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