Landscaping Tips for Termite Prevention in Your Home
Termites do billions of dollars worth of damage to American homes each year. These hungry insects can be found in most parts of the country, including the Pocahontas, Illinois area. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to prevent termites from choosing your property as their home.
How to landscape your yard so that it’s uninviting to termites
- Keep wood mulch away from the perimeter of your home. Termites love warm, damp environments and they thrive on organic material. When you put pine bark and other wooden mulch right up to the foundation of your house, you’re laying out a welcome mat for a termite colony. Best to keep the mulch at least 3-5″ away from your foundation, or better yet, choose a non-organic type of mulch, such as decorative stones or shells.
- Stack your firewood away from the house. Just like mulch, piles of firewood are inviting to termites looking for a home. While a woodpile just outside the door may be convenient, it’s a better idea to stack it between two trees at the edge of your property.
- Use plastic instead of paper as a weed barrier. Newspapers can be an effective (and affordable) material to use in your flower gardens to help keep weeds from ruining the look of your bed and strangling your plants. However, the newspaper is organic and is enticing to termites. At least for those beds around the perimeter of your home, it’s better to use plastic landscaping cloth.
- Keep your trees and bushes trimmed. Overgrown vegetation and dead tree limbs can also be attractive to termites. If those limbs dangle over your roof, it can be an easy jump between the limb and your ceiling joists.
- Keep your gutters cleaned. Clogged gutters will deposit cascades of water at the edge of your foundation, creating a moist environment that is ideal for termites. Avoid this and keep rain from your roof well away from your home’s foundation by making sure that your gutters and drainpipes stay clear.
Keeping termites away from your Illinois home is all about making your property inhospitable when compared to your neighbors’ homes. Do this by keeping organic material away from your foundation, using plastic instead of paper as a weed barrier and keeping your trees and bushes under control. When in doubt, call your local professionals for termite prevention.
