Termites get most of the attention, and they’ve earned it. But they’re not the only insects that go after the wood in a house. A handful of others chew, tunnel or nest in wood, and each one leaves different clues. Telling them apart matters, because what works on one does nothing for another.
Here’s a rundown of the wood-destroying insects you’re most likely to run into in an Eastern North Carolina home, where they show up and what they leave behind.
Subterranean termites
These are the big one. Subterranean termites live in the soil and come up into the house through mud tubes, feeding on the cellulose in wood. A colony can work on a house for years before anyone notices, because the damage is inside the wood and often in a crawl space nobody visits. They’re the most destructive insect on this list.
Look for mud tubes on foundation walls and piers, swarmers or piles of shed wings in spring, and wood that sounds hollow when you tap it. Even a brick or slab house is at risk, since termites can get through a crack as small as 1/64 of an inch.
Drywood termites
Drywood termites don’t need contact with the soil. They live inside dry wood like attic framing, window frames and furniture, and they push small, hard pellets out through tiny holes. They’re much less common in North Carolina than subterranean termites, but a little pile of pellets that keeps coming back is worth having someone identify.
Carpenter ants
Carpenter ants are large ants, usually black or red and black. They don’t eat wood. They hollow it out to make room for the nest, and they strongly prefer wood that’s already damp or soft. That’s why they turn up around leaky windows, rotting porch posts, roof edges and crawl space framing that stays wet.
The giveaway is little piles of coarse, shredded wood mixed with bits of insects below a crack or hole. You might also see big winged ants indoors in spring, or ants trailing across the kitchen at night. Because they follow moisture, carpenter ants are often a sign there’s a leak or rot problem to fix too. Our ant control handles the ants, and finding the wet wood keeps them from coming back.
Powderpost beetles
Powderpost beetles are small beetles whose larvae spend months or years tunneling through wood before they chew their way out as adults. What you’ll see is tiny round exit holes, about the size of a pinhead, with fine, flour-like powder sifting out of them. Some kinds go after hardwood floors, trim and furniture. Others do well in the softwood framing of damp crawl spaces.
Bright, fresh powder that keeps reappearing means they’re still active. Old holes with dark, dirty edges may be from an infestation that ended a long time ago.
Old house borers
Despite the name, these beetles show up in newer homes too. Their larvae feed in seasoned softwood like pine framing, sometimes for several years, and you can occasionally hear them as a faint ticking or rasping inside the wood. When adults finally emerge, they leave oval holes about a quarter inch across, and the tunnels behind them are packed with fine powder.
Carpenter bees
These are the big, shiny bees hovering around your eaves in spring. Females bore perfectly round holes about half an inch wide into bare or weathered wood, then turn and tunnel along the grain to lay eggs. Look for the holes on fascia boards, rafter tails, decks and porch rails, usually with coarse sawdust and yellowish stains below them.
One season doesn’t do much. The damage comes from the same tunnels being reused and extended every year, plus woodpeckers ripping into the wood to get at the larvae. Painted or stained wood is much less appealing to them than bare wood.
The common thread is moisture
Almost every insect on this list does better in damp wood. In our humid climate that usually points to the crawl space, with a torn or missing vapor barrier, blocked vents, standing water after storms or ductwork that sweats all summer. Fix the moisture and you take away a lot of what draws them in. If your crawl space never seems to dry out, our moisture control service is a good place to start.
Not sure what you’re looking at
From the outside, a lot of this damage looks alike, and the right treatment depends on which insect made it. Our termite inspections are free, and we’ll tell you what we find, whether it’s still active and what needs to happen next. If treatment’s needed for termites, we use the Trelona bait system and Termidor.
Buying a house? A wood-destroying insect report documents signs of termites and other wood-destroying insects, and it’s $30 off when you book it with a home inspection.
