What Do Termites Damage?

Termites will eat through the very structure of your home, including support beams, flooring, posts, wall studs, and more. Termites also are capable of damaging plaster and the foam insulation inside your home as they make their way through your property. Outside, they can easily damage piles of lumber, fallen logs, wooden decks, outdoors furniture, and more. Bottom line, they can damage a lot more than you may have assumed!

What Structures do Termites Infest?

Termites are capable of infesting any wood source, especially if it is directly touching soil. Most homes are built primarily with wood, which is why termites find your property so appealing. The most common things that termites infest include:

1. Inside the home: walls, support beams, drywall, ceilings, floor boards, baseboards, slabs, tiling, windows, insulation, etc.
2. Outside the home: roof tiles, wood piles, firewood, patio furniture, fallen lumber, logs/stumps, etc.

What Materials are Resistant to Termites?

Because termites are such a known and feared threat to homeowners, it’s smart to know which materials are resistant to termites when remodeling or building a new home entirely. Some of the materials and sources termites may choose to avoid include:

• Treated lumber: Certain treatments have chemicals in them that prevent rot and make lumber undesirable to pests.
• Cement/concrete: Termites will not eat through these, as the material is too solid and lacks cellulose. They can make their way through small cracks in concrete, however.
• Metal: Again, metal does not contain cellulose and is thus not suitable for termites.
• Redwood/cedar: These types of wood are somewhat naturally resistant to termites. However, if redwood or cedar is in decay, it may become more appealing to termites.

The Damaging Nature of Termites

Termites are not exactly picky when it comes to choosing what they feast on. Knowing what termites do and don’t eat is crucial if you want to better understand what they could be damaging inside or outside your home. Whether the damage they cause is cosmetic or structural, they are the most destructive pest there is.