Aussies warned about invasive creatures 'on the move' that can destroy your home
Termites are a 'serious' problem that you don't want to have. But there's been a surge of activity in some areas of Australia lately.
Australian homeowners are being warned to check their walls, floors and roof cavities and better yet, call in the experts, with conditions in parts of the country causing termites to find new homes. And you desperately don't want it to be yours.
Termites thrive in wetter and more humid conditions, allowing them to leave their nest to forage and find a new food source.
Bates Pest Control on the NSW South Coast has taken on a number of new homes recently where termites were discovered.
"We've got a few that have got into the houses big time," Meryl, who works for the pest control company, told Yahoo News Australia.
"It's the humidity and the moisture ... it gets them all moving. "It happens every year in the weather conditions," she said, although noting last year wasn't too bad.
"A lot of people are very mindful now, they're watching their homes or getting inspections."
Most houses where termite activity has been found will likely only require modest treatment to hopefully be OK. "They're all being rented out for their AirBnBs over Christmas," she said. "So it's a bit crazy".
"We just did one last week and she [the homeowner] had a whole pile of stuff downstairs ... and she picked up a box and it was riddled with termites."
Luckily the box was on a concrete surface but nearby the woman had pallets and wooden doors sitting on the exposed ground which were "completely disintegrated".
"Fortunately for her the termites had enough food so they hadn't actually moved to attacking the house.
"She was very lucky. She was probably one of the most nervous customers that I've had to deal with, she was just beside herself."
Termites are a 'serious' issue for homeowners
Termites can be harmful if inside the home causing more than $1.5 billion in damage to homes every year, a study by the University of Technology Sydney previously showed. Alarmingly, according to research carried out by the CSIRO, as many as one in three Australian homes will be impacted by termites across the lifespan of the home.
Online, some pest inspectors have shared their findings at damaged homes, showing how an innocuous-looking timber frame can actually crumble after the insects have been through.
"Looks all good until you fiddle with it, then it just obliterates," a Sydney pest controller says in one clip this month, showing a timber frame underneath a house.
"Termites are a serious problem guys, take them seriously," he warns.
Just like the team from Bates, he urges people to get annual checks for termites. That way you are more likely to catch them before too much damage is done.
Even for those doing the right thing, the invasive insects can have ruinous results. Yahoo News recently spoke with a couple who were left more than $100,00 out of pocket after they purchased a multi-million dollar property on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland in June last year only to later find a pest report did somehow not uncover extensive termite damage at the property. Shortly after moving in the couple discovered part of the home "was at risk of collapsing".
According to the Australian federal government's Department of Agriculture, termite nests in houses can typically be found in walls and near a water source, like a sink.
"Tap wood to find any hidden damage and look for blistered wood surface damage and debris," its page on subterranean termites says.
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