When to Hire a Pest Professional
Listen to this articleImage by Roy Buri from Pixabay
When homeowners try to treat pest infestations, it’s easy to treat the apparent, visible problem and miss the underlying issue. The pests we see can be eliminated, but the larger infestation can continue to spread out of sight. Such infestations can cause property damage and pose substantial health risks to you and your family.
So when pests find their way into your home, you might be tempted to address the problem on your own, but the reality is that most pests are better left to the professionals like the experts at Terminix in Los Angeles. Here are a few cases when we should leave the job to the professional.
Stinging Insects
Stinging insects — such as fire ants, yellow jackets, or wasps — should always be left for professionals to handle. Most stinging insect species will swarm in large groups if their nests are threatened, causing serious health risks to property owners. In fact, stinging insects cause more than 500,000 people to go to emergency rooms each year. Also, individuals with allergies to insect stings are at a higher risk.
Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are extremely mysterious. They hide in hard-to-find places like under wallpapers and behind electrical switches. They are also very resilient pests. They are known to live for many months without feeding. They can withstand extreme temperatures so freezing cold or sweltering heat does not stop them. Pest control professionals say that bed bugs are the most difficult pests to treat. Even when working with a professional, it might take several treatments before they get completely exterminated.
Termites and Other Wood-Boring Insects
Termites and other wood-boring insects like powder post beetles, carpenter bees, carpenter ants, and termites can damage valuable wooden structures in your home or business, causing costly repairs that are not usually covered by homeowners’ insurance policies. The cost of property damage caused by termites alone is more than $5 billion per year. Termites are known as ‘silent destroyers’ because they chew through wood, wallpaper, and even flooring like ghosts and undetected 24/7. These statistics are even more concerning, considering that about half of American property owners have never had their homes inspected for termites. That means the damages could even be bigger than the reported statistics.
Recurring Infestations
Regardless of the type of pests, if they keep coming back to your property, you should contact a pest control professional. It is likely that the root cause of the problem has not been addressed. A trained pest control professional can inspect your home to identify the infestation and determine the best treatment plan to resolve your problem in the safest and most effective way.
If you suspect that you have a pest infestation, your first step should always be to call a licensed and experienced pest control professional. They have the knowledge and tools to correctly identify your pest infestation and recommend a safe and effective treatment plan to get rid of the problem completely. They can also recommend DIY actions to prevent the recurrence of the problem in the future.
In any case, pest professionals have the knowledge, tools, and training to properly and safely eliminate pest problems.
