Top Seven Tips for Natural Termite Control

•1.       Remove termite food sources

Termites will eat any product that contains cellulose and some that do not. Inadvertently homeowners store all manner of belongings in areas that are easily accessible to termites, the worst place to store items is under your house. Often items are stored in cardboard boxes which themselves are commonly attacked by termites. When the boxes are placed on soil termites have easy access directly into them and their contents. Other commonly attacked items include such things as firewood, stored and waste timbers and furniture.

•2.       Reduce moisture sources

There are many different reasons that excess moisture can build up under or next to a building. Leaking pipes are an obvious cause. Often the overflow from the hot water system has a constant drip and this makes for a large moisture source. Drainage and irrigation placed inappropriately can cause a moisture buildup. Gutters that are in poor repair allow moisture buildups. Termites need large amounts of moisture to keep the air in their workings high in humidity. The easier we make it for them to find moisture near our homes the easier termites will enter our homes.

•3.       Reduce soil levels

Often soil levels around the perimeter of houses are built up to the point that physical termite barriers that have been installed during construction are rendered inoperative. Termite entry to homes where soil or concrete levels are high, is often not detected until large amounts of damage have been done, this is because it is often at the entry point that termites are first noticed but when the entry point is covered by soil they will not be easily detected.

•4.       Improve ventilation

When ventilation under a home is poor, built up moisture that arrives via a variety of means (see tip number 2) has a very poor chance of drying out if the ventilation is not up to scratch. The theory behind successfully ventilating subfloor areas is that when dry air moves through an area of high moisture it picks up moisture and carries it away depositing it outside the area of concern. Terracotta vents that were put in place historically often do not allow enough air movement for the drying process to happen. The amount of ventilation required varies from building to building and is partially dependant on the terrain where it is constructed. Where this is the case the ventilation may need to be augmented by larger vents or even specially designed fans that will extract large volumes of air quickly and over a long period of time.

•5.       Improve access

Often when buildings are constructed there are small (and sometimes large) voids that are left with no access to them. This leaves us with several problems, firstly no ability to inspect these areas routinely with the rest of the home. Secondly, voids notoriously contain building waste, often formwork timbers and other items that provide a food source for termites. Finally, where voids are not accessible they are often poorly ventilated creating problems as pointed out in tip 4

•6.       Plan monitoring points

There will be high risk areas around your home that can be chosen as points to monitor for termite activity on a regular basis. E.g. a timber retaining wall is a huge monitoring point and the gaps between the timbers and at the joins of the timber will become filled with termite mud packing when activity starts. Stumps can be a good monitoring point (though they should preferably be removed) many stumps are used in gardens as a feature and end up covered in vines or other foliage or with a pot plant placed on top, remove the foliage to check along the grain for termite mud packing and make sure you move the pot plant and check under it!

•7.       Inspect, inspect, inspect.

There is no substitute for professional termite inspections, however if you educate yourself about termites, and the signs that you need to look for when inspecting, you can help to augment the inspection programme put in place by your inspection company. The more regularly that your premises are inspected the earlier any signs of termite activity can be picked up. There are many termite monitoring systems available on the market that can be installed and easily monitored by the homeowner, again the use of these systems augments a professional inspection regime.