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The next time you notice a broken-off piece of wood on the ground, pick it up for a quick inspection. As you can see, not only is your wood becoming damaged and broken, it might have tunnels eaten into it. Because termite activity can increase humidity levels, door and window frames can expand, making these entryways harder to open or close.
What Does Termite Damage Look Like?
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Knowing what termites look like and learning to recognize the common signs of termite activity will help you protect your home. We packed this guide with detailed descriptions and visual aids to help you spot the warning signs when inspecting your home for termites. Most of the time, you don’t have to see the actual termites to know whether or not your home is crawling with a colony. But if you start to see several little creatures flying around your home, or a set of discarded wings, it’s important not to distinguish a termite from an ant.
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Sometimes, when you live in a very humid environment, wood warps in the weather. The moisture, or lack thereof, can cause it to expand and contract. When they eat through the wood, it creates moisture, causing the same warping. If the weather is dry and you notice this phenomenon, it could easily be from termites. The subtle signs to look out for are things like bowing floors and drooping ceilings.
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Originally from China, Formosan termites are the most aggressive known termite species, capable of consuming one foot of 2X4 wood in just 25 days. They live in huge underground colonies with an average of 350,000 workers and build intricate mud nests inside the walls of a structure. This species is known as the most aggressive termite, able to rapidly reproduce and cause significant damage. In fact, a mature Formosan termite colony can cause severe structural damage to a home in as little as six months and queens can birth over 1,000 eggs each.
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By shedding their wings, they can easily dig into the ground or other good spots to start a brand new termite colony. Once underground, they mate, and one female becomes queen, making the base for the new termite colony. You are most likely to find discarded wings on window sills and ledges, or around outdoor lights like porch or patio fixtures.
Should I buy a house with beam damage from insects?
Because these insects are always present in the environment, any home can have termite problems. Subterranean termite problems often develop in situations where termites have easy access to soil, wood and moisture. To prevent termite problems, move any firewood or vegetation that is up against your home at least six feet away. Additionally, because termites like mulch, keep mulch six feet away from your home’s exterior. For drywood termites, be sure to keep your trees maintained and don’t let branches grow close to your home. This gives termites, as well as other pests, easy access to your roof.
Dead Termites or Termite Wings
To fuel their busy lives, termites get energy from cellulose, a carbohydrate found in all plants and wood. Termites cut into wood with pincer-like extensions near their mouths and break it down into material for building and nutrition. The movement of a single termite isn’t noticeable, but with hundreds of thousands of termites in a colony, small sounds add up. With tunnels to build and the constant need to shuttle resources, termites are active at all times. Every year, termites cause more than $5 billion in property damage in the United States. The average termite damage repair costs thousands of dollars, according to Terminix.
You see wings around your home
Other factors like water damage, rot, and structural issues can also be responsible. If you can't see any other evidence around the home, like mud tubes or wings, consider calling in a professional contractor or structural engineer. They can assess the problem and let you know if the wood was poorly built, is rotting, or was eaten by termites.
Signs You Might Have a Termite Infestation
Kelly explains that you're most likely to find wings and spot flying termites during the spring. Once a termite colony is established, it will send out swarmers at certain times of the year to form colonies elsewhere. These winged termites take flight often in the daytime during the spring. Dealing with termite damage comes down to replacing damaged wood and treating the structure so that a new termite infestation doesn’t occur. In more serious infestations, you might notice small dabs of mud on the surface of walls, emerging from the inside of the wall.
Structural issues, poor building practices, and even water damage can also cause ceilings to sag. To determine the cause and assess whether it can be fixed, check for secondary signs of infestation, like mud tubes, wings, and termite droppings. If the issue is termite-related, it's essential to address the termite infestation first, as termites can continue to damage the structure.
Members of the reproductive caste, also known as swarmers or alates, emerge from their tunnels and take flight in search of a mate. The sudden swarm of tiny winged insects in the spring may be the first clue you’re dealing with a termite infestation. A termite infestation can lead to costly damage to your home’s interior and overall structure.
Termites are tiny insects that are generally white in color, and they cause damage by the feeding and tunneling. Depending on the type of termite, these insects use tunnels to travel from underground nests through hollows chewed through wood. But not all termites require tunnels to access their wood of choice.
In addition to writing for Forbes, Brionna creates content for start-ups and service-based businesses. Check any of the wood pieces around your home for faint lines that could indicate a termite tunnel. There will usually be many lines in various directions, similar to a maze. As a former realtor, general contractor and greenhouse operator, Kristi has touched nearly all aspects of homeownership, from the foundation up. Today, Kristi is a full-time investing and real estate journalist working with notable publications such as Forbes, US News and World Report and The Motley Fool. The first step is to remove the infected furniture from your home.
The presence of these tunnels near the foundation of your home is a sure sign of subterranean termite infestation. Just like drywood termites, subterranean termites produce winged swarmers which indicate an active termite colony. You can remove mud tubes easily, but termites will still cause severe damage if they reach your home’s framing or other wooden structures. Telltale signs of termite damage include discolored, warped, and blistered wood.
If there are small blister bubbles or any sort of tunnel — it's termites. If you press your fingers down on the bubbles and they feel hollow underneath or they crumble to reveal powder that looks like sawdust — it's termites. Wood that is rotting is uneven and breakable; termite-damaged wood is tunneled and hollow. When termites are eating away at the wood under your flooring, the moisture they create causes small blisters to appear. These little bubbles can sometimes look a bit like water damage.
Twin Forks Pest Control founder Brian Kelly shares five common signs of termites you should never ignore. They have pale bodies similar to worker termites, but they tend to be slightly larger. Their heads are also larger, harder, and darker than their bodies, with prominent mandibles. They may be either male or female, but as workers, they don’t reproduce.
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