Fix it
How can I tell if I have termites?
Termites announce themselves quietly: pencil-width mud tubes, wood that sounds wrong, and a spring day when winged insects appear from nowhere. Knowing the four signs matters because the damage clock runs silently between them.
What it usually is
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Mud tubes on foundation and crawl-space surfaces
Subterranean termites commute inside pencil-thick earthen tubes up foundation walls and piers. An active tube, broken open, repairs itself within days — which is also a no-cost activity test.
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Hollow-sounding or papery wood
Termites eat wood from the inside out along the grain, leaving paint or a veneer over galleries packed with soil. A screwdriver handle tap sounds dull-hollow; gentle probing breaks through startlingly easily.
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Discarded wings and spring swarmers
Reproductives swarm on warm days after rain, then shed identical-length wings at windowsills and lights. Straight antennae and a thick waist distinguish them from flying ants — photograph one before cleaning up.
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Frass piles under kick-out holes (drywood species)
Drywood termites push six-sided pellet droppings from tiny holes — neat piles that reappear after sweeping mean an active colony above.
What you can check yourself
Walk the foundation with a flashlight, inside and out, looking for tubes; probe suspect wood gently; break a small tube section and re-check in a week. Photograph everything — wings, pellets, tube layout. What you cannot do DIY is treatment: colony-scale control is chemistry and equipment, not spray cans.
When it’s a job for a pro
An inspection settles active-vs-old and species — which determines whether treatment is soil-applied, bait-based, or localized. Any confirmed activity is a promptly-scheduled visit; the damage rate is slow but the direction is one-way.
Inspections often run $75 to $200 (sometimes credited against treatment); full subterranean treatments typically $800 to $2,500 depending on foundation length. Repairing eaten framing is the number that makes early detection a bargain nobody regrets.
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