Termites

The most consequential identification in the category.

Termites are the highest-value thing to get right on this site, and the reason is simple: the two main groups need completely different responses, and telling them apart is something a careful non-expert can do.

Subterranean or drywood — this is the whole question

Subterranean termites live in the soil, not in the wood they eat, and reach a structure through pencil-width mud tubes of packed soil. Their galleries are packed with soil. They occur in every state except Alaska.

Drywood termites live entirely inside the wood, need no soil contact, and never build mud tubes. They push out hard, six-sided frass pellets about 1 mm long through small round kick-out holes. Their galleries are clean and smooth. They occupy a coastal and southern band.

Mud tubes mean subterranean. Six-sided pellets with no mud tubes mean drywood. That single observation redirects everything that follows.

• Subterranean termite identification
• Drywood termite identification
• Mud tubes · Frass and pellets

Swarmers indoors are a serious finding

A swarm is a reproductive event from a mature colony, typically several years old. Swarmers indoors mean an established colony in or very near the structure — not a passing nuisance.

The distinction from flying ants is reliable and worth learning: termite swarmers have a straight body with no pinched waist, straight beaded antennae, and four equal wings extending past the abdomen. Flying ants have a sharply pinched waist, elbowed antennae, and front wings longer than the back pair. Piles of equal-length shed wings on a windowsill are often the first evidence found.

Why treating the damage does not solve it

This is the mechanism worth understanding before anyone quotes you. A subterranean colony lives in the soil and may be some distance from the damage you can see. Removing or repairing damaged wood addresses the symptom and leaves the colony entirely intact. That is why the professional approaches target the soil or the colony rather than the timber.

The inspection, and what it does not cover

A wood-destroying insect report covers evidence that was visible and accessible on the day of inspection. It is not a guarantee about what is behind finished walls, under floor coverings, or in inaccessible spaces.

Two findings are routinely confused, at real cost. Evidence of infestation is a finding that termites are or were present. Conducive conditions are findings that make the structure attractive or accessible — wood-to-soil contact, moisture, poor drainage, debris under the structure. A conducive-conditions finding is not an infestation finding. It is a list of things to correct, and correcting them is genuinely the durable part of any termite response.

Scope, the form used, who is required to order it, and what a lender requires all vary by state and by lender. Verify locally rather than assuming a national standard.

Bonds and warranties

A termite bond is a financial product most homeowners never actually read. The three things worth checking before signing:

• Retreat-only or retreat-and-repair? These are very different products. Retreat-only covers further treatment; repair coverage covers damage from new activity. The difference is rarely made obvious in the sales conversation.
• What are the renewal terms, and is an annual inspection required to keep it valid?
• Does it transfer if you sell the house?

Prevention that genuinely reduces pressure

• Eliminate wood-to-soil contact — deck posts, fence rails, siding, and trim reaching the ground are direct routes.
• Correct drainage away from the foundation; repair leaking taps, gutters, and downspouts.
• Keep crawl spaces ventilated and dry; remove form boards, stumps, and buried scrap wood.
• Maintain a visible inspection gap between soil or mulch and the bottom of the siding, so tubes cannot be built out of sight.