Did you recently build a new home in Alabama? Do you know if that home was built with termite prevention in mind? Existing homes can take preventative measures against termites, but the best termite prevention begins at the start.
How can you prevent termites in a new home?
Alabama homes must be built to withstand damage from high winds, heavy rain, and termites for them to stand the test of time. Alabama faces two termite threats: drywood and subterranean termites. These can be prevented using different methods, some of which are built into a new home’s foundation. These include:
- Balsamic Termite Barrier: Tightly packed rock particles laid underneath a foundation
- Termite mesh: Stainless steel mesh with holes smaller than termites’ bodies laid between a BTB and the foundation, or on concrete cold joints.
- Uncracked poured concrete foundation
- Adding a solid concrete cap on brick and block foundations: At least four inches thick, as these foundations crack over time
- Steel frames
- Pressure-treated wood, termite-resistant heartwood
- All slab and crawl space houses should receive a proper liquid pretreatment to the soil prior to construction.
These efforts help protect new homes from a termite invasion from the beginning.
How can you prevent termites in an existing house?
There are steps you can take to further prevent termites in a home that already exists. The main idea is to prevent moisture from the soil from seeping into wood. This is where termites thrive, and by eliminating moisture you eliminate their environment.
- Keep wood products away from the foundation: Including mulch, lumber, etc. Use pine needles or pea gravel near a foundation and keep mulch further away.
- Keep plants away from the foundation: Keep bushes 12 inches away from the foundation.
- Eliminate moisture around the foundation: Storm drains and sprinkler heads should point a few feet away from the foundation.
- Keep crawl spaces dry: Ventilation and vapor barriers are key to preventing pests and fungi.
If you use all the preventative measures listed above, as well as those recommended by your local government or exterminator, you could still encounter termites in your home. If this happens, the construction company that helped to build your home may have cut corners or installed a defective product, and you could be entitled to compensation.
