Inspect Wood for Rot and Insect Damage
When wood touches soil, it’s prone to rot and attack from wood-eating and wood-boring insects. Inspect vulnerable areas of your property once a year.
The soil is full of creatures great and small that feed on or dwell in wood. Decay microorganisms, termites and carpenter ants can weaken wood to the point of collapse.
Steps
- Look for places where wood touches soil. Here are some typical areas to check:
- Wooden posts supporting decks and porches. Even those on concrete or brick supports are at risk if the supports settle below ground level.
- Bottom steps of porches and decks.
- The risers that hold up the basement stairs. In older homes, the staircase might have been installed before the concrete floor was poured.
- In the basement, the bottom of wooden posts.
- The base of older wood-frame garages built without a proper foundation.
- Wooden frames of basement windows.
- Wherever you find wood touching soil, gently probe the wood with a screwdriver. Rotted wood is soft.
- Look for evidence of insects:
- Termites: Look for sandy soil deposits within the wood and sometimes mud tunnels along the surface of the wood. If you break a tunnel open you might find the termites, which are white and about the size of a grain of rice.
- Carpenter ants: Look for large smooth tunnels, often packed with white eggs. Around the nest are large black ants, sometimes with wings and sometimes with reddish-brown mid-sections.
- If you find areas where soil touches wood, correct the problem if possible. If fixing it is a major project, monitor the area closely.
- If you find or suspect you have insect damage, contact a pest control specialist.
Tips & warnings
- Make sure the wooden frames of basement windows are at least six inches above the soil. You might have to install window wells.
- You can repair small areas of rot by digging out the rotted area into good wood and filling it with an epoxy made for this purpose.
Stumble It!