Hazelbrook sits in the mid Blue Mountains with bushland running right up to the back of a lot of properties, and that proximity is the main reason termite pressure here is higher than it is on the Sydney plain. Native eucalypt forest means established termite colonies in stumps, fallen limbs and standing deadwood close to houses. A colony does not need to start in your home to end up in it.
The local building stock adds to it. Many Hazelbrook homes are older weatherboard or part-timber construction, often on sloping blocks with a subfloor rather than a concrete slab. Subfloors on shaded, south-facing slopes in the Mountains stay damp through winter and well into spring, and persistent moisture under a timber floor is one of the conditions termites look for. Add the heavy leaf litter that builds up against bearers, retaining walls and garden beds, and you have concealed, moist timber in ground contact, which is the ideal entry route.
Practically, that means we pay particular attention to the subfloor, the perimeter where soil or mulch has built up above the damp course, deck bearers, and any timber retaining walls. Keeping leaf litter and firewood away from the house wall, and keeping the subfloor ventilated, genuinely reduces risk here more than it would in a newer slab-on-ground suburb.