Residential Termite Inspections & Protection In Des Moines
As one of the most discreet yet destructive pests, termites wreak serious havoc on a home when not taken care of quickly and efficiently. Successfully spotting and eliminating these wood-eating pests is challenging for the untrained eye. With years of experience providing professional termite inspections in Des Moines homes, we can help you identify the signs of early termite damage.
Though typically more active in the spring and summer months, termites cause trouble year-round, taking shelter underground to survive and thrive even in winter months. Termites reproduce at a rapid rate, making an infestation imminent if left untreated, leaving your home exposed to potentially severe structural damage. Work with our team at Preferred Pest Control to stop termites in their tracks and keep your home safe from these unwelcome wood-eaters. We provide trusted residential termite pest control and protection for central Iowa homeowners.
What Are The Signs Of Termites?
Detecting early termite damage is important to keep the integrity of your home safe and sound. Since termites themselves are usually no more than ½ an inch in length and live underground, you’ll need to look for structural or environmental cues that indicate termites are living nearby.
A great way to get ahead of termite damage is to understand what exactly causes a termite infestation in the first place so you can avoid the destructive pests. Moisture is a huge attraction for termites, so we encourage homeowners to regularly check for any leaks that need fixing inside and to be mindful of sprinkler usage outdoors to eliminate any areas where termites could easily survive. Avoid using mulch in your home’s landscaping because mulch and wood chips hold excess moisture and can attract pests. Similarly, store firewood aboveground and consider covering it if outdoors to keep it dry and unappealing to termites.
Whether or not your home has these risk factors, it may still be susceptible to a termite infestation, so knowing what to look for could save the day. Damage to wooden structures like decks, baseboards and drywall may be visible without a professional termite inspection if it’s severe enough. However, to prevent more significant destruction, there are a few more specific signs of early termite damage to be aware of.
Five Signs Of Early Termite Damage
Termites typically feast on wood for two to three years before damage becomes noticeable, while structural damage may not be evident for five to 10 years. If you do have a termite infestation in your home, regular termite inspections annually or every couple years could prevent costly damage from occurring. We’re always a phone call away and ready to perform a professional inspection and provide termite pest control, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you’re unsure about a potential termite infestation. In the meantime, here are five signs of early termite damage to watch out for:
- Damaged wood: Wood can be damaged from general rot over time, and if it feels spongy and crumbles away when you touch it, rot is the likely culprit. However, if the wood is dry and firm but has tunnel patterns within it, this is a sign termites are eating your home from the inside out.
- Tiny holes in drywall: Pin-sized holes in drywall may be termite entry points, where they’ve begun tunneling through to form their nest. Other pests, like woodboring beetles, create tiny holes in wood, but damaged drywall often points to early termite damage.
- Broken wings: As termite colonies grow, they “swarm” in early spring when the weather warms up to find a new home. They may take up residence in the foundation of your home, swarming from a nearby wood pile or nest they’ve outgrown, leaving wings they’ve lost behind.
- Bubbled or peeling paint: If you see any areas where the paint has bubbled, you may have a hidden termite problem beneath it. If the space sounds hollow when you tap on it, it’s probably termite damage, especially if there’s no water source nearby that could have caused water damage.
- Mud tubes: Termites build shelter tubes made out of tiny bits of soil they glue together to connect their underground colony to a food source. Termite mud tubes may be visible on foundation walls, floor joists, floors and subfloors, siding, wall studs and drywall and are the most common sign of early termite damage we come across. Our professional exterminators can quickly determine if a termite shelter tube is active or inactive during an inspection. We treat active tubes directly. While it may seem counterintuitive to not dispose of these tubes right away, the best way for us to treat active colonies is targeting these active tubes. Once all termite mud tubes have been inspected and/or treated appropriately, they can be knocked down and removed.
Are Termite Inspections Worth It?
Without regular termite inspections and residential termite protection, your home may fall prey to thousands of dollars in property damage, lessening the value of your home and potentially risking the safety of your family if the home collapses. Preventive termite pest control treatments and inspections are much cheaper and provide peace of mind for families.
The average cost of termite damage depends on a lot of factors. According to Bob Vila, trusted home renovation and repair expert, repairing the damaged framing on your home can cost up to $2,500. Drywall repair can cost $1,000 depending on the scale of the destruction. Finally, repairing and cleaning a crawl space can cost up to $15,000 depending on the restoration needed. Keep in mind the actual cost of termite damage in your home will depend on your unique circumstances. Your best bet is to catch it early to lessen expenses with a professional termite inspection by our team here in Des Moines.
Residential Termite Protection With Our Sentricon®-Certified Exterminators
If you’re dealing with a current termite infestation in your home, the best thing you can do is contact professional help. While there are a few at-home termite prevention treatments, they are often ineffective. Preferred Pest Control’s residential termite protection services provide Des Moines homeowners the best barrier against termites. Our technicians are Certified Sentricon® Specialists, and our proven treatment method is minimally invasive and requires no trenching around your foundation.
The Des Moines Sentricon® treatment system with Always Active™ technology eliminates and prevents termites. Subterranean termites form their colonies deep underground, so Sentricon® bait stations work to attack them before they get inside the home. Our process for termite pest control includes:
- Place perimeter treatment - We place Sentricon® stations containing Recruit® HD termite bait around the perimeter of your home and in places conducive to termite activity. Termites will encounter the stations thanks to their naturally random foraging behavior.
- Install interior bait - If termite activity has been spotted inside your home, we install Sentricon® Recruit® AG (above ground) stations directly on any existing mud tubes. Termites inside the mud tubes will have immediate access to the bait, thus beginning the termite colony elimination process.
- Track Sentricon® progress - The Sentricon® method gets to work attacking the termite colony from the inside, from “workers,” the lowest level of the termite hierarchy, to the Queen, exterminating the colony entirely. Although termites feed on wood, they find the active ingredient in the Sentricon® stations more palatable—they actually prefer it 10 times to wood! Even better, they enjoy sharing it with their nestmates back in the colony. Once a termite ingests the bait, it cannot molt, and termites that cannot molt will die. Once the workers die, there is no one left to feed the others, including the queen. When the queen dies, the colony has been completely eliminated.
When you call Preferred Pest Control, you can expect quick and efficient treatments along with great customer service. Our termite pest control solutions are designed to ensure termites never consider your home a viable place to set up camp again.
Sign Up For Quarterly Termite Pest Control Services
For convenient service and proactive pest control, we offer year-round service bundles covering a variety of pests and treatments. Our Preferred Plus plan covers 31 different pests, including quarterly perimeter treatments, an inspection to seal rodent entry points and an initial interior treatment, plus a termite inspection and Sentricon® termite pest control services. We check bait stations for termite activity annually and will start treatment at no extra charge if live activity is spotted.
Protect Your Home! Call Us For Industry-Leading Termite Pest Control
Termites are silent invaders that cause quite a bit of damage over time. If you notice signs of early termite damage or want the peace of mind of a termite inspection, don’t hesitate to call our experts at Preferred Pest Control. Give us a call at (515) 276-7277 or schedule termite pest control services with us online today.
Schedule An Appointment