The Most Effective Way To Protect Your Yakima County Home From Termites

Long before you need to contact a professional for termite removal, there are ways to guard your property against termite damage. Termite prevention falls into these three categories: Good, better, and best. Let's look at what can improve your termite control and prevent termites from sneaking up on you and taking a bite out of your equity. As always, we want to remind you that our service team members are happy to assist you if you want to speak with someone directly about your termite concerns. Prosite uses the most trusted products and methods for professional termite pest control in Yakima County. We have the answers to your termite control questions.

About The Termite Caste System

Termite detection is critical if you hope to prevent extensive termite damage. Subterranean termites don't total a house in a month or a year; it takes years for these tiny pests to wreck a home. But they can and do wreck homes if they are not addressed, and the primary reason they're not addressed is that property owners don't realize they have termites. Step one in detecting termites in Yakima County is to know how to identify them if you are fortunate enough to see them.

• Larvae: Termite eggs hatch and tiny worm-like creatures emerge. These are the larvae of termites. You aren't likely to ever see termite larvae because they are in the heart of their nest and the nest is deep in the ground.
• Queen: The queen that produces eggs is also at the heart of the nest. But you might see a queen before she establishes her nest. A queen starts out as a winged reproductive, called a swarmer.
• Kings: There are no dead-beat-dads in a termite colony. The king stays at his queen's side and helps with reproductive jobs. He looks like a swarmer without its wings. You may see a wingless queen or king before they tunnel into the ground and create a nest on your property. They look like fat ants. Why do they look fat? Because they don't have a pinched waist, like an ant.
• Workers: These are the termites in a colony that eat wood and other materials made of cellulose. All other termites wait for their food which is provided by the workers through a sharing of fluids. Workers are strongly averse to light and stay hidden in their tunnels as best they can. Your only chance of seeing workers is when you uncover them. You may get lucky and lift a dead branch in your yard and find these pale-colored insects on the ground or on the underside of the branch. Look closely. You won't likely see them again—or for long. A worker is ⅛ of an inch long, six-legged, and lacking that pinch in the waist. 
• Soldiers: When you uncover workers, you're more likely to notice the soldiers that accompany them. Soldier termites are larger and have orange heads and black pinchers, but they are far fewer in number than the workers.
• Swarmers: These queens and kings are very noticeable, particularly if you find a termite swarm inside your house. When they are in a swarm, their white wings are hard to miss. The wings of a swarmer are rounded at the tips and hang well past the abdomen of the swarmer. The body of the swarmer is black, creating a contrast that you may notice. Unfortunately, swarms last less than an hour.  

When you see signs of termites in your yard, should it concern you? Does it mean termites are feeding on your home? It is helpful to consider how termite infestations start as it will give you insights as to how to prevent an infestation. Let's take a look.  

How Termite Infestations Start

As you evaluate the best and most effective way to prevent a termite infestation, you have to understand how termites enter your yard and why they invade your home. After finding signs of termites in your yard, consider the following facts.

• Termite swarmers prefer properties that have decaying wood and moisture problems. They'll select these properties first if possible.
• Termite swarmers may land in your yard for no reason at all. A nest on a nearby property can send these winged reproductives into the air, and they may not find a suitable location before taking a chance on your property.
• Termites can enter your yard without taking to the air. Sometimes a satellite colony is established on a property by wingless reproductives underground. When ample food is found, the satellite colony may develop into a full colony.
• Termites encroach upon your yard before they apply pressure to your home. The more workers you have crawling around near your home, the greater your chances will be of an infestation.
• When ample food sources are found in your yard, a colony will grow quickly.
• When you have wood-to-soil contact, subterranean termites can enter your home without creating the warning sign of shelter tubes on your foundation walls.
• Once termites find wood in your home, they can go in and out all spring, summer, and fall. Under the right conditions, they may even feed during the winter.

Termites seem like mysterious pests because they hide from view and do things in places you can't see them. But they really aren't all that mysterious. They encroach upon homes in Yakima County and are continually looking for food. If they find food, it inspires the queen to create more offspring to increase the population of her colony. 

Identify And Remove Factors That Attract Termites

Long before you have a termite problem, you can take steps to prevent it. Detection provides good prevention because it catches problems early. If you want better prevention, you need to consider addressing the factors that attract termites and allow them to damage your home.

• Inspect your property for food sources, such as stumps, logs, dead branches, a dying tree, scrap wood, firewood, and more. Remove stumps and logs. Store dead branches in a large plastic bin. Put scrap wood in a bin or on a raised platform. Store firewood on a rubber mat or raised platform. If you have a dying tree, nurse it back to life. If you have a termite-infested tree, contact Prosite. When you remove or protect these potential food sources, you remove a factor that attracts termites and promotes colony growth. 
• Inspect your property for wood-to-soil contact. An old wooden fence, a back deck, and skirting on your home, are all examples of wood that termites can feed on before they enter your home. Consider replacing your wood fences with vinyl. There are many options for vinyl fencing with beautiful wood textures. Consider removing wood deck posts from the ground and setting your deck on concrete piers. Doing so will make it harder for subterranean termites to get into your deck without you knowing it.
• Termites are attracted to moisture. A damaged gutter system can create conditions that are favorable to termites in your yard. These conditions will attract termite swarmers and workers. In both cases, that is unwanted attention. Fix gutters and clear out any blockages that prevent water from flowing away from your perimeter. Also, consider trimming vegetation and removing leaf litter near your home.

When you combine these tips with active termite inspections, you lower your chances of having termites sneak up on you and cause extensive damage. But, if you want the best protection possible, there is no better solution than getting professional termite control. 

The Best Way To Protect Your Home From Termites

The best termite protection is one that is placed in the path of termite workers and is undetectable when they pass through it. Prosite uses Termidor®, the most trusted name in professional termite control. We install a barrier around your home that termites can't avoid. When termites pass through treated soil, they are exposed to the active ingredient. Since they can't detect the termiticide, they share the active ingredient unknowingly with other termites in their colony. It works its way to the heart of the colony and leads to colony elimination. The process works slow enough to prevent the termite queen from realizing the danger and prevents her from responding to the threat. It is important to realize this as some residents attempt DIY termite control and achieve unwanted results, such as splitting one colony into several colonies. When a colony splits, the termite control issue worsens. It happens underground and inside the walls of the home, so residents don't realize the problem is worse than before. So, while termites control products offer the potential for the best results, they often fail to deliver. 

Are you in Yakima County? Contact Prosite to learn more about Termidor® and our treatment options. We target termite infestations and arrest termite activity. We apply treatments to guard current structures against infestation and pre-treatments to prepare the ground for new homes and businesses. No matter what services you need, we can help. Get started with a free consultation today and rest easy knowing that termites aren't sneaking up on you.