Lack of termite control measures may have been a major contributing factor to the collapse of a house in Honolulu recently, as the edifice was supposed to have been badly infested by the insects. The house, located in Waianae, apparently crumpled to one side early in the morning on the 19th of 2011’s last month, shocking at least thirteen persons who were still inside it.
The house was an edifice designed to hold several separate rental units or compartments inside, and was thus housing at least four families at the time that the termite control failure was demonstrated by the collapse. There were even children inside the house when the accident happened, although fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident. The local Fire Department was called in to help with the incident and investigate the matter.
According to the residents of the collapsed structured, it had happened very quickly, with the collapse being over almost as soon as they had realised something was wrong. The house was built on posts, and these supporting structures had apparently given way, leading to the slide of the edifice. When the authorities checked the remains of the building, they determined that a leading factor in the collapse would have been the sheer damage termites had done to the posts, which had been badly deteriorated by the insects’ depredations.
This is actually a major issue with most termite-infested homes. Termites tend to eat out the wooden parts of structures from the bottom up because many of them infest homes by coming up from the ground, and also because these parts are often the dampest. Termites tend to search for damp wood, which is why many an Arizona termite control expert and ones from other places all throughout the country have had to request access to homeowners’ plumbing during their inspections. Damp constitutes the other part of the termite diet, or to be more precise, water does. With damp wood, termites get ready access to both water and food, making for a very efficient supply chain and foraging source for the insects, which they quickly recognise. This is how damage like that to the house in Waianae often starts.
Both the Fire Crew and the Red Cross, which also showed up to help the displaced former residents of the building, said that they could not say for certain that it was termites alone that were responsible for the collapse, however. There were also strong winds in the area, after all, that might have been responsible for pushing the house to one side and perpetrating the actual crumple. However, it cannot be denied that the termite damage to the structure was also most likely a major contributing factor to the incident, showing the need for proper termite control for structures.
