‘White ants’, more correctly called termites, are a serious pest in Australia. They have the capacity to create thousands of dollars worth of damage in a matter or weeks or destroy an entire roof structure in as little as three months.
Removing the roof and re-building the roof structure of a home is a very costly affair, and if damage has also occurred to the walls or floor of the home, the repair cost would be astronomical.
And as you might suspect, damage caused by white ants isn’t covered by insurance – it’s preventable.
White ants aren’t actually ants at all. They’re more closely related to cockroaches however, because they look like little pale coloured ants, many people refer to them as white ants. Whether you call them white ants or termites the amount of damage they can do remains the same!
Are you sure you don’t have white ants? White ants present little evidence of their presence to the untrained eye. They eat through wood from the inside out so a colony of white ants can be busy at work without being seen.
There are many things you can do to help prevent white ants from attacking your most valuable possession. For a start, you can make your home less inviting as white ants are quite fussy when it comes to food and their environment. You can:
• Ensure you don’t have vegetation growing up against your house;
• Keep the area under your home and your roof space well ventilated as white ants like dampness and humidity;
• Repair leaks quickly – white ants like to have a source of water too.
• If you use timber for structures or retaining walls in your garden, ensure you choose white ant resistant timbers, or timber that has been treated to deter white ants.
Perhaps the most important thing you can do is ensure that you have regular inspections to detect the presence of white ants in your home, or their activity level around your home. The CSIRO website suggests having an annual inspection and increasing that to twice a year if you live in a warm climate area in Australia.
When white ants damage a home the financial cost can be devastating. Having a pest control expert inspect your home, suggest white ant prevention strategies, and treat any infestations early is an inexpensive way to protect your home from white ants.
If you’d like to speak to a professional about white-ant management you can call us today for more information, or to arrange a pest inspection.
You can contact us by calling or emailing Bruce today!