How Quickly Can Termites Do Damage?
Termites can cause a huge amount of damage to your home. They are destructive insects that destroy wooden structures, decks, patios and even entire homes. Termites can be found in several different species. Each type of termite has a different way of destroying your home.
Termites will eat anything that contains cellulose. They will eat wooden furniture, paper, and even books stored in wooden cupboards. They will also destroy your foundation timbers.
How quickly termites do damage depends on how big the colony is. A large colony can consume up to one pound of wood per day. If you have a small colony, it can take a few months to produce significant damage.
A termite colony grows by laying thousands of eggs each day. Each termite has a specific job within the colony.
Depending on the size of the colony, it can take up to five years for the colony to grow and mature. Once the colony has matured, it can produce a large amount of structural damage.
How quickly termites do damage depends largely on how quickly they can reproduce. A queen termite can lay 30,000 eggs in a single day. The king termite lives much longer than the workers. In some species, they can live up to 15 years.
If you have a large colony, it can eat through a slab of wood in half a year. A moderate-sized colony can do massive damage in six months. It can even produce total wreckage of a home in a year.