DESTRUCTIVE TERMITE RISK ASSESSMENT * * Based upon CSIRO data and APCA national survey

Termites live in the ground and can eat your house down Termites are known to destroy the wall and roofing timbers of a home within 3 months of construction. Termites cause more damage to homes in Australia than fire, floods, storms and tempest, combined. Termites occur throughout NSW, with a high incidence of attack in virtually all urban areas. CONSUMER NOTE: The standard Home and Building Insurance Policy will NOT cover the repair costs of termite infested structural and decorative timbers.

Fascinating biology: Australian subterranean termites evolved more than 250 million year ago. They inhabited Australia long before flowering plants. Their survival success depends on living in a protective underground environment. In some species, their colony nest has a hardened shell, exposed above ground level. In most destructive species in NSW their nest is totally out of sight, below ground level.

Worker termites build mud-tubes over hard objects. The tubes or "galleries" are made up of partly digested timber and mud excrete, and is moist if currently in active use. The termites keep it's colony nest and galleries at 25 to 35^oC with high humidity. If they are exposed to light or open air they will dehydrate and die. Subterranean termites live in constant darkness, excepting for the annual summer swarms of the winged reproductives to set up new nests in the surrounding area.

A million termites in the nest: In some destructive species, a termite colony nest may contain more than a million termites, consisting of a queen, king, young immature nymphs, workers, soldiers and winged reproductives (called alates). Termites are delicate, soft bodied and small in stature, about half the size of match-head, but are highly efficient timber recyclers - Mother Nature's best builders.

The worker termites are blind and forage in a largely random criss-cross fashion looking for new timber food sources. However, they may encounter and follow moisture zones and trail along solid objects, such as, the concrete slab edge of your home. The soldiers accompany the workers in their constant search for new timber food sources. If you find termites active in timber framing, it is the soldiers that rush out to defend the workers.

Experience counts: It takes many years of termite control field-work experience to get a proper understanding of the habits of the destructive termite species habits and their likely foraging areas in a variety of building types and environmental circumstances.

Look who's coming to dinner ... and whose home on the menu ? Picture on your left shows a FUMAPEST termite inspector examining a large subsidiary nest, termites built inside the dining room wall cavity of a home. Above ground nests Termites often build such above-ground nests provided there is a reliable moisture source, such as, from faulty plumbing, leaking pipes, shower recess, guttering, broken roof tiles and the like. Mud shelter tubes - picture on left shows a termite mud shelter tube built over a brick foundation wall to the flooring timbers in the sub-floor of a home. Termites are very secretive and will often enter a building through areas inaccessible to inspection, such as, via on-ground patios, cracks or expansion joints or around concrete slab flooring, particularly if the slab edge is obscured by pathways or garden beds. Tiny entry points Termites can pass through a 2 mm crack in concrete slab on-ground flooring and eat through rubber compound between adjoining concrete slabs. Termites often travel under parquetry and other floor tiles to get to the wall and roofing framing timbers.

Modern termite control products take advantage of the mutual feeding and regular grooming habits of termites as a means to kill the entire colony. Termite baits Workers termites readily ingest the bait and transfer it back to the colony nest to feed other termites. If sufficient workers ingest the bait and the queen is killed, then the collapse and death of the colony is highly likely.

Modern termite control products, preventive barriers, termite baiting and other recommendations are discussed in detail in the Termite Control section of this website.

Nest Location - Nasutitermes walkeri build their nest in trees on the main trunk or in the fork of a large branch.

Nest Location - Heterotermes ferox often build their colony nest next to stumps, logs, or other timber in direct contact with the soil where some wood decay or rotting is prevalent.