8 May 2018
 Categories: , Blog

A timber deck can be a beautiful and practical addition to any outdoor swimming pool, whether your pool is above or below ground. However, while timber decks are excellent when it comes to enduring inclement weather and harsh pool cleaning chemicals, they are always vulnerable to the voracious attentions of termites, and even a small termite colony established near your deck can swiftly turn your beautiful deck into so much splintered matchwood. 

Protecting your timber pool deck from termites and other wood-boring insects is therefore vital, and hiring the services of a professional pest control company specialising in termite control is always the most reliable approach. These services can use a number of methods to both keep termites away from your deck and swiftly exterminate any who dare to approach your deck:

Deck timber treatments

Most modern timber decks are sold pre-treated with powerful insecticides which prevent termites from feeding on your deck and causing damage. However, in many cases these treatments are not applied thoroughly and do not penetrate the timber slats of your deck all the way, leaving a vulnerable core of untreated wood at their centres. Many of these slats have to be sawed to length as your deck is being built, leaving this vulnerable timber exposed in key areas.

Having your deck treated with insecticidal compounds once it has been built will help prevent these vulnerable areas from undermining the strength and stability of your deck. Insecticides can be sprayed or painted on your deck by pest control specialists, and these specialists generally use long-lasting, oil-based insecticidal compounds that can last for many years without the need for re-treatment.

Perimeter spraying

Of course, the best way to prevent termites from feeding on your pool deck is to prevent them from reaching the pool deck in the first place, and having the perimeter of your property sprayed with termite-killing chemicals will keep termites away from your pool deck, timber garden furniture and, perhaps most importantly, the structural timbers of your home. Depending on the specific chemicals your service uses, these treatments may need to be re-applied on an occasional basis (usually every six months to a year), as they will gradually be washed away by rain.

Termite baiting

If you would prefer a slightly more unconventional approach to protecting your deck from termites, termite control services can use bait to draw termites away from your deck to more vulnerable, attractive targets. The 'baits' consist of wooden stakes driven into the ground around the perimeter of your home; once a termite colony starts feeding on these stakes and returning the gathered wood to their colony, the stakes are poisoned with powerful anti-termite chemicals.

This approach can take a little longer to be effective than simple perimeter spraying and will require your termite control service to make frequent visits to inspect the stakes for signs of termite feeding. However, the great advantage of this method is that it can kill off any and all termites near your property in one fell swoop. Once the stakes are poisoned, the deadly timber is carried back to the colony or colonies near your home by worker termites, spreading the poison throughout all sections of the colony and killing all the termites within, including the queen.