Frustrated homeowners call pest control professionals every day and want to know the signs of termite infestation.
This is easy to understand, though – termites are hard to see, and they can do an incredibly expensive amount of damage to your house in a fairly short amount of time. When the termite colonies are growing, it can be hard to tell that they are there, without specialized infrared or acoustic imaging machines.
Many times, the signs of termite infestation are specific to the species. Some species go out and search for food in more overt ways than others. While there are general signs, there is a great deal of variation by species.
Termite-damaged wood
The Reticulitermes and Coptotermes species consume your wood from the inside, and it’s almost impossible to detect them from without. You may look at your framing wood and think that it is solid, while termite tunnels run back and forth through it. After enough damage has taken place, you can tap the lumber and hear the damage with each echo. The irony is that once you can hear the echo, it’s too late for you to keep that wood in your structural framing.
