How to Identify Termites in a Home

Termites can cause significant damage to your home

It is essential, as a homeowner, to do regular termite inspections. Learn to recognize the early signs of infestation. Many homeowners do not realize that they have termites until after they do significant damage. Termites can do a large amount of damage to wooden structures in a small amount of time. Below are some signs to help you recognize and identify this potentially destructive insect.

Instructions

1. Look for a swarm of thousands of winged insects in the daytime, after a rain. The swarm will only last minutes, so you may easily miss it. Look for the evidence the swarm can leave behind. They will shed wings around doors, windows, bathtubs and sinks.

2. Look for mud tubes. Look in your basement, attic, crawl space, and around your foundation. The tubes will be about the size of a pencil and will be made out of dirt. They will disappear into cracks in the foundation and into doors and window frames. doors and window frames or along siding.

3. Look for damage to wood. Termites eat wood from the inside out so sometimes the damage is difficult to see. Tap on wall studs and baseboards to locate any hollow sounding areas. If you break these open, you may see a honeycombed pattern that occurs as termites feed along the grain of the wood.

4. Look for live termites. If you are doing any type of home remodeling, keep an eye out for actual termites. They are light colored and about the size of a grain of rice. They will scatter quickly when they are exposed to the light.

Tips & Warnings

• It is probably not a good idea to try to deal with termites yourself. They are difficult to kill and they will re-infest your home if not completely eliminated.

• Termites are often confused with winged ants. Ants have narrow waists and termites have broad waists. The wings of an ant are the same length as its body. The wings of a termite are twice as long as its body.

• Termites are attracted to moisture. Be sure to correct moisture problems in you home to avoid an infestation. Keep gutters clear and repair any leaks or drainage problems around or under your home as soon as possible.

Resources

• Free termite inspection
• Identifying termites