How to check your home for termites.

Termites can cause severe damage to your home, often resulting in high costs of repair and quite a bit of inconvenience. Luckily, whether you’re dealing with drywood termites or subterranean termites – typically the two most common species found in Florida – there are techniques to help get rid of them, such as a tentless termite treatment.

Before you go that far, however, you need to determine whether or not termite control is needed in the first place. To give you a head start, we’ve put together a list of the most common warning signs of a termite infestation.

Termite Swarms

This is exactly as it sounds – in certain conditions, you may actually see swarms of termites around your home. This is more common on warm and humid evenings, and can indicate either an existing infestation or a potential new colony. Any of the winged termites that you see could become the queen of a new colony, so they must be taken seriously.

Discarded Wings

Even though termites start out with wings, they’re not actually very good at using them. Because of this, it’s common for termite swarmers to shed their wings and simply crawl away. Therefore, if you spot any discarded termite wings on the ground, then it most likely means that there are termites in the vicinity.

Mud Tubes

One of the most common signs of a termite infestation are mud tubes that run along a home’s walls. These tubes are conduits used by termites to go from one place to another, particularly between food and water sources. This is a very obvious indication that termites are close, but you can’t simply remove the mud tubes to get rid of the problem. If you destroy a mud tube, you may kill several termites, but that’s it.

Fecal Droppings

Like other pests that may enter your home, termites leave fecal droppings all over the place. This telltale sign of a termite presence is called frass and will resemble a small pile of sawdust. Termite droppings are sometimes confused with wood shavings caused by termites devouring your wood. No matter which you find, however, you probably have an infestation going on.

Damaged Paint

As termites eat wood, they cause all sorts of damage that is often not recognized right away, even by the most astute of homeowners. A problem that often happens is that the paint on a damaged wall will begin to either peel or bubble up. This can often be a subtle indication, but in some situations, it might be very pronounced. Just keep in mind that the severity of the damage doesn’t necessarily indicate the severity of the termite problem.

Hollow Wood

Another common sign that you you’re experiencing a termite infestation is that when you knock on wood around your home, it will feel hollow. Of course, we’re guessing that you probably don’t routinely go around knocking on wood (unless you’re the kind of person to do it superstitiously), so this is often a secondary indicator. In other words, if you notice other signs of a termite presence, you can check for hollow sounds in the wood to indicate where they’re located.

Stuck Doors/Windows

There’s a good chance that when you think of a termite infestation, you automatically envision them deep inside your walls, maybe even destroying your home’s infrastructure. While this is often exactly what’s happening, it’s also common for termites to go after wooden doors and window frames because they’re easily accessible from the outside. Although doors and windows that are hard to open and close are typically the cause of natural expansion due to weather and other reasons, this may also indicate termites.

Loose Tiles

Another sign of a termite infestation is loose floor tiles. This is something that not too many homeowners think about, but it can definitely happen. This is because the wood underneath the tiles has become water damaged due to termite presence.

This moisture will cause the tiles to loosen up a bit and they may either slide around when you walk on them or start separating from each other. If you notice loose tiles, it’s time to look for other warning signs.

Contact ProHealth Pest Control for Help with Termite Infestations

ProHealth Pest Control has spent many years perfecting our techniques to help you deal with termites, cockroaches, ants, flies, rodents, arachnids, crickets, snails, and all other sorts of pests. If you think you have a termite colony in your home or would like to schedule an inspection, give us a call at (727) 472-9420 today.