Are Termites Common In Beach Houses?

It is widely accepted that termites present the most significant risk to people that own beach houses, regularly causing nightmares. Termites often go unnoticed for years by homeowners, often only being discovered after the common pest has caused severe damage. Termites are mainly found in sandy locations, placing untreated wood houses in these locations at risk. 

Termites are commonly found in beach houses since they are often located in sandy locations. Many beach houses are not adequately treated and are built from wood, leading to termite populations thriving. In some cases, the termite destruction is so severe that the entire home must be demolished. 

Termites are a pest to millions of homeowners globally, and beach homes are particularly at risk since many are built from wood on sandy soil. The danger and severity of termites’ destructive capabilities heighten the importance of identifying them before it’s too late. How can you tell if your beach house has termites, and what can you do to get rid of the threat?

Why Are Termites Common In Beach Houses?

While termite colonies are often located far beneath the ground of beach homes, they also like to live in other house areas such as air conditioning units, geysers, and soil bridges. 

Systems commonly found in beach houses, such as geysers, hot water overflow systems, and air conditioning units, are often not connected to drainage systems. Excess water starts to collect near their heat sources if these systems are not correctly connected to effective drainage systems.

As the moisture begins to grow, dripping onto the soil below, so do the destructive termite colonies. Moreover, a critical area regarding termite colonies is near the soil bridging of the beach house. Soil bridging is the area where the ground soil, mostly sand, meets the house’s foundation.

If this area starts collecting water, it will attract vast termite colonies that can utterly destroy the critical foundations of the house. Cellulose is usually found in the wooden foundations of beach houses, attracting termite colonies from far and wide.

Signs Of Termite Colonies In Beach Houses

Pest control experts agree that termites like to build their destructive colonies beneath the foundations of any building or property. 

Unseen termite colonies take a long time to develop beneath the foundations of buildings entirely, often including beach houses as wooden structures erected on sandy beaches. However, termite colonies are difficult to identify successfully, leading to the pest causing severe destruction to the structural integrity of beach homes. 

Another common challenge associated with termites is being regularly mistaken for ants. While ants and termites are similar in size and stature, they are two completely different species. Termites in beach homes, wooden structures, and sandy locations are between a half and a quarter-inch in size. In addition, termites have cream or brown colored bodies.

To successfully identify termites crawling around your home, you should know that they have two separate short antennae, six legs, and two pincers. Occasionally certain termite colonies can develop wings, although they are not known to fly around like other insects. The destructive pests prefer to burrow deep beneath the ground within critical areas of the foundations. 

Why Do Termites Prefer To Live Underneath Homes?

While termites are perfectly capable of living and surviving above the ground, they prefer to burrow their way deeply underneath the foundations of beach homes. 

The main reason that termites prefer to create their extensive colonies under the ground is that they rely on wood, such as the structure of the beach house’s foundation, for their food intake. It is widely accepted that termites like to feed on cellulose, mostly found within the wood structure of houses, including beach houses.”

Cellulose is classified as a complex carbohydrate, commonly found in certain grains and throughout untreated wooden structures. Over a long time, termite colonies located within the wooden foundations of beach homes begin to decrease the house’s structural integrity as they start to devour critical areas of the rigid structural foundation.

As the termites begin to reproduce far beneath the ground exponentially, additional food sources are required. This often leads to the unseen termite colony devouring even more cellulose found within the wooden foundations of millions of beach houses globally.  

As time progresses, the termite colony increases in size, with their extensive tunnels often extending deep below the ground. Pest control experts frequently relate termite colonies to beehives as they protect the queen termite. It is enormously difficult to successfully remove termite colonies even if they are identified early enough. 

Can You Prevent Termites From Destroying Your Beach Home?

It is possible to identify termites early enough to prevent them from causing extensive damage to the structural integrity of beach homes.

The primary way to prevent termite destruction is through effective treatment processes. The first way to treat the critical wooden foundations of beach houses is to remove any present moisture. It is known that termite colonies often devour soft, moist, or decaying wood, commonly found within the foundations of beach houses. 

Beach house owners should immediately replace any wood that has been impacted by water damage. In addition, all standing water that may be in the near vicinity of the house should be removed or drained away from the vital structures of the beach home. Industry experts correctly claim that a water source further away from the house, minimizes the likelihood of termites.

Another way to prevent termite colonies from multiplying is to continuously maintain all the wood located within the beach home’s soffits, fascia, and roof shingles. Another critical way to remove the likelihood of termite colonies growing beneath the foundations of your beach home is to decrease the structure-to-soil contact.

Creating a barrier between the sandy soil beneath the house and the home’s foundations has been lauded as the most effective way to remove destructive termite colonies. Termites thrive on any sandy surface that contains water and cellulose, leading to many beach homeowners planting their gardens away from the home’s critical structures. 

shutterstock 228223036

Conclusion

In conclusion, termites are common in beach houses globally. Beach houses are additionally susceptible to termites as they are often located on sandy beaches, which are the perfect breeding ground for destructive termite colonies. In addition, beach houses are often made from wood, which contains a substance known as cellulose.

Beach houses are incredibly vulnerable to termite damage. A lack of consistent maintenance often leads to the house being severely damaged, occasionally leading to it being condemned. While termites are a challenge for all homeowners, the isolation, wooden foundations, and nearby water increase the severity faced by beach house owners.

References


a61ec8dc93894e57d5b7927e49263714?s=150&d=mp&r=g