Best Ways to Tackle Termites in Wooden Furniture

Termites without a doubt are one of the destructive pests that can infest your house. So are you thinking of getting termites’ treatment? You need to read this article first. Therefore, lets get into it:

Identifying termite infestation

First and foremost, the step while getting rid of termites is to identify for obvious reasons. After all, if you don’t know whether you have a termite infestation or not, how will you tackle them. Most of the time, by the time people find out they have termites eating their furniture, its already too late. This is another reason why being able to identify termite infestation is so important.

By knowing what to look for, you can identify termites on your own. These signs are, as mentioned below:

·        Keep an eye out for small holes in the woodwork. If you see holes, this is a sign that termites are eating your furniture.

·        Take a pointed object, a needle for instance. Lightly tap or push it against the concerning wood. If the surface falls, termites are eating it from inside.

·        Termite while eating wood creates sawdust. So looking out for this sawdust is a good method of identifying termite infestation.

·        Look out for termite droppings (it is wood colored), they also shed their wings around the infested area. So you can look out for that too.

·        Mud tubes on the walls of your home are also a sign of termites as they create mud tubes to travel in the open environment.

So, these are the signs that you need to look out for. If you find any of these signs around your house or near wooden furniture, you have a termite infestation. This shall tell you that its time to get rid of termites. Before you do that, there is another thing you should know. This will be discussed in the next section of the blog.

Types of termites

So now that you need to get rid of termites, you should ask which type of termite is infesting your woodwork. Reason being that there are two different types of termite species that attack wooden furniture.

 Namely: subterranean termites and Drywood Termites. We shall be discussing both of these species briefly below:

Subterranean Termites

As suggested by their name, subterranean termites can live in wood as well as soil. When they get out of the soil, they build small mud tubes to protect themselves from the harsh environment.

Moreover, subterranean termites prefer to infest houses as they provide moist conditions (which is a favorable condition for building a colony).

Wooden furniture is the primary target of subterranean termites and they can be quite harmful if left unchecked.

Drywood Termites

In contrast to subterranean termites, dry wood termites do not prefer moist conditions, and they don’t need it to thrive either. They mainly attract dry wood, the reason for their name. Thus, they can be found infesting walls, siding, eaves, etc. 

Similar to subterranean termites, these termites take a special liking to houses as well wooden furniture for obvious reasons.

Moreover, dry wood termites are more common in the USA since dry wood is generally used to create furniture. For the same reason, this blog mainly focusing the treatment methods for these termites. These methods are to be discussed below:

Six easy methods to get rid of termites

We shall be providing you not one, not two, but six methods to fight these pests. All of these methods are carefully selected, thus you won’t need any special things to do expensive shopping to carry out termites’ treatment.

With that said, let’s see what are these six methods:

Expose to Sunlight

One of the easiest things you can do, that won’t require any money or special work is exposing the affected wood to sunlight. As it stands, termites thrive in moist and dark conditions. Doing this will make the wood hostile for them. In addition to this, termites can’t stand high temperatures. Thus, this will kill them.  The best part is, it requires no money and just a little bit of labor work. So, all you need to do this bring the woodwork to sunlight and leaving it therefrom at least 2 to 3 days.  While killing termites infesting the wood, it will prevent further infestation as it takes all the moisture out of the wood.

Setting a trap

What if we tell you you can make a trap from termites using just a cardboard box? Its not a joke, you can do it. Cardboards are made from cellulose, which makes them quite similar to wood, at least for termites. In addition to this, it also has a woody smell, that drags termite to it. All you need to do is moisten a cardboard box with some water (this will make smell distance and more likable for termites). Now place it near the affected furniture and let it rest there. Come back a few hours later, and you will see that your trap has dragged all of the termites out of the wood and into the box.  Discard that box in such a way that they don’t come back to your house. Burning this trap is a good idea to get rid of termites in wooden furniture.

Boric Acid

Boric acid is the bane of a pest’s life. This is one of those things that you can use to get rid of any type of pest, which also includes termites. Moreover, it is readily available at general stores and even in supermarkets. You can even get this in powder form, which is recommended. Thus, when you have your hands on borax powder (boric acid’s powder form). Mix it with water to make a solution and fill it in a spray.

Now, all that is left to do is, spraying it all over the affected wood and your job is done. It is nontoxic for humans yet quite lethal for termites. You can add this to the cardboard trap we discussed for even better results.

Brining in predators

Termites might be wood, but some creatures even eat termites. One such predator is parasitic nematodes. These are small worms that are arch enemies of termites.

You can even buy them from your nearby local nursery, plus there are several online stores that sell them too. Once you have bought them, all you need to do is leave them around the affected wood.

These parasites feed on termite larva and kill them with 48 hours. This might be a little creepy but it works.

Hire control my pest for best termite treatment

These are all quite good methods. However, sometimes nothing works and infestation keeps getting worse. You should know, this is the right time to call the pest control service. And boy if we have just the right pest control service for you. The name is controlmypest. This is one of the best pest control services in the USA. In addition to this, they are IPM compliant, which means they use the most eco-friendly methods possible. Moreover, they provide all of their top-class services at the most affordable rates in the market as of now. This means you don’t have to pay a fortune for getting quality pest control treatment. Reach out to Control My Pest to get the best termites’ treatment in the USA.