📋 Steps
1
Look for the key differences from carpenter ants
Termite galleries: filled with soil and fecal pellets (subterranean) or clean with tiny pellets (drywood); no sawdust. Carpenter ant galleries: smooth, clean-excavated wood; piles of sawdust-like frass nearby; sawdust inside galleries. If you see sawdust, it's ants. If you see soil-packed galleries, it's termites.
2
Check for mud tubes at the foundation
Subterranean termites build mud tubes — pencil-width tunnels of soil and organic material — from the soil to the wood they're eating. Check the foundation wall, floor joists, and any wood-to-soil contact points. Breaking open a mud tube: if termites are inside, they're active. If empty, the colony may have moved but the infestation history is confirmed.
3
Look for drywood termite pellets
Drywood termites push their excrement (frass) out of tiny holes — you find neat piles of tiny hexagonal pellets (resembling fine sand or coffee grounds) beneath furniture, windowsills, and doorframes. These pellets are diagnostic — no other pest produces this exact shape and pattern.
4
Probe wood with a screwdriver
Press a screwdriver tip against suspect wood and push. Sound wood resists. Termite-damaged wood: the screwdriver penetrates easily, you may feel a hollow section, and you can scrape out the damaged galleries with a knife. This is the physical confirmation test.
5
Call a WDO inspector — free at many companies
If you've found something suspicious, a licensed WDO (Wood-Destroying Organism) inspection by a pest control company confirms the species and extent. Many companies offer this inspection free with treatment estimate. Get 2-3 opinions for any significant finding.
💡 Tips
- Fresh termite damage sounds hollow when you knock on it — tap along a wood member and listen for the tone change that indicates cavities behind the surface
- Subterranean termites always eat wood along the grain, leaving thin walls of intact wood between galleries; they never eat across the grain. Carpenter ants excavate against the grain and leave smooth-walled galleries
- Small piles of termite wings on windowsills after a swarm event is confirmation of a mature colony within 20-30 feet of the windows — the wings are shed immediately after the swarm and each individual drops its wings at the entry point
- Check 'wood' that looks normal for subtle sagging, blistering paint, or paint that looks bubbled without water damage — this subsurface structural change is an early sign of termite damage beneath
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