How To Prevent a Termite Attack on Your Home
Take these several precautions:
Timber
Remove all timber debris from under and around the house and outbuildings, since its presence encourages foraging termites.
Move piles of timber or firewood (potential food source for a new colony) away from the house and store the timber in a dry, well ventilated location.
Old decayed tree stumps should be removed to below ground level. If you notice what you think is termite activity, take some live specimens, call BPI and have them identified.
Garden
Remove all gardens and vegetation growing close to, on or against the external surfaces of the residence and outbuildings as these may attract and conceal termite activity.
Ventilation and Moisture
Provide good ventilation under all suspended floors. The reduced humidity and moisture makes the subfloor area vastly less attractive to termites.
Leaking water pipes or bad drainage encourages termite presence so these faults should be remedied. Ensure that all surface water runoff is deflected away from the perimeter and subfloor areas of the residence.
Don’t Disturb Them
Never disturb what you think may be termite activity. This prompts the termites to move elsewhere which makes future detection and eradication more difficult. It may also result in the damage being increased elsewhere.
Check Your New Additions
For example, verandahs and timber decking, if built on stumps, may not have ant caps. These constructions and concrete additions to the house, may also bridge previously laid chemical barriers, permitting unobserved termite entry.
The underside of a concrete slab is a popular place for termite nests. If you have concrete laid next to the timber frame of your house damp conditions may be promoted and termite entry would be extremely difficult to detect.
You should consider this when renovating: if concrete-next-to-timber is part of the design, have an expert lay a chemical or physical barrier down first.
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