Mud shelter tubes they build for protection. Seen in brick foundations of window or door.
Hollow sounding timber.
Sagging floors or cupboard.
Damaged wooden boards (because termites take away the structural integrity of timber).
How to reduce the risk of termites
Regularly check moisture problems like leaking pipes or inadequate ventilation.
Check your timber retaining walls or garden beds, they should be well clear of the building’s edge and not cover weep holes.
Keep areas clean around your house – don't store unwanted items that can reduce the ventilation space for the house.
Keep out any wood that's in contact with the ground and close to the house.
When building a new house apply construction methods and materials that can reduce termite risk in the future.
Call Firstcare services for professional pest inspection and follow their advice to reduce your termite risk and protect your home
The different approaches to termite management
Australian standard requires that all new homes and extensions have a termite management system in place. Homes built must have a 'durable notice' of treatment (located near the meter box)
What can be found on the durable notice?
Termite management system
Date of installation
Life expectancy (for chemical barriers)
Recommended date for future inspections.
If you're building a new house or renovating, be sure to put in appropriate physical or chemical barriers, install them during construction.
Physical barriers
Termite shields don't prevent termite activity but bring it into the open, as it's easier to detect their mud shelter tubes on the metal caps.
Woven stainless steel mesh can be installed in a concrete slab and cavity walls around pipe openings and the like, so termites can't get through these entry points.
Composite systems such as chemically treated plastic or fabric sheets contain chemicals that'll degrade over time, unlike true physical barriers.
Reticulation systems involve piping fitted under slabs and around the edges of a building with access points for injection of insecticide.
Chemical barriers
Chemical barriers are applied under and around a concrete slab or around the building piers or footings.
Require refill and renewal
Create a zone of treated soil that may be effective for several years before it needs retreatment
May require concrete drilling if applied after construction
Chemicals used in termite management
Fipronil and imidacloprid are particularly effective against termites as they are non-repellent. This means the termites will travel through the treated zone without detecting the chemical and take it back to the colony, therefore contaminating other termites kill them nest.
Monitoring and bait stations
This is a less toxic but expensive, requires regular maintenance. Monitoring and bait stations use very small amounts of toxic that affects the termite's exoskeleton and kills them without harming other animals or humans.
How they work
The pest manager places a baiting station near termite nest(s) near the house, usually in-ground.
The station is checked regularly, repositioned if needed and when termites are found, bait is added to replenish the station.
The termites take the bait back to their nest and spread it through grooming, till the colony is eventually wiped out.
There's no guarantee that the termites will find the bait, so it's generally not a good idea to use a monitoring and bait station as your only approach to termite management.
