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How to prepare home for termite treatment

posted by Chris Valentine

Found this around your property? Get ready to learn how to prepare home for termite treatment ... photo by CC user Sanjay Acharya on wikimedia commons

As a homeowner, I wanted to talk to you today about something that is vitally important. It’s to do with your home, it comes around every now and then, and when it’s time for you to have it done, it pays to be ready for it. I’m talking about termite treatments, and how important it is to ensure that you prepare your home adequately for your termite treatment. I recently had to go through with getting a termite treatment done, and wanted to share with you the things that I learned about getting ready. You might not be aware of all of the different things that you have to do in order to make ready, so I’ve outlined some of my tips herein. After all, when you have a termite treatment done you’re essentially flooding your house with noxious gas that is designed to kill. Ok, granted, it’s designed to kill termites, not people, but the poison used to kill termites is still dangerous for humans – so be prepared!

How to prepare food and other consumables

You need to make sure that you’re preparing food in the cupboard and sealing it all off properly. Here are some tips:

  • Double bag anything that is a food item that has been opened in special bags, seal them tightly and then you can safely leave them in your pantry. If you’re in doubt as to what kind of bags that you’re using, it’s best to take things out of your home than to risk it.
  • If you have items that have the original seal on them; things like bottles of drinks, bags of chips etc don’t need to be double bagged – only items that have been opened need to be bagged.
  • If you have unopened bottles of wine you can leave them in the home. If you have wine bottles with corks in them, they need to be stored on their sides.
  • You are safe to leave things like toothpaste, mouthwash, dental adhesives and cosmetics out without having to double bag these items.
  • If you have any queries about the items or products that you are looking to store, it’s best to ask your termite spraying provider.

How to prepare the rest of your home for fumigation

You need to ensure that the rest of your home is ready to be fumigated by the termite company. Here’s a short list of some of the things that you’ll need to ensure that you’ve done to allow the best possible result from your fumigation:

  • Ensure that the fumigators who are going to be coming in will have full access to every element of your home – this means that they’ll need to have keys for locked areas.
  • Take off any kind of waterproof covers or protective slips on the mattress or on your pillows.
  • Open up all of your blinds and drapes so that your fumigator is going to have access to all of your windows and openings for termite fumigation. This will also help out with the aeration of your home after the spraying process.
  • Turn off and unplug all of your heat sources, including any pilot lights in your oven etc. It’s important to make sure that the gas supply is shut off at the metre for your house.
  • Take away all of the pets and plants that call your house home.
  • Ensure that cars, cabinets and safes – plus any other locked items or rooms are open with full access so that the fumigators are going to be able to access, spray and aerate them.

I hope that this short list of helpful hints goes a long way to helping you to prepare your home for any potential impending termite spraying!

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