Buying a home is an exciting time. Gone are the noisy neighbors at your previous apartment. No more struggling to find a parking spot when you have your very own driveway. Now you can paint your bedroom any color you want, even school bus yellow, if you like. Granted, with homeownership comes a new set of responsibilities. You have a mortgage, property taxes, and upkeep. Yes! The moment you bought your house, you took on the duty of making repairs instead of calling your landlord to complain.

Safeguard your investment.If you find evidence of some insect squatters like termites, take immediate action by calling the licensed professionals at Times Up Termite. Our skilled and equipped team is ready to help you take back what is yours and rid your house of these wood chewing pests. Schedule an inspection with us today and set up an effective termite control program, so you can enjoy your Berkeley home for decades to come.

4 Signs Your New Home May Have Unwelcome Guests

Termites are often mistaken for carpenter ants. Here are some indications that you may have an infestation in need of professional attention:

  1. Droppings: A termite’s droppings, or frass, look like mounds of tiny, oval-shaped pellets. They may remind you of salt and pepper, sawdust, or coffee grounds.
  2. Mud Tubes: To feed their growing populations, worker termites establish a series of mud tubes, about the diameter of a pencil (they can grow much larger than that though). They use these to move about from your floor joists, support piers, walls, and porches to take food back to their colony.
  3. Wings: Finding wings along windows, doors, lamps, and other outdoor light sources reveal potential swarmers. These bugs are leaving the colony in search of different areas to build, and your home might be the perfect place.
  4. Hollowed or Damaged Wood: Wood is not supposed to be hollow, especially if it is part of your house’s woodwork. If you bump up against your wood trim and it breaks into pieces, it’s time to call in the termite removal experts.

You might think that a few tiny insects cannot do that much damage. You would be sadly mistaken. These wood-boring pests cause billions of dollars each year in repair work. To make matters worse, you may not know you have an infestation until extensive damage has already been done.

Steps to Protect Your Home from Unwanted Wood-Eating Machines

All hope isn’t lost if you discover these bugs infiltrating your home. You can take some simple steps to keep them at bay:

  • Keep trees and shrubbery around your home trimmed. There should be at least one foot of space in between your plants and your house.
  • Keep gutters clean and look out for water pooling around your foundation and in your mulch — a heavenly atmosphere for these pests.
  • Do not store firewood next to the home, termites and wood destroying beetles that infest this wood can then get access to the home. Store it well away from the structure and bring in only enough to last the evening.
  • Schedule regular termite control by a trusted professional team like Times Up Termite.

Hire a Reliable Pest Control Company

Take charge of your new home and safeguard your family when you hire Times Up Termite, Inc. We offer solutions for your situation and provide the means to intercept and rid your home of these pests. Our team is trained to use a variety of options to eliminate these bugs. One such option is calledAltriset, a reduced risk pesticide that is eco-friendly and a better choice if you have children and pregnant women in the house. We offer free termite inspections and work with you to establish a specific plan for efficient and effective termite control of your Berkeley home.

Give us a call at 510-568-7200 to speak with our team of experts at Times Up Termite, Inc. You can also contact us online to request a free termite inspection.