How Much Damage Can A Termite Actually Do?
If you really want to know the truth, it's probably going
to shock you. I have heard stories, of termites in tropical climates,
destroying vast amounts of lumber, within short periods of time.
When I was in Hawaii, all of the lumber that they were using to frame
the home was green. I knew that we had treated lumber in the United
States, that was green, but this lumber was dark green and some of the
builders were using gloves, to handle the building materials.
Later on, I found out that this material, was specially treated to deter
the termites that live on the island. It's hard to imagine, how much
damage a termite can actually do to a house, but these termites brought
a whole different meaning to the words, home destruction.
I was working for a contractor one time, who lived in Hawaii for a short
period of time and he told me a story about a project that he was
working on and I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
He said that you could actually go up to some of the wood around the
buildings exterior that looked like it was in excellent shape and press
your thumb right through it. He said that the termites didn't like
paint, so you would often see the exterior of a piece of wood trim,
completely unharmed. That was until, you touched it with your fingers or
hit it with your hammer.
Don't under estimate the damage that large colony of termites can do to
a wood framed building. If you have termites, I would suggest that you
spend the money, to get rid of them as soon as possible. This could be
one of those pay me now or pay me later things. If you don't take care
of it now, you could end up paying large amounts of money for home
repairs in the future.