Finding termite damage requires looking for specific changes in your house. Wood surfaces show telltale signs. Hollow spots develop where termites eat from the inside out. Mud tubes snake along basement walls and foundations. Anthem Termite control specialists point out that catching these insect’s early saves thousands in repairs. Paint blisters up. Wood warps. The holes are filled with powdery debris. Regularly inspect basements, attics, and crawl spaces.
Wood surface inspection
Termite-damaged wood looks different from wood that has aged naturally. Darker surfaces may appear around them. Sometimes it blisters up. Paint or wallpaper bubbles and peels even though no water leak exists. Run your hand along wood trim, baseboards, or window frames. Uneven textures or mushy spots show up this way. Press lightly on wooden surfaces to test how solid they are. Damaged wood caves in easily. You might push right through with barely any effort. Good wood stays firm under casual pressure. Any wood that touches dirt should be checked. The first place termites enter homes is here.
Structural damage signs
Floors sag or feel bouncy when termites eat through floor joists. Ceilings droop or get water stains without any actual leak. Doors and windows that worked fine suddenly stick or refuse to open properly. The frames got damaged from termite feeding. Thin cracks show up on walls. Small holes appear as termites tunnel behind the surface. Wood floors buckle when the subfloor underneath gets eaten. Support beams in basements and crawl spaces need regular examination for:
- Visible tunnels carved along the wood grain
- Crumbly wood that falls apart in your hand
- Dark or discolored patches on beams
- Hollow sounds when knocked
Hollow sounding wood
Tap on wood with a screwdriver handle. Different sounds come out depending on the condition the inside is in. Solid wood makes a sharp, clear noise. Damaged wood sounds dull or empty because termites ate the middle while leaving the shell intact. This feeding habit means wood can look totally fine on the outside while being wrecked inside. Test wooden structural pieces, trim, and furniture by tapping systematically. Notice how the sound changes across different parts of the same board. Termites do not damage wood evenly. Their tunnels follow the grain and leave air pockets that alter how sound travels. Try this on support posts, deck boards, fence posts, and exposed wooden parts.
Frass and droppings
Drywood termites shove their waste pellets out through tiny kick-out holes. These pellets, called frass, build up in little piles under infested wood. They look like sand grains or sawdust but have six sides when you look closely. Colors go from light tan to dark brown based on what wood gets eaten. Subterranean termites handle waste differently. They use it to build mud tubes and mix it into their tunnel systems. Finding frass piles under wood structures or furniture means drywood termites are active. Where these piles sit points you toward the infested spot above or close by.
Quick action after finding damage keeps repair bills reasonable and stops structural problems from spreading. Professional inspection confirms what you suspect and figures out how big the treatment needs to be.
