Termites… nobody wants them and you hope you don’t have them in your home, but how do you know? Well, one of the most reliable ways to tell that your home is infested is to look for winged termites. Finding them inside is a reliable indication that your home has an infestation that that you will need to address.

It is easy to confuse winged termites (know as swarmers) with ants, because they often swarm at the same time of year. You can however identify termites because they have a more rounded body shape than the ant. These swarmers are often attracted to light as such they are commonly found at windows or doors.

Those termites emerging from tree stumps, woodpiles, or other outdoors locations shouldn’t cause as much concern because they do not necessarily indicate of an infestation in your home. However, if they are seen coming from or near the foundation of your home, you need to worry.

Other signs of a termite problem are “mud tubes” that may be found on the walls of your foundation. These mud tubes are about the size of a pencil. Termites construct them for shelter as they travel from their colony to their food source.

You can break the tubes, which will allow you to check for the presence of worker termites. Worker termites are small white insects that look somewhat like ants. But just because a tube is empty it doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. Termites are known to vacate their tubes while they forage.

And while there may often be little or no visible evidence that your home is infested you can still have a huge problem. You can’t even count on noticing their damage to wood because they often leave to top layer intact. Termites do their best to hide, as such; an infestation may go undetected for years.

Because of this preventive measures should be taken to reduce the likelihood of an infestation. They can use the smallest crack in a foundation to enter your home. As such an inexpensive measure you can take to prevent them is making sure seal any cracks.

It is also important to inspect any wood that comes in contact with dirt termites can burrow their way to the pillars of your home and cause terrible damage. Additionally be sure that you keep your firewood piled away from your home. You might also consider to replacing your mulch with stone, or another matter not made from trees.

In additions to these measures you might also try a barrier products, such as Termidor, are everyone’s preferred method of termite control. The application of Termidor is labor intensive and might require specialized tools. This is because it is recommended that you dig a trench around edges of your foundation to apply this product. The same has to be done to any wall or pier that comes in contact with the ground. You also need to treat any decks or walkways that connect to your home.

Soil treatments like this are used to apply other termite treatments many of which function as a repellent. These repellents have one major flaw, which is; any gap in coverage can allow termites to enter your home. But, fortunately, Termidor works differently and small gaps in coverage do not affect the potency of this product.

Termidor is effective despite gaps because of what they refer to as its transitive property. This means that a termite that comes in contact with this compound will become a “carrier” and will thereby spread the effects of its exposure to others. This product is even more effective because termites cannot smell, taste, or detect it in anyway. Therefore you can count on this product finding its way back to the colony.

But if these measures don’t work you still have options.

On the off chance you do find yourself with an infestation, you can treat the timbers that make up your home. Topical Termiticides will protect the wood from initial or further termite damage. These pesticides can be applied through either injection (drilling) or sprayed on as a liquid or foam. When choosing the best product or method to use, you should know that the topical sprays only protect what they cover and don’t treat termites in the wood.

Another alternative treatment is bait. Baits are one of the simplest forms of termite control. These systems are simply placed around the home the rest is up to the termite. Their foragers will find the bait consume it and then carry some of the poison to their colony infecting others.

Hopefully you never have to deal with a termite infestation. But if you do make sure that you apply the pesticide or repellent in a responsible manner that follows the instruction on the package. It is also important to use any recommended safety equipment (normally goggles and gloves.)

Author's Bio: 

John S. has published several articles about termite control and specializes in helping people save money on pest control. If you would like to learn more about do-it-yourself pest control, please visit Do My Own Pest Control.