Termite inspection checklist

Before you start

Three minutes of setup. The screwdriver is the part people skip, and it is the part that finds damage.

• Get a torch, a flat-blade screwdriver and clothes you can ruin.A phone light is not enough under a house. The screwdriver is for probing wood, not for prying it apart.
• Decide now whether the crawlspace is safe to enter.Do not go into a space you cannot get out of, or one with standing water near wiring. Looking in from the hatch with a torch is a real check.
• Agree with yourself that you will not spray anything you find.UC IPM says do-it-yourself pesticides against termites are generally not effective, and spraying destroys the evidence an inspector needs. Photograph it and leave it.

Outside, at ground level

Walk the whole perimeter slowly. Subterranean termites reach a house from the soil, so the ground line is where a homeowner has the best chance of seeing anything at all.

• Walk all four sides of the foundation with the torch held low.Low, raking light shows a raised tube that flat daylight hides. Move bins, hoses and pots away from the wall as you go.
• Look for earthen tubes running up concrete, block, brick or a pier.A pencil-width to thumb-width line of dried mud climbing a vertical surface, often at a corner or a crack.What a mud tube looks like
• Find every place wood touches soil.Deck posts set in the ground, fence rails meeting siding, stair stringers, door trim buried by a raised bed or fresh mulch.Why wood-to-soil contact matters
• Check siding and trim within six inches of the ground.Paint that blisters, a papery or rippled surface, or timber that sounds hollow when tapped.
• Look for discarded wings on sills, thresholds, webs and near porch lights.Four wings of equal length, often still stuck together in pairs. Swarmers shed them soon after landing, so the wings outlast the insects by a long way.Telling swarmers from flying ants
• Follow the water. Check downspouts and the slope of the soil.A downspout emptying against the wall, or ground that falls back toward the house, keeps the soil at the foundation permanently damp.
• Move firewood, lumber, cardboard and mulch piles off the wall.Anything cellulose stacked against the house is both a food source and a covered route in.
• Check that foundation vents are open and not buried.Shrubs grown over a vent, or a vent blocked with debris, keep a crawlspace damp all year.

Crawlspace or basement

This is where the framing sits closest to the soil, and it is the part that needs the screwdriver.

• Run the torch along every pier and the full length of the sill plate.Kentucky names foundation walls, piers, sill plates and floor joists as the four places tubes run. A pier is a short route from soil to wood.
• Probe suspect wood. Do not only look at it.Push the screwdriver into the timber with firm pressure. Sound wood resists. Damaged wood gives, or crumbles into thin layers along the grain.Reading the wood once it opens
• Look up for tubes hanging free from joists and subfloor.A drop tube hangs down toward the soil rather than climbing. It is still an active route.
• Note standing water, an active leak or a sweating duct.Damp soil, a wet stain under a bathroom, or condensation dripping off ductwork onto framing.
• Measure the gap between the soil and the nearest wood.Where fill or debris has raised the ground close to a joist or sill, there is no visible gap left to inspect.
• Write down every area you could not reach, and why.Insulation, ducting, stored boxes and a low pier line all hide framing. That list is worth handing to the inspector.

Inside the house

Work the wet rooms and anything above the crawlspace first.

• Tap and probe baseboards and door frames in the wet rooms.Bathroom, kitchen, laundry, and any room over a crawlspace. A hollow tap is the reason to reach for the screwdriver.
• Press painted trim and wall surfaces with a thumb.Paint that blisters over a soft patch, or a surface that dimples and does not spring back.
• Check window tracks, sills and the floor beneath them for small pellets.Hard six-sided grains, often in a small pile below a tiny hole. Sawdust and several other insects produce a similar pile, which is what the linked page is for.Pellets, sawdust and what separates them
• Look at attic framing and the chimney chase where you can reach safely.Tubes on masonry, and any timber that has darkened or slumped near a roof leak.
• Check the garage door frame where it meets the slab.The frame bottom sits at ground level, usually behind whatever the garage stores, so it rarely gets looked at.
• Note any door or window that started sticking this season.Timber swollen by hidden damage binds in its frame. It is weak evidence alone and useful next to anything else on this list.

What to do with what you found

If you ticked anything in the outside, crawlspace or inside blocks: photograph it before you touch it further, leave it exactly where it is, and book an inspection. Do not break open a tube, and do not spray. A licensed inspector reads an undisturbed site far better than a cleaned one, and the treatment decision depends on what is still there to see.

If you ticked nothing: that result is worth having, and it is not a clear bill of health. Subterranean termites feed inside timber and travel under soil, so a house can carry an active infestation with no sign a homeowner can see. Use the result to decide how soon to book, not whether to book.

Either way, start with the full guide to the signs and how to vet a company for termite work. A pest control licence and a termite licence are not the same thing.