My father has been in real estate some 30 plus years and has just recently had some serious bouts with termites in one of his homes. Termites are no laughing matter and in speaking with a colleague of mine, he described the following story:

“I was working in my yard a few years ago and noticed that the previous homeowner laid black plastic down on the ground around the foundation.  I knew this was a major no-no when trying to keep insects away from your house.  You are providing insects with insulation and a weather barrier of protection from Mother Nature’s controlling reach.

I have always had these little brown ants come in all over the house over the years and never could figure out how to control them until I ripped up the black plastic and sprayed around the house every couple of months.  When I did rip up that black plastic, I found ants but what I also found are what follows the ants into your house … termites!!  My first reaction was “that’s just great” and my second reaction was driving to Home Depot to buy some termite stakes.  I checked all the baseboards in the house, as this is the first place they generally show up.  You can do this by knocking on the baseboards with your hand like you would a door.  You’ll know if you have termites when your hand punches through the baseboard or cracks it.  I was lucky.”

Fact: Termites cause over 22 billion dollars of property damage worldwide every year.

By following these simple rules, you can avoid spending unnecessary dollars on repairing termite damage:

• While placing plastic around the foundation of your home does help with weed prevention in the short run, the overall cost is not worth the time and effort.
• If you use mulch or wood chips only use cedar and make sure to lay it a foot or more away from the foundation.  Cedar chips have a natural insect repelling property and repel ants, fleas, termites, chinchbugs, pillbugs, etc.
• Do not keep any wood piles or fallen timber or any non-cedar wood anywhere near your house.  Believe me, it’s better to be safe than sorry in this instance. I keep firewood at the back of my lot.
• To combat bugs and the like, I recommend Ortho Home Defense Max 32 oz. Outdoor perimeter Insect Killer Ready-Spray.  You can get this at Home Depot for around $10.00 and it should last a couple applications.  Just hook it up to your garden hose and spray a 3-4 ft perimeter around and up to your foundation.

Think of ants as the beginning of the Macy’s Day parade of insects with the termites acting as every balloon creation that follows.  If you keep the ants at bay, you are increasing your chances of not having termites.

If you see termites, call a professional for an estimate on removal.  If you choose to do it yourself, head to Home Depot and check out the termite stakes.  I can tell you, speaking from personal experience, that termite stakes are pretty effective and the termites never made it into my house after I set them up.  When weighing the cost of prevention versus the cost of repair, you always come out cheaper on prevention.

By Regina Walter