Termite Tips

No, these are not tips for termites. These are tips on how to shoo them off. The Philippines, being a tropical country, has ubiquitous problems with termites. Here are some suggestions on how to interfere with termite activity:

• Call a termite expert to treat your property BEFORE constructing any structure.
• If structures already exist and they're infected, just the same, call in the experts for their advices and service. Ask for guarantee of their service.
• Apply anti termite treatments on wooden structural materials.
• But calling in termite experts is not enough. Watch out for tree branches connecting to your roof. They often serve as bridges where termites cross over. Prune such trees every 3 to 6 months.
• Termites can also travel on concrete. They do this by making tunnels out of plastered soil at the corners of your wall. The tunnels are aimed towards a wooden portion of your structure. 
• The trick is to expose termite passages to sunlight and air. They hate sunlight and air freely passing through their tunnels. Once you destroy and expose their tunnels they will abandon them.
• To effectively prevent termites, use steel construction for your structural members, especially for ceiling and roof studs and frames. Make full use of concrete and PVC materials, too (like PVC door jambs). 
• Avoid using immature, light-weight lumber. 
• Keep your paper stocks, pictures, albums, stamp collections, and other items of paper or cardboard in sturdy Tupperware boxes that can be sealed. Don't keep them in your cabinets a long time. My sister lost a substantial amount of rare stamp collections to the termites last year because she kept it in her cabinet for years, forgetting about the possibility of termites.
• Check your library often for termite signs.

Some people cut all the trees in their surroundings just to get rid of termites. Others cover the entire ground with concrete pavements. These are not advisable. We need Eco system balance to make our place really habitable. That means the existence of green and trees which neutralize excessive heat bouncing off from concrete walls and pavements.

A better alternative is to keep trees along the perimeter fence and to keep your structure in the center of your property, free from any contacts from trees. This, of course, along with safe soil anti termite treatments.