If you have hardwood floors in your home, it is important to keep them safe from termites. These voracious insects can damage or even destroy a hardwood floor if an infestation is left unchecked. Here are three tips for protecting your hardwood floors from termites. 

1. Protect the Floor With Varnish

Termites find it much tougher to chew their way into a hardwood floor that has been varnished. To protect your floors from termites, cover them with a thick varnish layer after installation. When you start to notice worn patches or scratches appearing in the varnish, reapply varnish to keep your floor safe.

To reduce the frequency with which you need to re-varnish your floor, avoid dragging furniture over the floor or using chemical cleaning products that haven't been approved for a hardwood floor. Take off shoes when you get home to avoid tracking stones or grit across the varnished floor.

2. Spot the Signs

Detecting a termite infestation as early as possible gives you the best possible chance of treating it before serious damage takes place. In Australia, there are two types of termites that can invade your hardwood floor, each of which leaves its own telltale signs in your home.

Drywood termites invade floors in dry parts of the home, such as bedrooms and living or dining rooms. They eat the wood in hardwood floors, causing cracks to appear in its surface, and leave behind droppings that look a bit like sand. Watch out for drywood termites hitching a ride into your home on second-hand furniture.

The other type of termite that can damage hardwood floors in Australia is the subterranean termite. This type of termite prefers to live in moist environments, such as bathrooms or kitchens, where steam from cooking or bathing provides the water they need to thrive.

Subterranean termites cause damage that resembles warping or buckling on a hardwood floor. You can also look out for their droppings, which are like tiny tubes of mud.

3. Use an Appropriate Termite Treatment

Not all products you can buy to treat a termite infestation are suitable for use on hardwood floors. Some harsh chemicals can damage the finish or cause pitting of the wood.

The safest way to treat the problem is to hire a professional pest control company, who can use a method of termite treatment that will get rid of the termites but not damage your hardwood floor.