When you think of concrete, the last thing you think of is termites, given the little critters feed on wood and not concrete. What in the world do termites and foundation cracks have in common?
Narrator: The topic of today's podcast: What do foundation cracks and termites have in common? So, Adam, when I think of concrete, the last thing I think of is termites given the little critters feed on wood and not concrete. What in the world do termites and foundation cracks have in common?
Adam: Yeah. You wouldn't think that there's an overlap to them but in reality, there is. And in fact, we have a case study from a customer in Northboro who had an issue with termites, and they had been in the house for years because he had a finished basement and noticed some issues with some of his walls and realized that, hey, there might be something going on behind the scenes here. And in opening up the walls, he had found that he had extensive termite damage, not only in the finished basement portion, but up in the structure - main structure of the house. And eventually he was able to exterminate it from the house, but the point of origin and the entry point of all of the thousands of dollars of damage came from two foundation cracks and a concrete foundation. So while the termites, while they're feeding on wood, is part of their process of destroying your home, they use the cracks as an entryway, and these particular cracks were less than an eighth of an inch. So that little hairline crack, that doesn't really seem to be a big issue, it never let water in. And the entire existence of the house did allow termites to come in, and talking to pest control experts, we found out that termites need no more than sixteenth of an inch to find their way in. And what they'll do is they'll send scouts out essentially to find paths to where they think there's good wood. And once they find a pathway, they lay their central in, and they invite the entire family to come in, and the entire colony to come in. So for years and years, potentially decades, this house was just being a beacon of hope for all termites in the area to allow for feasting on the wood. So in this particular case, it wasn't a water issue, it wasn't a structural issue for the foundation, it was purely we have to repair the cracks because there is a clear central for the termites, which now will allow termites to come in in the future. So it really was about preventative pest control for these people. So very unique situations, things that we don't think about every day, but termites don't care, they will get through any little hole to get to the wood, and in this case, it happened to be right through the foundation walls and the concrete. So we're able to seal it up and then give the homeowner a little bit of peace of mind that they're not coming in that way ever again.
Narrator: Well, thanks, Adam, for explaining what termites and wall cracks have in common.
Narrator: If you have a basement water problem and think you need a professional, or, if you’d like more information on foundation crack repair and basement waterproofing topics, please visit A1FoundationCrackRepair.com or call Adam at (866) 929-3171. Or you can email Adam at info@a1foundationcrackrepair.com. Thanks for listening and keep that basement dry.