Archive for April, 2010

Even Public Monuments Are Not Sacred To Termites

Many magnificent structures have been made using wooden products. The advantage of building using wood is that you are able to put up the structure within a short period. Wood products are also widely available and at a cheaper price than stone. Many structures including homes, churches, and social halls were built with wooden products in the last century. Some are still standing up to today. However, others have not stood the test of time. They have been damaged by termites.

Termites are white ants that feed on wood. They feed on trees in the forest and wooden structures. Some of the damage they cause is quite visible to all. However at times the damage they cause is not visible. In such cases, you can only ascertain the extent of damage through invasive inspection, which involves pulling down part of the house.

A young family, who experienced a terrible loss a few years back through the death of their father and husband, suffered an additional setback in their home. They discovered that termites were destroying their home. Termites had eaten into the wooden frames and structure of their home. However, they were fortunate enough to have an extreme makeover of their home courtesy of a local television show.

The damage caused by termites has not been limited to private homes. Social buildings have also fallen victim to termites. A church in Athens, in the state of Tennessee recently suffered such a setback. Termites had eaten up the church’s floor joints, wall infrastructure and ceiling. The church members attempted to make few repairs to remedy the situation. Unfortunately, their efforts created a worse problem for them. Their wooden church building developed structural problems. The walls caved in and the city officials condemned the building.

Subsequently the insurance company cancelled their policy citing “material changes in risk.” The church now has an USD 80,000 hole in its budget to fix the church. Had they taken precautionary measures to stall the damage caused by termites, the catastrophe may never have happened.

A similar fate befell a congregation in the Philippines. A church in the city of Cebu had to rebuild a building on its former site because termites had damaged the old one. It took a period of three years to rebuild it with massive resources sought from donors to complete the job. These are just but a few testimonies to show how destructive termites can be. It is therefore in your best interests to seek to protect your home from these pests. The cost of preventing and controlling these pests is indeed a drop in the ocean compared to the resources that may be required to rebuild the entire structure.

There are three types of inspections done to determine extent of damage by termites.  The first type of inspection is the visual inspection. They may just inspect your wooden frames and doorposts. Alternatively, they may have to conduct an invasive inspection to check termite damage in places that are not readily visible. A third method has recently come up where the inspectors use thermal imaging cameras to detect termite activity. This method is in use to avoid having to pull down part of your building to facilitate inspection.

To protect your home from these pests contact a pest or cockroach control company in Sydney. They will give you a free quotation of how much it will cost to do the job. They will also inspect your house for termite activity.

If you’re concerned about any of these common pests and need some help exterminating them, you can contact Pink Pest Services for professional pest control in Sydney or call 02 9529 5222 for immediate assistance.

No Tags

Home Invasion; The Threat of Pests to your Home

Home repairs are often recognised as a potentially costly part of owning a home. However, there is something that many home owners forget to consider and that is household pests. Now I am not referring to anything human like in-laws, but something much smaller like termites, cockroaches, ants, spiders and rodents. Unlike in-laws who eventually leave on their own and usually pose no real harm to the house and you, the fore-mentioned insects and rodents do. Threats include structural damage (termites), disease and mess (cockroaches and rodents), and bites (ants and spiders).

There are ways to prevent some of the more common household pests that you can implement yourself before you decide that the problem is too big for you to handle alone.

Cockroaches: Keep all food stored in sealed containers. Clean the kitchen frequently and repair water leaks promptly. A drop of water is enough for one bug for a week. Seal off entry points like holes in the baseboards, in the kitchen cabinets, pipes, doors, and windows.

The health risks of these pests are the diseases that they carry. These include the likes of dysentery and Typhus. Another disgusting fact of cockroaches is that a single female can produce approximately 20,000 offspring in her short life span.

Rodents: Traps are not all that effective and pose a danger to young children and pets. Rodents are responsible for destroying billions of dollars each year in food and their chewing has caused fires. Depending on the breed, a pair can produce up to 15,000 babies in their lifespan. And this is on top of the fact that rat bites can transmit deadly diseases like rabies. Rodents are repelled by the smell of mint, camphor, and pint tar. Also having a cat or Terrier may help.

Ants: These become a big problem in the home when nests are disturbed. What starts the infestation indoors is poor housekeeping habits and your pet’s food bowl. Depending on the species, ants are capable of inflicting painful bites.

Ways to prevent home invasion include keeping the home as clean as possible, and monitoring the household plants. A way to protect the pet’s food bowl is to place the bowl in a tray of water. There are chemical ways to control ants but be warned, most of the time these contain poisonous chemicals.

Spiders: Depending on the species, have different ways of trapping their prey. Not all spiders are pests to the household but remember that all spiders are venomous to various degrees.

Finally Termites: These pests eat wood and cause extreme damage to your home. They eat 24 hours a day 7 days a week and are so slow about the damage that often times it goes unnoticed until it is really bad. To prevent this problem there are a few simple remedies to try; eliminate standing water, keep branches trimmed back, make sure the cracks in the bottom of your home are fixed and make sure your firewood and building material are away from your home.

In Sydney alone termites infest one in five homes resulting in costly repairs; and these rates are just increasing. So if you are considering selling your home you should have it inspected for these pests before putting it up on the market.

Often homeowners are able to deal with small to medium pest infestations on their own. However nothing beats the work of a professional. If you are serious about removing some of the threats posed by pests in your house, a simple phone call to an expert is all that is needed to help make your home a safer place to live.

f you’re concerned about any of these common pests and need some help exterminating them, you can contact Pink Pest Services for professional pest control in Sydney or call 02 9529 5222 for immediate assistance.

No Tags


Home | Services | Testimonials | FAQ | About Us | Contact Us
Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Site Map | External Resources

© 2005-12 Pink Pest Services