About

I live in California, in an older house with a crawlspace and a lot of wood sitting closer to the soil than it should be. A few years ago I noticed thin lines of dried mud running up the foundation wall. I had no idea what they were.

So I did roughly what you probably did to end up here. I searched, got a bit alarmed, and started calling companies. Three came out. The quotes ranged by more than a factor of three and recommended different treatments, and I could not have told you which one was right. Every page I read while trying to work that out had been written by someone who wanted to sell me one of those quotes.

Then I got curious, and I have not really stopped.

What I found

There is an enormous amount of careful, free research about termites, and almost none of it surfaces when you search.

The land-grant universities in the states with the worst termite pressure publish detailed guides written by working entomologists. The EPA has plain guidance on identification and control. Every state that licenses pest control publishes its rules, and many publish disciplinary records for the companies working there. Pesticide labels are legally binding federal documents that set out exactly what a product is for, at what rate, with what precautions — and hardly anyone opens one.

That material answered my questions better than anything written to sell me something. It is just scattered, and none of it is written for someone standing in a hallway at 11pm holding a jar with an insect in it.

This site is where I collect it.

What's here

I read the sources and write down what they say in plain English, with links so you can check me. Mostly that means:

• University extension publications, particularly from Florida, Texas, California, Louisiana and Georgia
• EPA guidance and the National Pesticide Information Center
• State agriculture departments and structural pest control boards
• The pesticide labels themselves
• The forms a house sale runs on — the NPMA-33, and the loan program documentation sitting behind it

When something here quotes a document, I have read the document rather than someone's summary of it. Where a figure has a source, the source is on the page. Where I could not find a number I trust, I say so instead of guessing, which happens more often than you would expect.

Where I'm coming from

I am not licensed and I have never worked in pest control. What I do is read the research and share it, so that someone walking into a conversation with a contractor knows enough to ask good questions and make a decision they actually understand. That is the whole idea.

This site also lists termite companies and can put you in touch with one, and it earns money when it does. This website may contain sponsored links and paid listings. That is set out on the disclosure page, and I would rather you read it than find out later. How pages get sourced, dated and updated is on the editorial standards page.

What that money does not buy is a claim I cannot make. I have not inspected any of these companies and I do not stand behind their work. Check anyone against your state's licensing board before you hire them.

If something here is wrong

Tell me, and I will fix it and say so. Corrections get published with the date rather than quietly edited, and they are listed on the corrections page. You can reach me here.

One last thing, because it is the most useful thing I learned. Termites work slowly. Damage is measured in years, not weeks. Whatever you found this evening, you almost certainly have time to read about it, get a second opinion, and decide what to do with a clear head.