Learn how to check termite sign at home

Early detect termite infestation can help you save a lot of money

Preemptive checking is important to early detect termite infestation for extermination before severe damage is done to the building structure and furnitures.

Most Common Signs of Termite infestation

Mud Trail

Termite mud tubes are small tunnels that are located around termite nests. Learn how to spot a mud tube and what to do if you’ve found one near your home.

Termite mud tubes are pencil-sized tunnels located around termite nests, wood structures, and concrete or stone foundations. When searching a home for these tubes, there are three types to look for:

Working tube - path between termite nest in soil and wood
Exploratory tube - path extending only from soil
Drop tube - path from wood back to soil

HOW ARE TERMITE MUD TUBES MADE?

A mud tube is made of small pieces of soil and wood and most commonly used by subterranean termites. It helps protect termites from predators and dry environments while traveling between a food source and the nest.

Termites are fairly anti-social, preferring to travel with other termites in mud tubes and away from other insects. Often irregular in shape, the mud tubes are made of dirt, wood particles, and their own saliva and feces.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN IF YOU SEE TERMITE MUD TUBES AROUND YOUR HOME?

It is possible to find a termite mud tube that is no longer active. To test for activity, break a center section of the tube off, leaving the front and back sections intact. If the mid-section of the tube is repaired within a few days, the termites are definitely still active as nothing else could restructure the tube except termites. If the tube isn’t resealed it could mean the colony has moved on to another food source but that doesn’t mean they’ve moved from your home. Mud tubes are only one type of structural evidence left behind by termites.

Mud Trail

Swarmers/Discarded Wings

At certain times of the year, termite colonies produce Alates also known as warmers, the elite termite reproductive ant that fly away to form their own colonies. A healthy, robust termite colony will seek to expand once or twice a year by producing these Alates. When the temperature and humidity are just right, they emerge from the mature colony and fly to the surrounding area.

WHERE DID THE SWARMERS COME FROM?

The swarmers likely came from a nearby underground nest. If most of the insects are found outdoors, then the nest is likely somewhere in your yard, possibly near an old tree stump or landscape timbers.

Does finding termite swarmers inside your house mean that you have a termite infestation?

Having a couple of them inside your property does not indicate is under termite infestation. Knowing the quantity of winged termites is essential to determine whether or not this is a sign of an active termite infestation in your home.

These insects probably flew in through an open door or window. They are adapted to mate and begin new colonies in wood, particularly wood that is weathered, cracked, or unfinished. Swarming termites can come from anywhere (fences, trees, sheds, neighbor’s homes, etc). Winged termites that do not find a new area to infest will die from dehydration within a few hours. Just sweep or vacuum them up.

When should you be worried?

However, a significant swarm of 50 to 100 winged termites at the interior of your home is a sign that a colony exists somewhere in your home and has been present for 3 to 6 years. Alates from an interior colony may emerge for up to two weeks. When you find 50 or 100 winged termites in one location, is time to call for inspection. They emerge from a hole no larger than the tip of a pen. Unless you actually see the emerging from the hole in your home, otherwise locating the origination of the colony is nearly impossible.

Swarmers

Droppings

Termite Droppings

Amongst other signs, like dropped wings which usually occur when termites swarm in the area, termite droppings or frass are a sign of an infestation. Different species of termites can leave different droppings.

If you have an infestation of drywood termites in your home, usually the only evidence of their presence are the termite droppings that appear around wood, but there’s a whole lot of more to it. With termites, their droppings are either liquid or solid, and this depends on the type/species of termite.

Many species of termites make use of their droppings in their nest construction or as a defense mechanism such as Subterranean termite. The most prominent display of droppings are from the drywood termites, and the dampwood termites. Basically, these are the two termite types whose droppings take on the form of solid pellets. Other types of termites excrete liquid droppings

Termite species and their droppings

Subterranean Termite

Subterranean termite droppings aren’t actually pellets at all. Instead, these termites produce a type of liquid feces that they then use to help build their mud tubes. So if you’re looking for evidence of subterranean termites in your home, you won’t find it in pellets. You can spot the mud tubes

Dampwood or Drywood Termite Droppings

Drywood termites use their solid droppings as a defense mechanism to block and seal up tunnels and galleries. They excrete liquid droppings when the weather is wet, or if they have to seal up an exposed tunnel urgently; but more commonly, dry droppings, which have all the moisture extracted while in their intestines. Excess droppings are periodically “kicked out” from their nests via tiny kick holes opening out to the outside world.

Most frass is very small, about one millimeter long, and can look like sawdust or wood shavings. While the frass can be in obvious places like on the floor, or on the kitchen top.

The color can vary depending on the type of wood that the termites forage in, some can take on the color of salt and pepper. It is important to not get termite frass mixed up with carpenter ant frass as most carpenter ant frass will also look similar to termite frass.

Hollow Wood

Termites seek out cellulose, the most plentiful organic compound found in nature. It is the main building block of plants and found in many materials in our property use every day.

Termites feed on many of these materials to get the cellulose to get their nutrients: plants, plant byproducts, cotton fibers (your clothes), paper products and, wood.

Not surprising, each species of termite has its own dietary preference.

Subterranean termites prefer softwoods and leave the harder summerwood behind. Wood eaten by subterranean termites resembles a honeycomb, and many of its galleries contain dirt and fecal particles.
Dampwood termites generally stay close to the ground, but will choose moist, decaying wood anywhere it is found. Usually eats decaying tree stumps and logs. They rarely infest buildings.
Drywood termites seek out dry wood such as the wood in your home’s framing, structural timbers, hardwood floors and furniture. They do not make contact with the soil and are able to glean the water they need directly from the wood they inhabit. When drywood termites are eating wood, the damage looks smooth.