It can feel overwhelming when pests like termites, carpenter ants, or powderpost beetles invade your home siding, causing extensive damage before you even detect them. Expensive extermination and repairs can result, motivating you to look for pest-resistant material when you’re due for a siding replacement.
Pests can wreak havoc on your siding’s important job of protecting your home from the elements. And when they destroy your siding, it makes your home vulnerable to water infiltration, multiplying the problems you need to resolve.
Read on to discover how pest-resistant James Hardie siding will cause you to avoid pest infestation.
The Pest Problem
Termites
The structural integrity of your home is made of wood. If pests like termites eat their way through your siding and go unnoticed, over time they can damage your house’s very structure. How do these little critters do such big damage? They work quietly—and out of your view. By the time you realize what is happening, the trouble they have caused is extensive.
When termites eat through siding, they create feeder tubes—which are hollow channels hidden under the surface of the wood. These tubes allow them to penetrate your house and wreak havoc—before you notice you have a problem.
How to know if you have termites: If you see discarded wings that resemble scales around your home’s perimeter, or if you can easily poke through your wood siding with a screwdriver, you may have termites. Another simple test you can do is to tap your siding—and if it sounds hollow, it’s time for a pest inspection.
Carpenter Ants
Carpenter ants are attracted to wet, rotting wood. They often burrow in your insulation and inner walls, then work their way outward to your siding as their numbers increase.
How to know if you have carpenter ants: If you see stacks of wood shavings or spot the ants themselves, carpenter ants are endeavoring to make your home theirs. These black ants appear in flying swarms when it’s warm outside. They often nest in a home’s foundation, vents, or chimney.
Powderpost Beetles
Pesky powderpost beetles live inside wood and eat the starches in wood until they reach maturity. Next, they tunnel out, leaving fine sawdust and little holes in their wake.
How to know if you have powderpost beetles: The simplest way to locate powderpost beetles is to find their exit holes. They make lots of penetrations in wood, giving it the appearance of a sponge.
Woodpeckers
Woodpeckers are destructive. They drill rows of small holes into siding where they can store food, and make large holes where they can nest. They also cause damaged seams in tongue and groove cedar siding. One of the worst things about woodpeckers is that they are known to return annually to your home—even if you have it repaired. So they can literally cause damage repeatedly to your most significant investment!
How to know if you have woodpeckers: Are there acorns wedged between your cedar shakes or shingles? Is the paint on your siding chipping? Do you hear annoying tapping (also referred to as drumming) on your wood siding? It’s probably woodpeckers trying to create a home inside yours.
Rodents
Rats and mice chew on wood siding to gnaw their way into your home. They also climb and gain entrance through your soffits, fascia, and other spaces near your attic.
How to know if you have mice or rats: You may see or hear rats or mice, or notice their droppings.
Bypass the Hassles of Pest Infestation with Hardie Siding for Your Kansas Home
Pest Resistant Siding You Can Trust
James Hardie fiber cement siding is engineered to be pest resistant, so you can dodge the expensive trouble critters cause.
Made of cement, sand, and cellulose fibers, Hardie siding isn’t edible to pests, doesn’t provide a good nest, and won’t serve as their mating ground, so they have no reason to try to make your home into theirs.
Keep Moisture Away and Pests at Bay
Made to resist water infiltration, Hardie siding tightly seals your home, protecting it from moisture damage. Pests are attracted to moist surfaces, so when your home siding doesn’t absorb water, it will better resist pests.
Avoid What Pests Love—Wood Rot
Hardie siding resists moisture intrusion, preventing wood rot and pest infestation. Pests are drawn to places they can burrow through. So when siding is compromised due to moisture intrusion, and wood rot develops, the perfect environment is created for pests to enter your home. Keep wood surfaces from decaying, and you’ll keep pests out of your home.
Get Durable Siding that Withstands Your Area’s Climate
Hardie siding is built to withstand the specific weather in the area of the U.S. where it is installed. Kansas weather can be harsh, but you can rest at ease that your biggest investment will stay intact when Hardie siding fortifies your exterior. It stays in place during storms and won’t make way for pests to invade.
Simplify Life with James Hardie Siding
Choosing pest-resistant siding like James Hardie is wise, but that isn’t the only part of the equation that needs to be in place for the long-term success of your Kansas home’s protective layer. You also need to have a reputable contractor install your siding to ensure it performs as it was engineered to over its lifespan. You don’t want just anyone installing your siding.
At Safe Harbor, we are a James Hardie Preferred contractor, so we follow their strict guidelines on the installation process, ensuring your siding installation meets their warranty requirements and will give you the decades of high performance it was designed to deliver.
Learn more about how James Hardie siding can enhance your home’s beauty, simplify maintenance, and prevent unwanted problems like pest intrusion.
