Drywood termites are small, brown insects that live inside the cavities in wood. You may not even know you have a problem with dry wood termites until you discover their nests or find their workers chewing on your wooden furniture or walls. While other species of termites prefer to tunnel under the ground and attack homes from the foundation, dry wood termites rarely come into contact with soil. Furthermore, they cannot survive without access to moisture and must reside in dry spaces that are also accessible to wooden support structures that they can eat. A colony of drywood termites is much smaller than subterranean ones, consisting of just a few thousand members at most.
How To Get Rid Of Drywood Termites?
1. Seal Any Breakage
The first step to eliminating dry wood termites is to seal any potential entry points for the pests. This means sealing any cracks or gaps in your house’s foundation, as well as the walls and ceilings where termites might be able to gain access. If you’re unsure of exactly where these are, you may want to hire a professional pest control company that specializes in this type of infestation. They can help you determine if there is a problem and then provide you with an effective solution that will prevent further damage.
2. Eliminate Subterranean Termites
Subterranean termites are often present in areas that are infested with dry wood termites, so removing them will go a long way toward preventing future problems. Subterranean termite baits are available at many hardware stores and pest control companies, but they should only be used by professionals because they can spread their own kind of infestation if used incorrectly or improperly stored. You should avoid using these baits indoors or near food sources, such as bird feeders or pet food bowls, since they may kill other insects as well. Instead, contact a professional pest control company for more advice on how to get rid of subterranean termites safely and effectively without spreading more of them around your home than necessary.
3. Apply Termiticide Chemicals Directly To The Infested Area
Termiticides are highly concentrated chemicals designed to kill all types of termites, but they are also very harmful to humans. These chemicals should only be applied by a professional pest control company that has the right equipment and is certified to use them in this way. Termiticides like Termidor, trichlorfon, or bifenthrin should only be used in areas where termites have actually been spotted and not on structures as a preventative measure. They can be applied directly to the infected area with a sprayer, but it’s important to ensure that the temperature of the water isn’t too hot for human skin. This is because these chemicals are highly corrosive when exposed to high temperatures.
4. Remove Drywood Termites From Your Home
Once you’ve treated your house for subterranean termites and sealed any potential entry points, you should begin looking for signs of dry wood termite activity inside your home. You may notice small holes in your walls or ceiling near where you see signs of subterranean termite activity since these pests can work their way into homes through small openings like these while they search for food sources. If you see signs of dry wood termite activity in one area of your home, make sure to get rid of all infested wood immediately so that they don’t have anywhere else to go.
What Are Drywood Termites?
- The most obvious sign of drywood termite infestation is the presence of their nests. Look for the telltale dark brown, wood-like material that termites build in their nests. The nest material is a secretion produced by the insects that they use to seal up their nest openings and protect them from water and other environmental threats.
- Drywood termite nests are usually located in crevices or cracks in walls, ceilings, floors, or within woodwork like furniture and cabinets. These areas are often hidden from view by plasterboard or wallboard when you walk into your home for the first time after construction is done.
- A colony of dry wood termites may include as few as 5,000 members but can be as large as 100 million depending on how much moisture they have access to inside your home.
- While subterranean termites are known to tunnel under homes from the foundation up, dry wood termites do not do so because they require access to moisture in order to survive and thrive inside wooden structures like homes or buildings. They live inside these structures rather than underneath them like subterranean termites do and can be found anywhere there is enough room for them to build a colony within a structure’s cavities or support structures like beams made out of wood planks and joists that they can chew on while they feed off them during their entire life cycle (which lasts about 4 years). In fact, dry wood termite colonies can be found in wall cavities or even inside ceiling spaces of buildings.
How Do You Know If You Have Drywood Termites?
1. Look for the Damage
Look for signs of termite damage on your wooden structure. Termites love to chew wood, so if you notice that your wooden furniture or shelving is heavily chewed up, you’re likely dealing with dry wood termites. A colony of dry wood termites can grow to be quite large, so if you have a particularly large infestation, it will be difficult to miss their presence. If there is evidence of their presence in your home, inspect all wooden structures inside and outside. Look for the following signs of their presence:
2. Inspect the Structural Components
Look at the structure that is most vulnerable to termite attack: doors and windows. Inspect them carefully for any signs of damage or weakness and look out for other signs of infestation like piles of sawdust near a window frame or along a door jamb. If you find evidence of infestation along these two points, inspect all other points of access between these two points (for example where the wall meets the floor) and look for additional evidence such as small holes that are too small for a bird to fit through but large enough for termites to use as entry holes into your home.
3. Look Outside Your Home
Check around the exterior perimeter including under overhangs where there could be termite activity (for example in tree limbs) as well as around any wooded areas nearby (such as hedges). Look particularly hard under bushes and shrubs near your home. Look for signs of termite activity, such as piles of sawdust, but be careful not to disturb the area too much.
4. Look Inside Your Home
Look inside your home for any evidence of termites, particularly in areas where you have recently constructed or repaired.
Conclusion
Drywood termites are one of the more common species of termites in the United States. They feed on the wood inside of homes and can cause serious damage if left untreated. It is important to inspect your home for signs of this type of termite to prevent an infestation from getting out of hand. If you find evidence of dry wood termites, you need to act quickly to keep them from causing serious damage to your house.
