The cooler temperatures have tempted many homeowners to start work on long awaited landscaping projects outdoors. Whether grabbing a pencil for the planning stage or diving right in, one very important factor to consider is what materials will be used for borders or retaining walls. A word of caution to all dedicated yard aficionados, for the good of your home and your neighbors’ homes, do not use recycled railroad ties in your landscaping endeavors.
When the railroad periodically replaces ties, the old ones are loaded onto flat bed trucks and shipped to home improvement stores and nurseries for resale. While the purchase price of used railroad ties might make them seem like a good landscaping choice, the potential cost of using them could be astronomical. Recycled railroad ties have long been associated with the introduction of Formosan Termite Colonies into areas which were previously uninfested by this species of termite.
The massive size of Formosan Termite colonies enables them to cause potentially significantly more damage to homes than native Subterranean Termites typically cause. Another factor which enables Formosan Termites to cause greater damage is their ability to form nests in wall voids above ground, thereby avoiding exposure to traditional treatment methods.
For the sake of the major investment of your home and your neighbors’ homes, choose landscaping timbers or concrete borders for your landscaping needs and bypass used railroad ties by a wide berth.
Happy landscaping and please think of Mr. Bugg’s Pest Patrol for all your pest control needs.
