How to Detect Termites

Besides the obvious presence of small ant-like insects or flying swarmers, you can look around your home to try and find out if termites have taken up residence with you in your home or building.

Basically, termites are discovered by property owners in one of three ways. First, when a colony swarms in the first warm part of early spring, winged adults can be seen on the inside or outside of a building moving toward the light, a window, or other lit opening.

Second, as we have already said, termites build mud tubes to travel between the ground and a structure. These mud tubes can often be found on the outside of a slab between the earth and brick line, or on piers which form the foundation of a building.
Finally, because termites like to eat the paper surface of sheetrock, pin holes are left behind when sheetrock has been damaged. There also will be some tubes in the wood indicating that termites have been eating through the wood and making their way from one side of the area to the other.

You will probably rarely see any actual termites because they tend to avoid light and open air spaces. The tunnels give them the ability to go virtually undetected while reaching their food source, wood. Therefore, destruction can be "undetected" as well.

If there is any area of your home where water has accumulated, chances are good that termites are going to be in that area. We’ll talk about prevention later on, but just about the only way you can tell on your own if you have termites is to look for tell-tale signs that they may be around.
While we have already described the damage, you might be better served with some visuals to help you identify termite damage.