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5 Tips to Identify the Presence of Termites & Pests on a Property

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Melbourne and other regions in Southern Victoria can be a great place for us humans to call home, but it just so happens to also be quite accommodating to other pests as well. Possums, rodents, spiders, mosquitoes and other pests can sometimes be unavoidable, but their potential to damage your property can vary from not at all to highly likely. Perhaps no other pest is as pernicious as the little termite, however.

Melbourne’s termites tend to be subterranean, attracted by the humidity and prone to building underground tunnels of mud. Out of sight, out of mind does not apply here; these pests come up from their underground abode to feast on wooden structures, which could include your home.

Below are five key tips to help you identify the presence of termites and pests on your property:

  • Look for Tracks & Droppings

A telltale sign of a potential infestation of rodents or other pests is the presence of visible tracks or droppings. Rats and other rodents tend to crawl along baseboards and walls, leaving behind tracks for their own scent as well as cylindrical-shaped droppings. Termite droppings are of course much smaller and look like sawdust.

  • Signs of Physical Damage

Sometimes, it’s obvious that termites or other pests have damaged property, but quite often it isn’t obvious at all. Termites tend to eat away at wooden furniture, walls, floorboards, and other structural elements from the inside. Subsequently, the wood can look perfectly fine at first glance yet be nearly hollow and potentially at risk of collapse from the inside.

Warped or sagging floorboards, for example, may be a sign of a termite infestation gradually eating away at the structure.

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  • Foul Odours

Typically, termites leave behind a foul odour wherever they’ve been feasting. The smell is a little like mould, which you shouldn’t want in your home to begin with, so it should be a sign that there is a problem in need of resolving.

The types of termites that tend to infest homes in Melbourne enjoy humidity and dampness, so the odour they give off tends to be more mouldy than pungent. Pungent odours may be a sign of rodents or other pests.

  • Hives, Mounds, or Nests

Every pest has got a place to call home, and finding a nest, hive, mound or other such structure can be a dead giveaway that they’ve found YOUR home to be an ideal place to inhabit, too.

Termites often build mounds, which can be sometimes obvious to the naked eye. Underneath, however, dampwood termites tend to build highly complex mud tunnels that enable them to access various mounds or parts of your home easily.

  • Retain Professional Building Property Inspectors

A surefire way to determine the presence of termites on a property, whether yours or a property you are considering purchasing, is to retain professional building property inspectors. The inspectors are accustomed to identifying a wide range of potential problems with a property, including the presence of termites and other pests.

Their unbiased and professional expertise are a boon to any property owner as they can help to identify pest infestations so that the owner can resolve them sooner rather than later, which can end up saving potentially thousands and thousands of dollars.

Building Property Inspections

Retain Building Property Inspections for professional inspections for termites, pests, and any other problems on your property.