How Long Does a Termite Inspection Take? Taking Time To Protect Your Property
If you suspect termites, you want them gone as soon as possible, and the first step is a professional inspection. Here is how long one takes, what the inspector does with that time, and how to make the visit go faster.
Plan on an hour or two, depending on the property
A termite inspection on a typical single-family home takes a licensed inspector about an hour to two hours. A small, uncluttered slab home with no attic storage lands at the short end. A large house, a pier-and-beam foundation with a crawl space, outbuildings, or an attic full of boxes pushes it toward the long end, and a commercial property can take longer still.
The time is spent looking, not treating. An inspection is a visual and physical check of every place termites get in, travel and feed, and the report that comes out of it is what any treatment decision is based on. Rushing it defeats the purpose, which is why the steps below are about helping the inspector see more, not about getting them out the door sooner.
Make sure the inspector can reach the key areas
Schedule the inspection for a time you can be there. You will need to let the inspector in, walk them through what you have noticed, and give access to the spots below. Fifteen minutes of clearing beforehand saves more than that on the day.
Clear out under the sinks
Plumbing penetrations are the most common way subterranean termites get through a slab, so the inspector needs to see every pipe where it enters the house. Empty the cabinets under the kitchen and bathroom sinks and around the water heater before the visit.
Pull things off the garage walls
Move boxes, shelving and anything stacked against the garage walls at least two feet out so the inspector can see the base of the wall and the expansion joint where the garage slab meets the house. Do the same for items stacked against the exterior walls outside.
Clear a path to the attic
The attic hatch or pull-down stair needs to be reachable and usable. If the attic is used for storage, pull what you can away from the eaves and the top plates of the walls, which is where the inspector will be looking.
Open up the crawl space
If your home is on a pier-and-beam foundation, the crawl space access needs to be clear and the space itself as empty as you can make it. Crawl spaces combine wood and moisture, which is exactly what subterranean termites are looking for, so the inspector will spend real time there.
What the inspector does with the hour
Inside, the inspector works room by room along the places termites live and hide: baseboards, door frames, window sills, the backs and bottoms of cabinets, closets and utility rooms. Kitchens, bathrooms and laundry rooms get the most time, because termites follow plumbing lines up through the slab to get past the concrete. Keeping those areas clear is what lets the inspector pick up the small signs, a hairline mud tube behind a dishwasher or a blistered patch of paint on a baseboard.
The inspector probes suspect wood with a sounding tool and uses a flashlight and sometimes a moisture meter to pick out wet spots in walls and framing. In the attic, the check runs along the top of the walls, the rafters near the eaves, and any wood touching masonry. In a crawl space, it is the piers, sill plates and floor joists.
Outside, the inspector walks the full foundation line looking for mud tubes on the slab or piers, wood in contact with soil, soil or mulch piled above the slab edge, and moisture problems: leaking hose bibs, air conditioner condensate, gutters dumping against the house. Fences, decks, wood piles, tree stumps and landscape timbers in the yard are checked, and so are nearby trees, since Formosan subterranean termites in particular will colonize living trees close to a structure.
An inspection does not involve drilling into walls or slabs, and nothing is applied. It is a check, and the house looks the same when the inspector leaves as when they arrived.
The report, and what happens next
When the inspection is done, the inspector goes over the findings with you and you get a written report. If termites were found, it covers which species, roughly how established the activity is, where it is concentrated, and any damage the inspector could see. It also lists the conditions that are inviting termites, such as wood-to-soil contact or a moisture problem, whether or not termites were found that day.
If there is an active infestation, the inspector will propose a treatment matched to the species and the construction of the house. For subterranean termites that is usually a liquid soil treatment around the foundation, a bait station system, or both. Our termite control page explains what each involves.
If the house is clear, the usual recommendation is to keep it that way with an annual inspection, often paired with bait stations around the structure that are checked at each visit. Termites can work undetected for years, and an inspection once a year is how an infestation gets caught while it is still small.
Signs worth pointing out to the inspector
Nothing replaces a professional inspection, but termites leave a few signs a homeowner can spot. If you have seen any of these, say so when you book and show the inspector where.
Mud tubes
Subterranean termites build pencil-width tubes of soil and saliva to travel between the ground and the wood they are feeding on while staying out of the open air. Look on foundation walls, piers, the inside of the garage slab edge and around plumbing where it comes through the floor. Drywood termites do not build them, so no tubes does not mean no termites.
Wood that sounds hollow
Termites eat wood from the inside and leave the outer surface intact, so damaged framing, trim and door jambs often look fine. Tap along baseboards, window sills and door frames with the handle of a screwdriver. A dull, papery or hollow sound where the rest sounds solid is worth showing the inspector. Do not pry open walls to look; that is the inspector's job and it can spread an infestation.
Shed wings and swarmers
In spring, usually after a warm rain, mature colonies send out winged reproductives to start new ones. The swarm itself lasts a short time, but the wings they shed afterward pile up on window sills, in spider webs and around light fixtures. Equal-length wings with a straight-sided body mean termites rather than ants.
Termite inspections for home purchases
Termite inspections are a routine part of a home sale in Texas. Many lenders require a Wood Destroying Insect report, often called a WDI, before closing, and the report has to be issued by a licensed inspector on the state form. A WDI inspection takes about the same time as a standard one and covers the same ground; the difference is the paperwork.
Sellers do well to have the inspection done before listing. If termites or damage turn up, you can have the treatment done and the repairs priced before a buyer's inspector finds them, and you avoid the closing delay that comes with a late surprise. Buyers should read the report closely, including the conducive-conditions section, since that is the list of things the house will need attention on whether or not termites were found.
One more thing worth knowing before you buy: standard homeowners insurance policies in Texas generally exclude termite damage. The inspection and an ongoing termite plan are the protection, not the policy. Our Houston termite inspection page covers how we handle WDI inspections and what the report includes.
An hour or two now, or a repair bill later
Stampede performs residential and commercial termite inspections across Houston, Austin and Dallas, with WDI reports for home sales. Our licensed inspectors walk the whole property, explain what they found, and put it in writing.
Keep reading
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