Termite Inspection

Termites can cause serious, lasting damage to your home. If you think you may have a termite problem, you should get a termite inspection.

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The Termite Inspection Process

The process is fairly easy. First, we will need to have access to your house, garage, and any other structures you want checked out.

A good rule of thumb is to make sure the technician can access any key areas—primarily your attic, sink, garage, and crawl space, if you have one. Be sure to take any items out of your attic, remove any items blocking expansion joints in your garage, and anything that limits access to the opening of your crawl space or the space under your sink.

Your technician will inspect your interior and exterior, searching for tell-tale signs of termite activity and infestations, like mud tubes and shed wings. They’ll search high and low for evidence of both subterranean and drywood termites. The time this takes will depend on your property size and how accessible your woodwork is, but in general, it takes about 45 minutes.

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What Termite Inspectors Look For

There are several key pieces of evidence termite inspectors look for when they go on the hunt. These are indications you might also be able to pick up on yourself. Unfortunately, often, you can’t even tell termites are in your home until they’ve already wreaked havoc on your woodwork. That’s why termite inspections are so critical.

Mud tubes

Subterranean termites create mud tubes, their very own superhighways that connect their nests to the wood they feast on. These narrow passageways are about the width of a pencil and are made up of wood and soil. Termites create these mud tubes for several reasons. They connect the wood to the soil, shield the termites from predators, and they keep them from getting dehydrated.

Mud tubes are a definite sign of subterranean termites, but the absence of them doesn’t necessarily mean you’re termite-free. You could still have subterranean termites, and remember, drywood termites don’t even make mud tubes.

Wood damage

If you knock your wood and it sounds hollow, it’s a surefire sign of termite activity. Termites do serious damage to your wood’s structural joints, leaving them with a rippled or crushed effect. You can inspect the wood with a screwdriver to expose any tunnels. Subterranean termites have a distinct style, always creating tunnels parallel to the grain of the wood.

Evidence of swarms

When the weather starts to warm up, subterranean termites swarm to go off and develop a brand new colony. When they head out for greener pastures, they discard their wings, often leaving them in piles.

Frass

Frass is a fancy way of saying termite droppings. Frass is made up of very small, granular pellets shaped like ovals. If termites are present, you’ll often find frass by baseboards, door frames, and windowsills.

Buckling paint

If you have subterranean termites, your paint may bubble or peel. Termites damaging drywall create access for moisture and air to get between the paint and the surface. The moisture below the painted surface can start buckling as a result.

Keep in mind that your paint may bubble up for different reasons, so it’s not a definitive sign of termite activity.

Live termites

Live termites are notoriously difficult to spot. If you’re unlucky enough to spot one in your home, make sure you can tell it apart from an ant. Subterranean termites are made up of three distinct groups, workers, soldiers, and reproductives. All of these groups have a creamy white appearance. The main difference between them is that the reproductives have wings, making them look more than a little bit like flying ants.

There are a few ways to tell reproductive termites and flying ants apart. First, the wings. Termites, like flying ants, have two sets of wings, one in front and one in back. Termites’ wings are equal in length, while flying ants’ front wings are larger than their rear ones. Termites are also thicker through the middle than flying ants, and they have straight antennae instead of bent ones.