Perfecting Pest Control

If you don't like pests setting up shop in your home, you might be interested in hiring a professional exterminator to help you with your problems. However, unless you understand the tools that they are working with, you might find yourself wondering what else you can do to curb issues. For example, if you don't mention that mosquito problem, your exterminator might not know to treat that water feature with a pesticide that targets larvae. My site explains different ways you can prepare for your professional pest control treatment, so that you aren't left with issues later down the road.

4 Ways To Reduce Termite Infestation Risk When Building A New Home

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The best form of termite control is proactive prevention. While any homeowner can take steps to reduce the chances of termites invading their house, homebuyers who are building new houses have unique opportunities to design their home to be termite-resistant from the beginning. No measures can fully stop termites from infesting a house, but if you're in the process of having a house built to be more termite-resistant, here are some practical steps you can take to minimize the likelihood that termites infest your home in the future.

Have All Stumps Removed from Your Property

If your contractor cuts down any trees on the property where you're having your new home built, make sure the stumps of the trees are fully removed. If they aren't, they'll rot. Termites love rotten wood, and they may make a nest in any stump that's decaying.

Removing a stump only costs between $60 and $350, so asking your contractor to take out all the stumps shouldn't increase the price of building your new home significantly. Your contractor ought to plan on removing any stumps, and the cost of doing so should be built into your estimate. Even if it's not, though, a $350 charge is just a fraction of a percent of the price of a new home, which costs an average of $305,372.

Make Sure the Ground is Graded Away from Your House

Wherever possible, the ground around your home should be graded away from the house. The grade doesn't need to be steep. There just needs to be enough of a grade so that water will flow away from your home and not toward it.

Making sure that the ground is graded away from your house will keep the soil next to and beneath your home's foundation from becoming too wet. This is good for your foundation, as overly wet soil can shift and eventually cause a foundation to crack. It's also good for termite prevention, because some termite species, such as dampwood termites, like moist environments.

Put Metal Fences Adjacent to Your House

If your yard will be fenced in, consider putting metal fencing next to your house rather than wood fencing. You can still use wood fencing for the rest of your yard, but installing a metal section where the fence touches the house will help reduce the chances of termites getting into your home through your fence.

A wood fence will be susceptible to infestation for two reasons. First, it will likely degrade faster than you home's exterior walls, because it probably won't be built to last as long. Second, the fence will be on the perimeter of your property, so it will be the first wood structure that any termites wandering into your yard come across.

Installing a section of metal fencing wherever your fence touches your house will slow any termites that get into your fence from reaching your house. Without a metal section, termites would be able to go directly from the fence to your house. They can still reach your house from your fence if there is a metal section, but they first must go through your yard. This will delay them from reaching your home long enough for you to call a pest control company to come out and treat the infestation before it gets to your house.

Put Gardens Away from Your House

If you're having your contractor put in any space for gardens, have the garden plots placed away from your house. Gardens often need to have mulch placed on their soil to prevent weeds from growing and keep moisture in the soil. The moisture that mulch retains can create a moist environment for termites to infest. By placing gardens away from your home, you can help prevent any infestations in your gardens from reaching your home.

For more information and assistance with dealing with termites, call a professional pest control company, like E & R Exterminating Company, Inc..

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25 October 2016