Wood Destroying Insects Inspections - The Woodlands Texas Home Inspector

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Wood Destroying Insects (WDI) Inspections

Subterranean Termites, Formosan Subterranean Termites, and Drywood Termites are the most common structure invading termites in the United States.

Subterranean Termites (living under ground) are the most common termites in East Texas and cause the most damage.

Getting Your Home Inspected

Even if you don't have termites, you should have your home regularly inspected. You will generally have to do one if you are selling your house, but all homeowners should think about having them done at least annually.

How often should I have one?

Annually. Termites are pretty slow to infest and damage a house, but if you have recently had an infestation, you will want to get your property looked at every 3-4 months for awhile afterwards. Over 600,000 homes in the United States will be invaded by termites this year. Multiple colonies can infest the same house at the same time.

The map below shows us that East Texas in the area of the U.S. with the highest termite concentration.

Should I get a professional?

Termites are not a good idea to to deal with yourself. They are hard to kill, they often reinfest homes unless treatment is done professionally, and they can infest parts of the home that are difficult to inspect. I would not suggest relying on your own skills, no matter how much of a handyman you are.

Items the inspector will look for during an inspection:
1) Mud-looking material on wooden surfaces - This can often be hard to see, but termites will eat away at the interior of wood in your home. When it breaks or a hole is opened to the outside, they will try to patch it up. They use dirt as well as their own feces to create a substance to patch these holes, and it kind of looks like mud.

2) Wings - When termites are swarming, they fly around and ultimately shed their wings. If termites have gotten into your house or near it after a swarm, you will see big piles of wings. Wings can be near your house either because a swarm has come by, or because your house is infested and the swarm came from inside

3) Actual termites. Termites can be seen either inside the wood, in which case they usually look yellow or white, or outside as swarmers, in which case they look like flying ants. If your house constantly has swarms of termites near it, it is likely that you or someone nearby has a colony.

4) Termite tubes. Subterranean termites, which are the kind that cause the vast majority of damage to homes, don't just live in wood like people think. What they do is burrow underground, like ants, where they get moisture they need to survive. They build their colony next to a source of wood for food, and then burrow from the earth into the wood, going back and forth between each. To connect these earth and wood burrows, they build termite tubes - little tunnels of earth running along your house that let them run back and forth between the two.

5) Sawdust. If you see powder that looks kind of like sawdust around your home, that is a common sign of wood destroying insects.

6) Paint bubbles. If the paint is on a wood surface, you may see little bubbles in it from the termites eating the wood underneath.

7) Check moist, dark areas. If you want to inspect your home for termites, you can't just wander around the outside of it. Termites want a place where they can get both moisture and food. Look in any crawl spaces or areas under your house, any attics, your basement, any place you have in your house where you can see plumbing or pipes, cabinets, and any place where you can see the foundation.

8) Tap at wood with a hammer or blunt object. If it makes a hollow sound, there could be termites there. Check especially structural wood that should not be hollow (i.e., it's pointless to do this to your walls).

9) Pick at wood with a penknife in various places. If there are termites just under the surface, it will come apart instead of resisting it.

Termites cause billions of dollars in damage each year. They primarily feed on wood, but also damage paper, books, insulation, and even swimming pool liners and filtration systems. While buildings may become infested at any time, termites are of particular importance when buying or selling a home since a termite inspection report is normally a condition of sale. Besides the monetary impact, thousands of winged termites emerging inside one's home are an emotionally trying experience — not to mention the thought of termites silently feasting on one of your largest investments.

Infestations are often discovered during March - May
Spring typically is when large numbers of winged termites, known as "swarmers," emerge inside homes. In nature, termites swarm to disperse and start new colonies. Triggered by warmer temperatures and rainfall, the winged termites emerge from the colony and fly into the air.

The swarmers then drop to the ground, shed their wings, pair off with a mate, and attempt to begin new colonies in the soil. Few swarmers emerging outdoors survive to start new colonies. Swarmers emerging indoors are incapable of eating wood, seldom survive, and are best removed with a vacuum. They do, however, indicate that an infestation is present.

How will I know if my home is infested?
Discovering winged termites indoors almost always indicates an infestation warranting treatment. People often confuse winged termites with ants, which often swarm at the same time of year. Termites can be differentiated by their straight antennae, uniform waist and wings of equal size. (Ants have elbowed antennae, constricted waists and forewings that are longer than the hind wings.)

The swarmers are attracted to light and are often seen around windows and doors.

Other signs of infestation are earthen (mud) tubes extending over foundation walls, support piers, sill plates, floor joists, etc. The mud tubes are typically about the diameter of a pencil, but sometimes can be thicker. If a tube happens to be vacant, it does not necessarily mean that the infestation is inactive; termites often abandon sections of tube while foraging elsewhere in the structure.

Termite-damaged wood is usually hollowed out along the grain, with bits of dried mud or soil lining the feeding galleries. Wood damaged by moisture or other types of insects (e.g., carpenter ants) will not have this appearance. Occasionally termites bore tiny holes through plaster or drywall, accompanied by bits of soil around the margin. Rippled or sunken traces behind wall coverings can also be indicative of termites tunneling underneath.

Oftentimes there will be no visible indication that the home is infested. Termites are cryptic creatures and infestations can go undetected for years, hidden behind walls, floor coverings, insulation, and other obstructions. Termite feeding and damage can even progress undetected in wood that is exposed because the outer surface is usually left intact. Confirmation of infestation often requires the keen eye of an experienced termite inspector. However, even the most experienced inspector can overlook infestation or damage which is hidden.