Termites don’t announce themselves. They eat wood from the inside, under floors and behind walls, and most of the time the first clue is small enough to sweep up without thinking about it. Eastern North Carolina gives them everything they like, with warm, humid weather and plenty of homes built over crawl spaces, so it pays to know what those early clues look like.
These are the seven signs we look for when we inspect a house, and what each one tells you.
1. Swarmers inside the house
When a colony gets big enough, it sends out winged termites called swarmers to start new colonies. Around here that usually happens in spring, often on a warm afternoon after rain. A swarm outside near a stump or woodpile means termites are nearby. A swarm inside, especially around windows, doors and light fixtures, usually means the colony is already in or under the house.
Swarmers are easy to mistake for flying ants, so look closely.
- Termites have straight antennae, a thick waist and two pairs of wings that are the same length.
- Ants have bent antennae, a pinched waist and front wings that are longer than the back pair.
2. Little piles of wings
Swarmers don’t fly for long. After a short flight they drop their wings and look for a mate and a place to settle. Often the wings are all you’ll find, in small piles on windowsills, caught in spider webs or on the floor by a door. They’re all about the same size and look a little like fish scales. Sweep a few into a zip-top bag before you vacuum so we can identify them.
3. Mud tubes on the foundation or in the crawl space
Subterranean termites, the most common kind in North Carolina, dry out fast in open air. To get from the soil to the wood they eat, they build tunnels of soil about the width of a pencil. You’ll find them running up foundation walls, crawl space piers, chimney bases and plumbing lines, or along the edge of a garage slab.
Fresh tubes look damp and dark. Old ones are dry and crumbly and may be left over from an earlier colony. Either way, the wood they lead to needs a look.
4. Wood that sounds hollow or gives way
Termites eat wood from the inside out and leave a thin outer shell, so damaged wood can look perfectly normal. Tap baseboards, door frames and any exposed framing with the handle of a screwdriver. Damaged wood sounds dull or papery, and the tip may push in with almost no effort. If you open it up, subterranean termite tunnels run along the grain and usually have bits of dried mud in them, which is one way we tell termite damage from rot.
5. Bubbling paint or sagging spots
When termites tunnel just behind a painted surface, the moisture they bring with them can make paint bubble or peel and drywall look wavy or stained. Floors over a damaged subfloor can feel soft or springy. Those are also signs of a plain old leak, and that’s part of the point. Moisture and termites tend to show up together, so either one deserves a closer look.
6. Doors and windows that suddenly stick
Termite activity in door and window frames can make the wood swell or warp, so a door that always closed fine starts to rub or won’t latch. Our summer humidity sticks plenty of doors on its own, so this sign alone doesn’t prove anything. If it shows up alongside anything else on this list, call us.
7. Pellets that look like sawdust or coffee grounds
Drywood termites live entirely inside the wood and push their droppings out through tiny holes. The pellets are hard, about the size of a grain of sand, and collect in small piles below the holes. Drywood termites are less common in North Carolina than subterranean termites, which is exactly why the pellets are worth having identified. Carpenter ants leave debris too, but theirs is stringy and shredded, not uniform pellets.
What to do if you spot a sign
Don’t panic. Termites work slowly, and a few days won’t make much difference. What doesn’t help is spraying swarmers or tearing out wood before anyone has looked at it. Take photos, save a few wings or insects in a sealed bag and give us a call.
Our termite inspections are free. We’ll go through the crawl space and the outside of the house, show you what we find and tell you plainly whether you need treatment. If you do, our termite control options include the Trelona bait system and Termidor.
Make your house less inviting
Termites need moisture, and a lot of what draws them is easy to fix.
- Keep gutters clean and make sure downspouts carry water away from the foundation.
- Fix plumbing leaks and AC condensate lines that drip next to the house.
- Keep mulch and soil from piling up against the siding, and don’t let wood touch the ground.
- Move firewood, scrap lumber and cardboard away from the house and out of the crawl space.
- Keep crawl space vents clear and the vapor barrier in one piece. If yours stays damp, look into moisture control.
None of that replaces an inspection, but it takes away a lot of what makes a house attractive in the first place.
