Damage caused by termites
Damage from Termites
Owing to their wood- eating characteristics, many termite species can do great damage to unprotected buildings and various wooden structures. Their habit of remaining concealed often leads to their presence being undetected until the timbers are severely damaged and exhibit surface changes. Once termites have entered a building, they don't limit themselves to timber; they also damage paper, cloth, carpets, and other cellulosic materials. Particles removed from soft plastics, plaster, rubber, and sealants like silicone rubber and acrylics are frequently employed in construction.
Humans have moved many wood-eating species between continents, but have also caused drastic population decline in others through habitat loss and pesticide application.
Safeguards:
As reported by a site manufactured for pest control in Saint Charles, MO http://www.2niceguys.com, it is advised to ALWAYS contact an expert when you think that there may be termites present at your home. They also state that you keep mulch away from your house and wooden deck.
Here are some other precautions that may be of assistance
* Avoid contact of vulnerable wood with ground by employing termite-resistant concrete, steel, or masonry foundation with correct barriers. However, termites are in a position to bridge these with shelter tubes, and it has been known for termites to chew through piping produced with soft plastics and even some metals, like lead, to exploit moisture. In the main, new buildings ought to be constructed with embedded physical termite barriers so that there are no easy means for termites to gain concealed entry. While barriers of poisoned soil, so called termite pre- treatment, have been in the main use since the 1970s, it is advisable that these be used primarily for existing buildings without effective physical barriers.
* The intent of termite barriers (whether physical, poisoned soil, or a few of the new poisoned plastics) is to stop the termites from gaining unseen access to structures. In most instances, termites attempting to penetrate a barriered building will be forced to enter into the less favourable approach of building shelter tubes up the outer walls, and therefore, they are often clearly visible both to the building occupants and a range of predators.
* Timber treatment.
* Use of wood that is naturally resistant to termites such as Syncarpia glomulifera (Turpentine Tree), Callitris glaucophylla (White Cypress), or one of the Sequoias. Note that there is no tree species whose every individual tree yields only timbers that are immune to termite damage, so that even with famous termite-resistant timber types, there will sometimes be pieces that are attacked. No types of tree produces timber that is absolutely immune to damage from every types of termite, some individual pieces of timber may well be attacked.
When termites have already penetrated a building, the first action is commonly to destroy the colony with insecticides before getting rid of the termites' means of access and fixing the problems that encouraged them in the beginning. Baits (feeder stations) with small quantities of disruptive insect hormones or other very slow acting toxins have become the preferred least-toxic management tool in most western countries. This has replaced the dusting of toxins direct into termite tunnels that had been widely done since the early 1930s (originating in Australia). The principle dust toxicants have been the inorganic metallic poison arsenic trioxide, insect growth regulators (hormones) such as triflumuron and, more recently fipronil, a phenyl-pyrazole. Blowing dusts into termite workings is a highly skilled process. All these slow-acting poisons may be distributed by the workers for hours or weeks before any symptoms occur and can destroying the entire colony. More modern variations include chlorfluazuron, diflubenzuron, hexaflumuron, and novaflumuron as bait toxicants and fipronil and imidacloprid as soil poisons. Soil poisons are the least-preferred technique of control as this requires much larger doses of toxin and ends in uncontrollable release to the surroundings.