Termite colonies work silently inside wood for years before visible damage appears. But they leave clues — and catching those clues early can save thousands in repair costs. Here are 7 signs you can check yourself in a 15-minute walk around your home.
Pencil-width mud tubes running up the foundation wall from soil to wood are the signature of subterranean termites. They build these sheltered highways to travel between their underground colony and the wood they're eating. Check the entire foundation perimeter — outside and inside (basement/crawl space). Break a tube open: if termites are inside, it's active.
Tap wood trim, baseboards, window frames, and door frames along the foundation level with a screwdriver handle. Solid wood produces a solid thud. Termite-damaged wood sounds hollow or papery — the termites have eaten the interior while leaving a thin shell. Push the screwdriver into suspicious areas — damaged wood gives way easily.
Doors and windows that suddenly stick or won't close properly can indicate termite damage to the framing behind them. Termite feeding warps the wood structure, changing the frame geometry. This is also a sign of moisture damage — but moisture damage and termite damage often occur together, since termites prefer damp wood.
Drywood termites push tiny, hexagonal fecal pellets out of kick-holes in the wood. These accumulate as small piles of what looks like coarse sand or coffee grounds below the infested wood — often on windowsills, shelves, or floors below wooden beams. The pellets are hard, dry, and uniform in size. This is the primary sign of drywood termites (which don't build mud tubes).
After a termite swarm, reproductives shed their wings. Finding piles of small, translucent, equal-length wings near windowsills, door frames, or light fixtures means swarmers emerged from a colony inside or very near your structure. Don't confuse with flying ant wings — termite wings are equal length, ant wings are not.
Paint that appears to bubble, peel, or look water-damaged on wood surfaces — without any water exposure — can indicate termites feeding just below the surface. The feeding creates moisture from the termites' digestive process, which affects the paint or finish from behind. This is particularly common on exterior wood trim near soil level.
Any wood that contacts soil is at high risk: fence posts, deck posts, porch columns, stair stringers, and siding that extends below grade. Probe these areas with a screwdriver or awl. Termite galleries run with the wood grain and are lined with a thin layer of mud. Carpenter ant galleries, by contrast, are smooth, clean, and cut across the grain.