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| If you're not asking for Termidor, |
| You're asking for trouble. |
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| DONT BE A VICTIM OF TERMITES More than 600.000 U.S. homes suffer termite damage totaling over $1.5 billion annually. More than two million homes require termite treatment each year. Finding out that your home has termites instills a sense of fear among most homeowners. You typically can't see them, you can hear them and frequently only a trained inspector can find signs of infestation. Treatment by homeowner for the control of termites is virtually impossible. Specialized equipment is used and the experts have the knowledge necessary for control strategies. Your termite control specialist at Baskin's Termite Control, Inc. can provide protection from termite infestation. Termites can be found in almost every state as well as Mexico and parts of Canada. They feed on wood and many also destroy paper products such as books, cardboard boxes, furniture, and various other items. Even buildings with steel framing and masonary walls are targets because of the wooden door and window frames, wooden support beams (often hidden), cabinets or shelving within them. |
| HOW TERMITES SURVIVE... A subterranean termite colony is large (60,000 to 1.5 million termite), and made up of several "castes", each with distinct functions and behaviors. These include reproductive (the queen, king, and winged swarmers), soldiers, and workers. Workers and solider termites are seldom seen by property owners, but in the spring or fall they may see swarmers "winged reproductives." This form of termites can easily be confused with a winged ant unless you look closely. |
| HOW TO TELL TERMITES FROM WINGED ANTS... All termites have a "thick waist" where there abdomen is joined to their middle body region (thorax): but ants have a "pinched-in waist" at that point. All termites have antennae that look like a "string of beads"; but all ants have distinctly "elbowed" antennae. Termite swarmers have two pairs of long narrow, wings with very few clearly visible veins, and both the front and back pair are nearly equal in size and length. Winged ants have two pairs of wings with several distinct veins, shaped like long triangles, and the back pair is much shorter than the front pair. |
| HOW TERMITES FIND THEIR WAY INTO YOUR HOME... Subterranean termites build nests in the ground. They can enter a building without direct wood contact with the soil through such tubes. Termites can enter buildings through cracks, expansion joints, foam insulation below ground, hollow bricks or concrete blocks, or through spaces around plumbing. They can find their way into a structure through an opening as small as 1/32nd of an inch. Any building, whether constructed with a slab, basement or crawl space foundation, can be infested by termites. |
| LOOK FOR THE SIGNS Several possible signs of a termite infestation which a homeowner might see include: a) pencil-sized diameter, or larger, mud tubes running across bare concrete or masonry between the soil and any wooden part of your building. b) thin, small, papery wings, all the same size and shape, 3/8 to 1/2 inch long, on your window sill, counter top or floor. c) thin, bubbled or distorted areas of paint on wooden surfaces, especially if these feel cool to the touch. d) any wooden building parts (especially if they are important support structures) beginning to "sag" unexpectedly. |
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