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Mud tubes on the foundation, wood that sounds hollow

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A home inspector kneeling at an open crawl space vent along the foundation of a house, checking for pest entry points.

Worth handling this week

Is this what you are looking at?

Pencil width mud tubes running up a foundation wall are the clearest sign of subterranean termites. Inside, tap suspect trim or a window sill: damaged wood sounds hollow and a screwdriver pushes in easily. In spring you may find discarded wings on sills, which is what a swarm leaves behind. Termite swarmers have two pairs of equal length wings and a straight waist, which is how they are told apart from flying ants.

Also called: white ants, wood termites, swarmers

Where they actually are

Subterranean colonies live in the soil and build tubes to reach wood, so anything that keeps soil damp against the foundation helps them. Drywood termites need no soil contact at all and can establish directly in attic framing or furniture.

  • inside wall studs and sill plates
  • under flooring
  • crawl space joists
  • behind trim and baseboards
  • the soil against the foundation
  • attic framing, in the case of drywood termites

Why the can from the hardware store does not work

Hardware store products treat the few inches you can reach, and the colony is in the soil or the wall void. Spot treating a visible tube does nothing to the colony that built it, and the damage continues out of sight while the problem looks solved.

What a contractor actually does

A contractor will inspect the perimeter, the crawl space and the attic to find where the colony is reaching the structure, then recommend a soil treatment, a bait system, or localised treatment depending on the species and the construction. Repairs to the damaged wood are a separate job.

Termites are rarely an emergency in the sense of tonight, but they are the costliest pest on this list because the damage is structural and silent. The time to act is when you first notice, not next season.

Questions people ask on the call

I found wings on the windowsill. Is that bad?
It means a swarm happened nearby, often from inside the structure. Keep a few of the wings, because they help identify the species on the call.
Flying ants or termites?
Termites have a straight waist and two pairs of wings the same length. Ants have a pinched waist and front wings noticeably longer than the back pair.
Does homeowner insurance cover the damage?
Standard policies generally exclude termite damage as preventable maintenance. Check your own policy, because the exclusions vary.

Termites in the house?

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