Termites are harmful to your household wooden accessories and wooden furniture. Eating wood is something that these termites need to do to live. They need cellulose and nutrients and they get these from the wooden elements.
Without any demur these tiny insects chew through the wooden bases, wallpaper, books, underground cables, linoleum, and even the wooden base under the vinyl.
Leaving a thin layer of timber unharmed, they’ll eat the inside of the wooden pieces and make it hollow. These can be harmful to your home if once invaded.
Do Termites Eat Vinyl Flooring?
Termites don’t eat vinyl flooring. If the termite habitat sustains for long in your house, they’ll move all around and keep chewing through wooden bases. Just because the vinyl isn’t made of wood, termites won’t eat these, but they can still chew through the vinyl mat to go underneath.
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Will Termites Eat Vinyl Plank Flooring?
Termites are vile kinds of insects. They don’t have any boundaries while it’s about chewing through certain elements; wooden elements. They recklessly chew through mats, wood, books, papers etcetera.
Vinyl plank flooring is made of vinyl blocks, unlike regular vinyl flooring which is made of vinyl sheets. So, vinyl plank flooring is more durable and strong. Also, there is no wooden stuff.
So, as vinyl flooring is safe, vinyl plank flooring is also safe. Rather, vinyl plank flooring is safer. That means termites will not eat up the vinyl plank floorings.
Is Vinyl Flooring Termite Proof?
Vinyl flooring is termite-proof but not a hundred percent. If you have a wooden floor, there’s a possibility of termites getting attracted to your floor. If you have vinyl flooring aka vinyl mats or planks glued on top of it, termites cannot easily harm that floor.
However, termites can chew through the vinyl flooring to get to the wooden base. Vinyl floors are made of PVC in short for polyvinyl chloride. This is toxic for termite health, digestion, and even breeding.
Vinyl flooring doesn’t contain any wooden material so there’s no chance for the termites to eat it but they can surely chew through these to get to their nutrient source.
Vinyl mats or planks work like shields to the wooden floor initially till the termites manage to make their way underneath the sheet.
What Are The Signs Of Termites In Vinyl Flooring?
Vinyl flooring protects the floor from termites strike. However, sometimes there can be a hole or a bunch of these on the vinyl mat. Holes give easy access to the termites.
Even if holes aren’t the reason, termites themselves can make their way inside. If necessary, termites will even chew through the vinyl mat to reach the wooden floor. There are ways of how you can tell if your vinyl flooring has termites.
Holes on the vinyl sheet
First, check for holes on the vinyl sheet because that’s how the termites should get inside the floor.
The hollow sound inside the floor
The floor or a wall with hollow inside sounds different than the ones with no hollow. When you knock on the floor if it sounds different than it should, know that you have a termite’s infestation.
Squeaky sound whenever walked on
The wooden floor makes a squeaky sound whenever the floor is damaged. The sound says about the floor’s fragility. So, whenever you walk on a floor and it starts to squeak, it sometimes means that it’s damaged.
Wood dust accumulated in a corner
This is a very equitable way to say that your flooring is infested with termites. Whenever there’s an infestation, the wood dust is accumulated in a corner of the flooring.
Lumps on the vinyl sheet
You’ll see lumps on the vinyl sheet if your floor’s infested. The wood dust comes up and thus the visible lumps on the vinyl sheet.
Wood dampens
Whenever the floor is infested, the wood dampens and becomes easily penetrable. This is also a sign of infestation.
What Attracts Termites In The House?
Termites are the insects that don’t live inside your house but once gotten the chance to enter your house, can live for years. A house full of wooden elements will attract the termites more because wood is where they get their nutrition from.
However, there are some other mentionable facts that attract the termites in the house. Such as-
Moisture
Sometimes, there can be a leak in the waterline. It could also be in the drain system. This keeps the environment moist and so the termites are attracted very well.
Cracks on the walls
There can be cracks on the walls especially when the walls are old or weak. The cracks are free enough for the termites to lure in and get settled in your home.
Wood in contact with the base
Wood is the prime thing that attracts these mites. The wood pieces that are in contact with the house base or with the open side of the house, give easy access to the termites.
How To Protect Floors From Termites?
Termites are harmful insects. They directly harm wooden bases and indirectly do so to humans and their pets. Once infested, it’s mandatory to get rid of them and the sooner it happens, the better.
But just how it is, prevention is always better than cure. So, why wait for mites to come and then repair the damage when you can actually stop the mites from entering in the first place? Follow these simple few steps and you’re good to go!
Keep The Mites Away
To keep the mites away from your home, initially-
- You need to secure all the cracks on the external walls of your home.
- Make sure that no wood from the interior is touching the house foundation.
- Repair all the leaks on the water lines or the drainage.
- Make sure there isn’t any wet wood inside the house.
- If need be, spread out some pesticides all around your house so that the mites cannot get in.
Varnish Your Floor Very Well
You can always put extra layers of varnish to give the floor extra-thick coatings. It makes it hard for the mites to chew through the varnish because it’s toxic for them. Always remember not to use harsh chemicals while mopping that can jeopardize the varnish in any way.
Use Vinyl Sheets
Using vinyl sheets on the top of the floor might just do the work for you. If you can glue the sheet firmly on the floor, the mites will not be able to chew through the sheet easily.
Acknowledge The Indications
Always be cautious of the signs. Never ignore them.
- If you see anything that looks similar to water damage in an unusual place, take initiatives immediately.
- See if there are lumps on the mat.
- Examine the floor if it’s dampened or hollow or even if it’s squeaking.
- Look out for wood dust in places.
- Observe if there’s any unusual smell in your house. If your house is infested, the smell indicates that there are molds and mildews created by these termites.
What Terminates Termites Naturally?
Termites are tiny insects but they can do bigger harm to your house accessories. The decimation of these mites’ habitats is mandatory. There are ways you can prosecute to terminate these termites naturally.
Such ways are-
Sunlight
Sunlight is harmful to many kinds of insects out there. Luckily, termites are one of those. These tiny creatures cannot survive under the heat of the sun and therefore they lose their life.
So, all you need to do is, take out the infested piece under the sun and keep it there.
Nematodes
Nematodes are the kinds of parasites that like feasting on insects. However, nematodes aren’t harmful to humans or other animals.
All you need to do is mix these parasites with water and spray them on certain areas. These nematodes will do the rest.
Vinegar
Vinegar is highly toxic to termites. You can use vinegar directly on the infested areas and the result will be effective immediately. Although you may need to spray vinegar again after some days to exterminate these insects permanently.
Orange Oil
Orange oil contains plenty of d-limonene which is fatal to the termites. You can simply go to the garden stores to buy this, or you can buy it online.
Lure Them To A Bait
As termites are intensely attracted to wet wood, you can set a trap for them this way-
- Take a wet wood outside and keep it there. You’ll see these mites gathering on that piece of wood.
- Now burn the wood and you’ll be able to terminate hundreds of mites at once.
Can Termites Cause Sagging Vinyl Floors?
Termites do cause sagging vinyl floors. Vinyl flooring may be hard to get through but still, if the mites get the chance to get inside once, they’ll just leave the top timber and eat off the inside. This makes the wooden floor flimsy.
Therefore, the wood sags in the middle because of the imbalance between the previous durability and the after damage durability.
Do Termites Eat Subfloor?
Subfloors are an easy feast for termites. As they are usually made of wood-based foundation, termites will strike there first before reaching the hardwood level and eat them.
Termites can and surely will cause serious damage to the subfloors if they can get in somehow.
Termites are not friendly insects to humankind rather they only mean harm to us. It’s better to take precautions before any possible strike of these termites.
If however, you fail to get rid of the infestation by yourself, just reach out to the nearby pest control and get help.