If wood makes up a significant portion of your home, especially the framing, it’s vulnerable to termites; this makes it crucial for you as a homeowner to take precautions against attracting and harboring them. While the most effective kind of termite control is preemptive, it’s also worth knowing the signs that termites have already infiltrated. You can avoid allowing a potential termite problem to escalate by knowing what to look for.

5 Telltale Signs Your Home Needs Termite Control

1. Termite Tunnels

Once termites have taken up residence somewhere, they build networks of mud tubes, which they use to access food sources. If they’re in your home, you may find these on walls — both indoors or outdoors — or foundations. Termite tunnels are brown and about the width of a pencil.

2. Hollow Wood

One of the reasons termites go unnoticed so easily is that they eat wood from the inside out. This hides their destruction until the last possible moment, potentially leading to an infrastructure collapse. Before your infestation reaches that point, though, it’s worth periodically tapping wood posts and other wood areas around your home and listening for hollowness.

3. Termite Sounds

The sound of hollowness isn’t the only indicator of termite activity you might discover through tapping. If there are live termites behind a wall, tapping it may cause them to sound an “alarm,” which sounds like light tapping and scurrying. Similar to how rabbits alert their associates to danger by thumping the ground, termites communicate with each other by hitting their heads against wood.

4. Swarmers

When termites are ready to start a new colony, they grow wings and swarm to new areas. Seeing these around your home could mean that they’ve just arrived, giving you a chance to call a termite control service before they cause problems. In the worst-case scenario, though, it could also mean they’ve already heavily infested your home, in which case you also need professional assistance.

5. Termite Pinholes & Frass

While termites primarily travel through their tunnels, they will also bore occasional pinholes in the outer surfaces of wood, which they use to dispose of frass — termite feces, dead skin, etc. If you find frass in your home, there may also be pinholes nearby.

 

Termites are impossible to remove without professional pest control services. If you’ve noticed the above signs of an infestation, or otherwise suspect you need termite treatment, the service to call in the New Braunfels, TX, area is All Service. They provide various home improvement services, in addition to termite control, which you can learn more about on their website. For questions or to set up an inspection, give them a call at (830) 626-2847.