be concerned about are subterranean termites. These insects establish ground nests in Greensboro, North Carolina, and come up from the soil to damage man-made structures. They are attracted to yards that have sources of food and water. As you probably know, termites eat wood. But you might not know that subterranean termites prefer wood that is rotting. This will be a key point in this article.

Bad Termite Control

There are many termite control methods suggested by internet "experts" that just don't work. In fact, these methods can put your property at greater risk.

Sprays

Whether you use chemicals or vinegar to treat soil or wood, you should know that this treatment method will let you down. These solutions don't do anything to stop termites because they are topical. They don't get to the heart of the problem. While you can find a few dead termites in areas you've treated, thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, can still be attacking your home. Termite workers will avoid locations where dead termites are being found.

Injections

There are many products that can be injected into wood and wall voids. Many of them have no transfer effect, such as orange oil. If termites pass through these products, they can be killed. But the colony will continue to produce workers, and the workers will avoid the treated spaces.

Tricks

There are many clever home remedies given on the internet. We don't suggest using these for termite control. One that we recently noticed was the idea that laying cardboard down in the yard will draw termite workers to it. After the workers get into the cardboard, the suggestion is that burning it will get rid of the termites. While workers will definitely go for that cardboard, you won't get all of them. If you continue to lay cardboard down in your yard and eliminate termites, you will cull the population. But you won't kill them fast enough. A queen termite can lay an average of 30,000 eggs a day. Yes. You read that correctly. That cardboard in your yard will not deter her. It will only encourage her to make babies faster. She will ramp up her production based on available food resources.

Termiticide

There are products offered by trusted manufacturers that can provide a barrier around your home. Some of these even have a transfer effect. But when these products are applied by an untrained individual, it can leave a home exposed. Certified professionals use proper techniques to get the product where it needs to go, and they follow up with yearly inspections to make sure the product is working. If you pay a lot of money to inject tons of termiticide into the ground around your Greensboro home, you might be wasting a lot of time, money, and energy, only to find out years later that your treatments have failed to protect your property.

Good Termite Prevention

When it comes to getting control of termites, we recommend leaving it to licensed termite control professionals. But termite prevention is something that homeowners in Greensboro can, and should, implement. Here are some tried-and-true suggestions.

• Remove wood sources from your yard.
• Move woodpiles away from your home and elevate the stacks.
• Move construction materials away and elevate them.
• Refrain from burying wood in your yard.
• Repair any rotting wood on fences, decks, stairs, and your home.
• Address wood-to-soil contact.

Good Termite Control

The best way to protect your property from subterranean termites is to contact Go-Forth Home Services. Our certified termite control professionals use the Sentricon^® System with Always Active™ to protect properties in Greensboro. This control and prevention method is far superior to termiticides. It requires no drilling or trenching. There is no smell. And the monitoring devices installed around your property will make detection a breeze. 

Reach out to us today to discuss termite protection for your property.