Signs of Termites in Your Texas Home

Subterranean termites build pencil-width mud tubes to travel between the soil and the wood they are feeding on. These tubes protect them from dehydration and predators. Look for them along your foundation slab, crawl space walls, inside the garage, around plumbing penetrations, and along piers or posts.

If you break a tube open and see live termites inside, the colony is active. If the tube looks dry and hollow, the activity may have moved, but that does not mean they are gone. Tubes can be rebuilt in 24 to 48 hours, so check again the following day. An abandoned tube still indicates past infestation that should be investigated.

Termites eat wood from the inside out, following the grain and leaving a thin shell of paint or surface material. Tap along baseboards, door frames, floor joists, and window sills. Wood that sounds hollow or papery when you knock on it, especially in areas that seem structurally sound, is worth investigating further.

You might also notice doors and windows that suddenly stick or fit unevenly. This can happen because termites damage the framing and moisture gets in through their tunnels, warping the wood. In Texas, that warping symptom is easy to blame on humidity, which is exactly why it gets ignored longer than it should.

Every mature termite colony eventually sends out swarmers, winged reproductives that fly out to start new colonies. In Texas, this typically happens in spring, often after a warm rain, though the timing varies by species and location. Swarmers look like flying ants and are sometimes confused with them.

You might not see the swarmers themselves, but you will find their wings. Termite swarmers shed their wings almost immediately after landing, so small piles of tiny, equal-length wings on windowsills, in spiderwebs, or along door frames are a strong indicator. The wings themselves are a sign the colony is mature and reproducing.

Drywood termites, though less common in Texas than subterranean termites, produce frass, tiny pellet-shaped droppings that look like sawdust or fine coffee grounds. Small piles of frass near wood furniture, trim, or walls can indicate drywood termite activity.

Blistering or bubbling paint that does not look like normal water damage is another marker. Subterranean termites introduce moisture as they feed and tunnel, and that moisture pushes against the paint surface. If you peel back a bubbled area and find tunneling or soft wood underneath, the cause is almost certainly not a plumbing leak.

Texas sits in one of the heaviest termite-pressure zones in the country. The warm, moist climate along the Gulf Coast, including Houston and surrounding areas, creates near-ideal conditions for subterranean termite colonies year-round. The Dallas and Austin areas see significant activity too, especially in clay-heavy soils that retain moisture.

Most homeowners find out they have termites after the damage is done because they never looked. An annual termite inspection, which Stampede offers for free, catches early activity before it becomes a repair job. A colony that has been feeding for six months does far less damage than one that has had three years to work undisturbed.