Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 08:48 pm
The termite is attracted by cellulose. This explains its taste for wood, and more particularly for our parquet floors, wooden furniture, skirting boards and beams that make up the structure. The problem is that these little beasts reproduce quickly and end up becoming a real plague.
These pests dig galleries in the wood, which becomes studded with small holes. A colony of termites can do a lot of damage to infested areas and it is advisable to act quickly to eliminate them from your home to avoid this damage. Here are the tips you need to know to get rid of a termite infestation in a very effective way on furniture, floors and frames.
Contents
1) A cardboard trap
Like silverfish, drywood termites like two things: cellulose and moisture. To use this to your advantage, you can make cardboard traps to keep them out! To do this, stack cardboard panels. Then take care to moisten them well. After three days, the colonies will have moved out of your furniture and into it. You will then only have to burn the trap, or better yet, dispose of it in the wild, for example in a wood. The most important thing will be to keep these infested bait boxes as far away from homes as possible.
2) Take care of your frames
In the cellar or attic, fill the holes with a suitable product, for example a natural wax. Then, apply a curative treatment by generously applying turpentine with a brush. After drying, you can apply lavender oil (an insecticide obtained from lavender flowers macerated in olive oil) or beech creosote. Your wood and cellulose materials will be like new.
3) A treatment with aloe for the wooden elements of the house
Fresh aloe vera or agave can be pulped and spread on contaminated furniture or aloe vera gel can be used. They contain an insecticidal juice. Otherwise, it is also possible to cut them into pieces, dry them and reduce them to powder before applying them to the wood. And if not, there is also the possibility of concocting a decoction based on 10 g of dried leaves for 1 liter of water or alcohol, to be left for fifteen days.
4) Sunlight to treat them
Don’t want to start a recipe? In that case, use the fact that they don’t like light and especially the sun! This is an excellent way to fight against termites. To do this, offer a little sun bath to the infested furniture. Remember to turn the furniture over from time to time to reach the wood pests that may have hidden in the shade on the other side of the furniture.
5) Boric acid against termites
Boric acid is used to fight insects such as termites and cockroaches. Indeed, it allows to destroy the nervous system of the termites by dehydrating it. To use it, simply mix it in equal parts with sugar and milk. Try to obtain a paste with this mixture that you can pour into plastic bottle caps. Place these caps not far from areas infested by colonies. Be careful not to let your children or pets have access to them. Repeat the same mixture every three weeks to eradicate the entire colony.
6) Use natural termite enemies
As with spiders, cockroaches, flies and other insect pests, scutigers feed on them. However, it is difficult to recruit a regiment (and few people would dare to do so!). However, nematodes can be purchased in specialized stores or on the internet. These little worms are not nearly as impressive as scutigers, but they will attack termite larvae directly by laying eggs in them. In two days, these parasites, which are natural enemies of termites, will allow their extermination.
7) Some preventive measures to avoid their return
After having carried out an anti-termite treatment, it is advisable to avoid the return of these xylophagous insects:
First of all, you need to treat the humidity problems in your home. Start by treating leaks and eliminating stagnant water in addition to checking your ventilation systems (VMC). Termites need water to survive. Depriving these bugs of this element will limit their proliferation!
In passing, think of cleaning the gutters and plugging the cracks offering them a point of entry in your house.
In addition to keeping your home dry, you can use a preventive treatment. Mix permethrin with wood varnish or paint for application to formerly infested areas. This will repel them!
Also, watch for signs of termite nesting (e.g., visible mud tunnels on the basement floor or around the house, holes in furniture, presence of sawdust…).
And if nothing is done to eradicate the infestation, call a professional who will use professional insecticides and chemical treatments. Attention, it is mandatory to declare the presence of termites in your property at the town hall!