How To Choose the Best Termite Pest Control Company
Choosing the best termite pest control company is important, especially if you already have a termite infestation. The longer you leave termites unchecked, the more damage they will do. Termites are voracious eaters. In fact, the never sleep, which means they can eat away at your home 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – without ever stopping.
Wondering what they’ll munch on, if you fail to hire the best termite pest control company you can find? Termites will eat any cellulose material, including wood, cardboard, sheetrock, insulation, carpet, fabric, and plants.
What Termites Prefer to Eat
More specifically, though, here is the basic termite dinner menu that can destroy your home:
- Floors: Termite infestations are particularly common on ground floors where homes touch the dirt. Because many species of termites build colonies in the ground, it’s easy for them to reach the foundation and floor joists of your home. Unless a termite pest control company addresses the problem, the foundation of your home and your subfloor supports could fall apart.
- Wooden Beams: Drywood termites will burrow deep down into the wooden beams of your home and hollow them out. This can make the beams and whatever is resting on top of them weaker than they should be. The problem is that homeowners usually don’t see any damage done to the wooden beams until there is a catastrophic incident.
- Stairs: Just like your floors, the stairs in your home depend on structural supports typically made of wood. The preferred food of termites is wood, and an untreated termite colony can so severely damage the wooden structures of your stairs that the stairs can collapse.
- Cabinets: If termites tire of eating in the dark, they’ll make their way to the interior of your home – specially your kitchen and bathroom cabinets.
- The Rest of Your Home: Considering that a queen termite can lay 40,000 eggs a day and 10 million eggs a year, it’s not unreasonable to think that your whole house could be at risk if your termite infestation goes untreated for any lengthy period, which is even more reason to schedule an inspection with a qualified termite pest control company.
Warning Signs of a Termite Infestation
If you identify a termite infestation early, the cost of remediation will be reduced. If you wait a few months, though, considerable damage will have occurred, and the repair costs will quickly mount. Wait a year, and you could face such catastrophic damage that even the best termite pest control company won’t be able to mitigate the situation.
Hopefully, you already have termite protection in place, and you are actively looking for signs of a termite infestation. If not, here’s what to look for:
- Windows or Doors that are Stuck: If your windows or doors suddenly become much more difficult to open or close, it could mean that you have a termite infestation. Termites are attracted to the exposed wood of window frames and doorframes. As they munch away, your window frames and doorframes can warp, making it difficult for them to be opened or closed.
- Damage under Paint or Wallpaper: Termites are known to feed on the cardboard and wood paneling underneath the surface of your walls. Even worse, they can do this without eating through the paint or wallpaper, which makes it difficult to detect a termite infestation until the paint or wallpaper is removed. This is why people are more likely to discover termite damage during home repairs and renovations. Look for any unusual appearances on painted or wallpapered surfaces, including bubbling paint, peeling or discolored wallpaper, small pinholes, dented or sunken areas, buckling wood, and winding lines that are narrow and sunken.
- Discarded Wings: Termites have a caste system that consists of workers, soldiers, and swarmers. Termite swarmers, which are the reproductive members of the termite colony, have two pairs of large wings, which are pale in color and ¼ inch to ½ inch long. After a swarmer leaves the colony and finds a mate, it sheds its wings. Swarmers are attracted to light, so they tend to fly around doors and windows. They also don’t live exceptionally long indoors, so you might find dead swarmers or discarded wings near windowsills and entryways. People often mistake swarmers for flying ants. They look remarkably similar, but termite swarmers have straighter bodies and two evenly sized pairs of wings, whereas flying ants have pinched waists and two unevenly sized pairs of wings.
- Mud Tubes: Subterranean termites have thin exoskeletons and need a humid environment to survive. Mud tubes provide them the protection they need as they travel from their colony to their food source. Mud tubes look like narrow veins along the side of your home. These tubes start from the ground and tend to run toward areas with exposed wood. If you discover mud tubes, break off a piece to check for live termites. If there are none, you’re not necessarily in the clear. Check back in a few days to see if the mud tube has been repaired. If it has, it’s time to call the best termite pest control company you can find. Even if the mud tube has not been repaired, don’t feel relieved just yet, as the termites may have moved to another part of your home or property with better access to a food source.
- Termite Droppings: Called “frass,” termite droppings are a sure sign of termite activity. Only frass from drywood termites, which are uncommon in eastern Virginia, is visible to humans. Drywood termite frass is wood-colored and pellet-shaped, often appearing like wood dust or shavings. Here in eastern Virginia, we really only need to worry about the Eastern Subterranean termite and the Formosan termite – both of which can cause massive amounts of damage to your home.
Choosing a Termite Pest Control Company
Selecting the best termite pest control company is important, because a poor-quality termite pest control company can make the problem worse and even damage the structural integrity of your home. Your home is not something to be gambled with, so make sure the termite pest control company you choose has the right credentials.
Before you hire a termite pest control company, make sure the company holds the required certifications for your state. You can start by contacting the department of environmental protection for your state and asking about licensure. They will be able to provide the information you need or at least point you in the right direction. At Eco Pest Control, we’re happy to provide you with our licenses and certifications.
In addition, a quality termite pest control company will conduct a thorough inspection of your home and then offer you a firm estimate. Any termite pest control company not willing to provide a firm estimate is a warning sign that should tell you to keep looking. What’s more, if the estimate looks unrealistically low, you should question what is included in the scope of work. The last thing you want is the company to ask for additional fees once the remediation work has begun.
Also beware of termite pest control companies that claim to have a secret formula or proprietary information on treating termites. All treatments must be registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – which means there are no secret formulas for treating termites or any other pests, for that matter.
You might also want to ask if the treatment used is environmentally friendly and won’t harm your family or pets. At Eco Pest Control, we offer the Sentricon system, which is effective, environmentally friendly, and the most recognized name in termite bait stations. Following your termite inspection, your Eco Pest Control professional exterminator – who is certified in the Sentricon system – can install and maintain your system.
Sentricon’s magic is in its Always Active technology, which works by using termite bait that is scientifically proven to be more appealing than wood. Once a few termites take the bait, they will lead other termites to it. This spreads the bait to other members of the colony until the entire termite colony is destroyed, stopping further damage from inside your home or building. Your Eco Pest Control termite exterminator checks the bait station during your annual inspection to ensure its ongoing effectiveness. In addition, our termite inspection plans come with 12-month warranties that are renewable and transferable.
In short, when you need a termite inspection or termite treatment, you want to rely on the best eastern Virginia termite pest control company available, a firm with expertise and highly trained technicians.
Why Eco Pest Control is the Leading Termite Inspection Company in Eastern Virginia
If you wait until you visibly see signs of termites in your home or office, then it might be too late. Take the initiative and call Eco Pest Control, the leading termite pest control company in eastern Virginia. What makes us different than all the others? Here are five reasons you should trust us to protect your property from termites.
- Our termite exterminators are certified in termite inspection, and every member of our team undergoes extensive training in the identification, treatment, and control of termites.
- Training of our staff doesn’t stop after their initial certification. Eco Pest Control maintains an ongoing termite education program to ensure everyone on our team stays abreast of the latest industry advances.
- We offer free termite inspections, and each plan comes with a 12-month warranty that is renewable and transferable.
- We offer a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. If you are not fully satisfied with your termite plan, we will come back for free, which is why so many of our customers recommend us when friends and family need a termite pest control company.
- We offer the Sentricon termite system, which is safe for you family and stops termites dead.
Resources
- Environmental Protection Agency: Termites: How to Identify and Control Them
- United States Department of Agriculture: Subterranean Termites – Their Prevention and Control in Buildings
- National Pesticide Information Center: Termites
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