Termite Inspection Cincinnati

As long as homes are made of wood, certain insects will want to eat them. Lenders know that, and all of them require you to get a WDI report before you sit down at the closing table.

Termites can live in your home for an extended period of time before being detected.  If you are beginning to notice evidence of an infestation, like damaged wood, hollow sounds when knocking, and small holes in the drywall, contact the termite inspection Cincinnati area homeowners trust. At Gerard Home Inspection, we will conduct a thorough inspection in order to pinpoint where your infestation is based. If you need to establish a record of insect infestation, contact the termite inspection Cincinnati homeowners count on and contact Gerard Home Inspection today.

We’ve listed some information about the most common bugs we find below:

Termites eat wood and use the caverns they carve to create a nest. They can significantly weaken a home’s structural framing members, making the home more susceptible to bowing, vibration, and collapse. Though they are able to damage a home’s integrity over time, they are also easy to spot if you know what to look for and where to look. Termites are so common that a wood-destroying insect inspection is often referred to as a “termite inspection,” but they are certainly not the only bugs that can harm your home.

While powder Post Beetles are helpful in decomposing dead wood on the forest floor, they make no distinction between a fallen branch and your home’s framing. Given the opportunity, they will happily make a meal out of the wood inside your walls, floors, and ceilings. With enough time, they will reduce a solid piece of wood to a fine powder, a behavior that is the source of their namesake. There are around seventy different insect species that are commonly referred to as Powder Post Beetles, but they all have similar damage patterns that significantly weaken the structure.

You may be surprised to learn that carpenter ants don’t actually eat wood, they simply hollow out bits of wood as a place to call home. Hopefully their home isn't inside yours. Carpenter ants don’t typically make nests in wood unless the wood has been compromised by deterioration or rot. As such, window sills, wood siding, and areas covered by plants are all common places to find carpenter ants. Don't find them the hard way - call us first.

Carpenter bees are more of a nuisance than a structural threat. Their nests can be identified by the presence of perfectly round ½” holes in soffits and fascia boards. We're not the only ones looking for carpenter bees - woodpeckers are pretty good at finding them too, and often cause more visible damage to your home than the carpenter bees themselves. Want to get rid of them? An easy and effective method is pushing steel wool covered with lithium grease or petroleum jelly into their exit holes. They can't chew through the steel, and they are repelled by petroleum products. Give it a try and let us know how it works.

The university of Kentucky has a great information site about termites. For more information about termite control, visit their site at https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef604.