Once termites detect the scent of rotting wood, they are very hard to deter. This is because once a foraging termite finds a source of wood, they then inform their nest and leave pheromones to guide other termites. But if termites can't get to your home, then your home is safe, even if rotting wood is present within.
If you have noticed the presence of termites in or near your home, then you might have inadvertently provided them with access. Termites can use many different items as a bridge into a home.
1. Tree Branches
Tree branches that touch a roof can serve as bridges for invading termites. If your gutters are full of leaves and debris, as well as trapped moisture, then your roof will also provide sustenance and shelter for termites.
2. Tree Roots
Tree roots can crack a home's foundation given time. If a tree root cracks your foundation, termites can travel along that root and enter your home from below.
3. Shrubs
Termites need shelter from the sun because sunlight kills them. They need woody snacks too. As well as serving as a bridge into your home, shrubs around your home's foundation provide termites with shelter from the sun and give them rotting wood. They might then build mud tunnels into your home.
4. Fire Wood
If you stack firewood next to your home, you provide termites with a snacking point that will sustain them as they forage toward your home. Wood in contact with your home's siding or foundation will become a bridge for foraging termites.
5. Decking
The wood used in decking should have termite protection. But if yours doesn't or that treatment has worn off, termites can use your decking to get to your home. Termites build satellite colonies that help to sustain the nest as it grows. Your home will also be on the menu.
6. Old Furniture
If you have kept furniture in your yard, ready to throw away, you might have attracted the attention of termites. Termites can sense wood in contact with the soil. When they do sense it, they tunnel upwards to the source of the wood.
7. Fences
Wooden fences are also a bridge into homes, especially if the termite protection has worn off, or if the fence is rotting and in contact with the soil. Termites won't stop at a fence. They'll continue on to your home if your fence gives them access to your siding, roof, or a window.
If termites have invaded your home, they might have done so using the aforementioned bridges. Call a termite control service to arrange for termite treatment, and be sure to remove any item that termites might have used to get into your home.