How to reduce the risk of termites ruining your hardwood floor

Sept. 9, 2011 - PRLog -- If you have recently laid a hardwood floor such as a solid oak floor, or you have had hardwood flooring in your home for some time now one thing you need to make sure you keep a constant watch for are termites.

Termites are very small creatures which feed on wood, and can cause some serious health problems for humans.  There are around 3,000 different types of termites which can cause a significant amount of damage to the structure to your home, as well as the fittings and furnishings within it.

In addition to demolishing homes termites can also cause serious damage to crops and forests, as they feed on dead plant matter as well as wood.  They usually build a large nest where they live, and then reproduce which is why they can cause so much damage.  

However, a termite infestation often goes undetected until it is too late and the damage has been done.  In many cases people fail to notice the warning signs, and the termites have already done a great deal of irreparable damage to the wood floors by the time ther termites are spotted. The result of this is often that your once beautiful hardwood flooring now needs to be replaced with a new oak floor.  

As well as eating and destroying hardwood flooring termites are also able to eat paper, cellulose, carpet and some cloths too.  Their appetite means that they can become a very serious problem once they have reproduced and their numbers are high.

The termites destroy the wood floors and other furnishings by constantly chewing the wood round the clock until they have gnawed a small passageway through.  These small tubes are hardly visible to the human eye as they are usually found beneath the surface of the wood floor.  However once the network of tiny tubes are completed, an entire colony of termites can move easily to and from the areas they will eat next. Due to the scale of the problem, once the termites have infested your home it can be quite a big operation to get rid of them completely.

Luckily, there are a few preventative measures which can help to deter termites from ruining your home.  There are some materials which have been deemed impossible for termites to gnaw their way through such as steel and concrete.  In most cases the termites are able to enter the home through piles of wood, so these should always be kept a good distance away from the home to reduce the risk of suffering an infestation.  It’s also recommended that you do not keep standing water close to the house as well as keep the soil in the areas surrounding the property dry too so as not to appeal to the termites.  Finally, the foundations of your home and any cracks which may appear should always be sealed with plastic or another suitable material to prevent them from chewing their way though to damage your home from the outside areas.

If you would like to find out more information on how to maintain your beautiful new solid wood floors please visit http://www.easystepflooring.co.uk where you will be able to read other informative articles as well as shop for real wood floors.

About us:  Easy Step Flooring is a privately owned company based in Heathrow specialising in solid oak flooring. Due to our vast national and international logistics network, we consider our huge range of natural oak flooring to be second to none. We supply real wood floors to the trade and retail business. We strive to work with reputable mills from around the world to ensure that our products come from sustainable sources.

Editor’s note:  Easy Step Flooring is represented by Search Engine Marketing agency TRON Media. This Press Release was written by Jo-Anne Keyte, and distributed by Sarah Duley.  Please direct all press queries to Jo-Anne Keyte email: jo@tronmedia.co.uk or call: 02031670969.

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Easy Step Flooring is a privately owned company based in Heathrow specialising in solid oak flooring. Due to our vast national and international logistics network, we consider our huge range of wooden flooring range to be second to none.