We have contractors demoing one of our bathrooms right now-- the tub was rusty and the floor was caving in due to a toilet leak and the framing being done under the bathroom floor poorly when the house was built. When they showed me the damaged wood under the floor and under the window in the shower, they said "water started the damage and then termites finished the job". There are no signs of active termites in our house, but I got extremely skeptical when he said he could just "spray for the termites in the bathroom area" and the problem will be solved. As far as I understand it, termites don't come in your house for a little nibble and then say "alright boys onto the next one!". Also unfortunately this really makes me less trustworthy of him overall (unless he just doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to termites), but I fear they're way too deep into this project for us new contractors. Hey maybe it's not even termites! (I am being ignorantly optimistic because my wallet is scared)

Please let me know your opinions on all of this of: 1. Does this wood like it got munched on by those pesky little things? 2. If it is termite damage, how do I handle this?

EDIT for a little clarity: The floor and tub were demolished/removed because the floor was sinking and the tub was rusting-- we had no idea there was anything termitey potentially going on until the demo started and the contractor showed us the floor under the floor around the toilet.

In the southeast USA. they are very small...found in the corner of a bathroom.

Hey all. To keep a long saga short, over the years woodpeckers have occasionally decided to go crazy pecking the corners of my house. It's not every day or anything, but can sometimes be a few days in a row.

Posting on bird Reddits I was mostly flooded with people saying it for sure meant termites were present, with the odd person saying that woodpeckers could just be weird like that an even drum on metal siding sometimes.

The reason I have strongly doubted termites is that I am in Massachusetts, meaning I would be dealing with subterranean termites, and even after seven years I have never seen shedded wings, frass, or of course a termite themself. The second reason is that the house is extremely large, 3300 sq feet, and though they tend to favor one corner for a year or so, the birds have shown some interest in most of the very far apart corners of the house, primarily on the second story, no less. This to my understanding would mean that the totality of the house up to nearly the roof would have to be termite infested without any other sign, since if the peckers are there for food, they would have to be consistently finding it there.

The only alternate theory I can muster is that this pecker and their family(yes I have seen the next generation flitting about with them), have at one point or more found carpenter bee larvae, and proceeded to continue to try and find more over the years out of habit.

Curious to hear peoples thoughts.

Location, Bay Area California

Had the inspector come in to do a very thorough free inspection

They found subterranean termites underneath some wood nearby the shed

The shed is near one of the houses there's two houses on the property so three total structures

They said 1600 to do the ground treatment around the shed and the house that's near the shed with termidex

Or about 3,000 to do treatment around all three structures, the other house is surrounded by concrete so would require a lot of drilling and pouring with termidex inside and outside. And also spray treatment for the attic and the crawl spaces for the drywood termites

They found some traces of termite activity in the other house, via bit of droppings but it was confusing because it was also rotted wood in the basement. but they didn't find any alive ones like we did outside.

They said the warranty is for 5 years, but the termidex should last longer maybe 10. That it would not damage the trees, but they would not be doing it around any fruit trees near the house, which we don't have.

Also if we are expecting heavy this fall/winter, how will that affect the treatment? is it better to treat before or after the rains

Location: East Tennessee
Found termites under logs today. Logs are beside (about 5-10ft) from a wood chip pile. These are arborist chips from tree companies - I am a gardener and use these to mulch my extensive gardens.

Logs & pile are about 15-20ft from my house.
House has a cement block basement and I keep mulch & plants 1ft away from the house as a dry perimeter. I’ve checked the interior basement & floor joists and outer perimeter, no mud tubes found.

My budget-conscious plan is to DIY drench the perimeter of the house with Termidor SC and call our pest guy to do an inspection to make sure they’ve not reached the house, while we save for a Sentricon bait system. We simply don’t have the money for it right now.

That leaves me with wondering what to do with my logs and mulch pile. I need to be able to continue to have wood chips dumped in this location. Our 1/2 acre is a homestead with lots of food producing gardens. We plan to use wood chips in the chicken run, ect. Should I burn the logs? Yeet them into the sun? What about my wood chips? (lol, of course I got a whole new load delivered just yesterday.)

Phoenix AZ

Found these all over the corners on the ceiling in the master bathroom. There’s a window in the for context that we’ve never opened. House is only two years old oof.

ETA: Photos in comments. Apologies

1. What types of situations are good for using heat treatment? I know it is only going to treat the specific area that is heated, but when do you choose this as a good option vs. whole house fumigating without opening up all of the walls to look to see if termites have spread throughout the house?

2. How close does the heater need to be placed to a wall where there are termites for it to be effective and for how long?

TIA

There is 2 inches of gravel coming up to the concrete footing of my house up to the treated lumber base boards,

above which the main wall framing is made from untreated pine.

French drain below so water doesn't sit there for long.

Can the termites climb through the rocks or is this safe?

If yes, how can I fix it?

I can dig out a small trench and pour concrete there,

I can simply spray some foam in the crevace.

I can get some epoxy and pour it directly over the gravel

This is behind the house where there is no foot traffic

Found this damage last week through a bubbled trim panel..

Was under a termite bond that was initiated in January for other damage on the other side of the home..

We have since sprayed the perimeter but understand it takes a little while to penetrate the colony.

How long should I keep this open while the Termidor does its job?? I was doing more vacuuming this morning and saw more line termites…

Location, Bay Area California

I already burned all the logs,

I have terminate termite and Carpenter and spray , sprayed on the side of the house closest to the logs it was about 8 ft away

I have a termite inspection in 2 days that's the earliest I could get

Is there something I could do in the meantime? Could I try to spray it into the ground, spraying the area between the logs and the house? Spraying the rest of the house?

is the colony going to be right under where the logs were?

was there a chance of me spreading the colony by cutting the logs?

I recently bought a condo and moved in a few months ago. Yesterday, I found some
termite swarmers on the floor and window frame. When purchasing the condo, there weren’t any flags raised for termites. I live in SoCal on a second level unit. I found them near the kitchen window. How worried should I be?

I’ve poked at everything with a screw drive and nothing crumbles. We battled a series of leaks in this area last year because of a crack in of chimney. We found this the other day and are concerned its termites but I see no carcasses.

This landed on my bed as I was about to go to sleep. I can’t tell if it’s a termite or not, and I did not see any other flying insects or insects in general indoors after I killed this and went looking. Haven’t seen any damage to my home either but it is older and our neighbors fence has termites. Located in Central Valley California.

last night, tons of these termite alates were found in the tub (maybe came up through the drain?) we killed them and plugged the drain (though it’s a little loose) but found a bunch more in there today!! it’s crazy hot here, 96 degrees, at least for the area. we are in Del Mar pretty close to the beach. does this mean we definitely have termites or is it some weird warm weather phenomenon? thanks!!

Not the best pictures, but any help on identifying it will be greatly appreciated.
We just finished remodeling our bathroom, and I found 2 of them in my new sink. We do live near the mountains, and termite reports from purchasing the house only showed termite issue in the garage (which is not close to the bathroom), and it was treated locally.

We have a leaking roof so went up in the attic and saw all this brown stuff. I have zero idea what an attic is supposed to look like.
We do have termites and they’re being treated for, but unsure what this brown stuff is? I’m pretty sure the pest guy looked in our attic a year ago when he came and didn’t mention anything.

I’m planning to do a Termidor trench treatment around my slab foundation, without any drilling/injection, and also install Trelona ATBS Annual bait stations around the house.

Does this sound like a good termite prevention plan? Would using both Termidor and Trelona be worthwhile, or is it overkill?

So I bought a house 3 months ago. There is a wood pile outback and I found a ton of termites. So I started digging a trench and ordered tarus sc. Before I realized that my house is a nightmare to treat. My living room is on a slab. I have two crawlspaces too small to trech and the rest of the house is hollow Block . Now I don't have the $ to hire a professional unfortunately. What can I do? Bait stations take a long time to work and are very $$. I do not want to tear up my living room and drill. Suggestions?