Who doesn't love a nice roaring fire to keep warm and cozy this winter? You need to exercise caution however, as pyromania has dangers beyond the obvious.
A roaring fire is loved by many during winter!
On a cold night, you don't want to have to travel far to grab some timber to top up your fire. The problem however, lies in the stored firewood.
A large pile of lumber is a comforting sight before winter.
Termites* love timber, the more the better. A huge pile of lumber is about as attractive as it gets for a termite colony, once the termites detected a good food source, then they will communicate with other members of the colony to inform them of the smorgasboard they have discovered.
This will not only bring in more members to feed on the timber that they have found, but subterranean termites are eternal foragers, too much is never enough, so they will continue to forage in the vicinity of the food source. Now imagine that this is happening right next to your home!
This wood pile had a few extra guests. With termites eating away at the timber in this wood pile.
We recommend not having your firewood stored in ground contact, additionally, any timber that you keep near your home (you know, for easy access on a cold night!) needs to be stored up off the ground and definitely not abutting the house.
Can I bring subterranean termites into my home if I inadvertently bring in a piece of timber with termites in it?
The simple answer is no, aside from the fact that they will soon be fried! Subterranean termites are social creatures, as such they need to be in contact with the rest of the colony, a few termites, brought in by a lump of timber pose no threat to the home.
Additionally, the termites need moisture to survive, a warm, dry house will ensure that they won't survive for any appreciable amount of time.
There may be other pests in the timber which can be a pain to deal with, but Subterranean termites are not your major concern here.
In conclusion, we recommend that firewood be stored away from the home, in an elevated position away from ground contact. If you must store firewood sitting it on a continuous pour concrete slab with no joins will eliminate undetected termite entry as long as you can see clearly around the edge of the slab.
Timber stored in this shed with a concrete floor was still on the menu, but the signs were obvious.
*For the purpose of this blog post, we are writing about subterranean termites and not drywood or dampwood termites. Although rare, they are seen on coastal areas of Australia and are not known for causing major economic damage in Australia.