Signs of Termites in Asheville Homes

Mud tubes

Mud tubes are the surest sign. Subterranean termites build pencil-width tunnels of soil to travel between the soil and the wood — on the foundation, in the crawl space, along pipes, up the inside of a wall. The tubes protect them from drying out, and they are the highway the colony uses every day. Check the foundation line, the crawl space and the garage for them, and check after heavy rain, when the tubes are freshest.

Swarmers and discarded wings

Spring swarms after rain are the classic first sign. Winged termites — swarmers — gather around windows and lights, and then shed their wings. Piles of discarded wings near a window frame, on a sill or in a spider web mean a swarm happened in that room, and the colony is close. Swarmers are often confused with flying ants: termite swarmers have a straight waist and straight antennae, while flying ants have a narrow waist and bent antennae.

Hollow wood and sticking doors

Wood that sounds hollow when tapped is wood that has been eaten from the inside. Tap the window frames, the door frames, the baseboards and the sill plates, and listen for the hollow sound. Paint that bubbles on wood, and doors or windows that stick for no clear reason, are the later signs — the ones that mean the colony has been feeding for a while. A floor that sags or feels soft underfoot is the latest sign of all, and the one that needs a specialist's look.

What to do when you find a sign

Do not disturb the tube or the wood — the inspector needs to see it as it is. Note where you found it and when, take a photograph, and call to arrange an inspection. The inspector will walk the foundation and the crawl space, check the moisture where wood is suspect, and write a report from the findings. If the sign is found during a home sale, the inspection is usually the WDIR-100 report — there is a dedicated page for it.

Check in spring, and any time after heavy rain. The gap between a clean report and a mud tube can be a single season of quiet feeding, which is why the annual inspection is the standard recommendation for Asheville homes regardless of age.