Who in their right mind would invite termites into their house? I’ll bet you just said to yourself, “I sure wouldn’t!” So would you be surprised to find out that you may have already done just that?
Do you have well groomed plantings and landscaping up close to your house? Is it covering the bottom of your siding or brick masonry? Did you use wood or bark mulch? If you’ve answered yes to just the first two of those questions, then you have indeed given them an open invitation to come on into your house.
If you also answered yes to the third question, then you’ve set out a banquet for them that will lead them right up to the best place possible to get into your home. I’m going to tell you how it works, and why I say that, but first just a bit of a qualifier. No, I’m not an exterminator, and no, I’m not licensed by the state to do termite inspections. As a home inspector, I make sure that I bring in qualified termite experts licensed by the state to perform the termite portion of your home inspection.
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Over the years of working with these professionals, I’ve picked up some knowledge of what they look for, where they look when inspecting a home and why. So, I thought I’d pass along some of that good information to you.
Termites need just a few things to make up an optimum environment for them to thrive in. High on the list among these are food, darkness, and moisture. When you cover up the bottom of your siding with landscaping and mulch, you’re hiding this area from sunlight with a material designed to catch and hold moisture. And if you used wood or bark mulch to do this, well…….... that’s what they eat.
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One of the easiest and most favored locations for termites to enter a house is in the area of your front porch, and of course that’s the same area where you want your home to look the nicest, so that is where you are most likely to do the landscaping and plantings that are going to attract these bugs.
Here’s how you can keep your cake and eat it too, so to speak. Rearrange your landscaping and mulch, raking it away from your house siding enough to expose as much of your foundation as possible. Six inches is ideal, but even a couple of inches is enough to make it a lot more difficult for the little buggers to get into your house.
If you want to do more, replace the wood or bark mulch with decorative stone or better yet, the rubber mulch they make from old tires. It lasts a lot longer, and you’d be doing your part to help in the recycling effort. That’s a win-win!
Michael Chambers – St. Louis Area Home Inspector