Are You Helping Your Grandparents De-Clutter? 3 Signs That Their House Has Termites
Posted on: 23 November 2017
After accumulating a lifetime of belongings, senior adults sometimes reach a point where they are ready to begin reducing the amount of things they have around their home. While helping your grandparents de-clutter is a great way to promote safety and better organization, you should also be aware that moving things around could reveal more problems than you expected. Use these tips to keep a watchful eye for termites so that you can help your grandparents protect their property:
Finding Frass
As termites burrow through wood, they push out pellets of excrement near their entrances. Frass looks a lot like sawdust, but you should be concerned about termites if you find it in places where you know no one has been working with wood. Upon closer inspection, you may also notice that the frass is located near wooden parts of your grandparent's home that sound hollow or have small holes in the surface.
Discovering Discarded Wings
Reproductive termites participate in an activity called swarming during certain times of the year. During a swarm, termites fly in large numbers as they mate. Once they mate, their wings fall off. You may find these wings in any area where the swarm occurred. However, they are often found near window sills or in the attic area of a house. While finding a wing or two could be a sign of any type of pest, you will need to call a termite exterminator to find out for sure if a large number of wings means that there is an infestation.
Changes In How The House Feels
As termites burrow through the wooden structure of the house, they leach moisture from the wood that can cause changes in how features of your grandparent's housework. If you find that you cannot open a window or door easily, then this is another sign that termites may have already begun to cause serious damage to your loved one's house. Termites that get into the crawlspace of beneath the flooring of a home can also lead to sagging or squeaking floors. Watch out for soft spots in wood flooring that indicate that termites might be living beneath the surface.
Although no one wants to deal with termites, prompt treatment is the only way to preserve the structural integrity of your grandparent's home. As you help them clean, watch for the signs of termites so that you can help them arrange for pest removal services before the problem gets worse.
Check out a website like http://www.craigandsons.com for more information and assistance.
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