6 Signs of Termites Every Texas Homeowner Should Know

Termites cause serious structural damage long before most homeowners notice anything. These are the six warning signs worth checking for — and what to do the moment you spot one.

Termites are the pest homeowners find out about last. They feed from the inside out, they work in the dark, and by the time damage is obvious from the outside, a colony has usually been active for a long time. Worse, standard homeowners insurance generally treats termite damage as preventable maintenance — so the repair bill lands on you.

The good news: colonies leave evidence. Here's what to look for.

1. Mud tubes on the foundation

This is the clearest sign, and the one most people walk past. Subterranean termites — the main threat in Central Texas — nest in soil and need constant moisture, so they build pencil-width tunnels of mud and saliva to travel from the ground to the wood in your home.

Look along the exterior foundation, inside the garage, in the crawlspace, and behind shrubs. The tubes look like thin, dried mud veins running vertically up concrete or masonry.

2. Swarmers, or piles of discarded wings

Once a colony matures, it sends out winged reproductives to start new colonies. In Texas this usually happens on warm days after spring rain.

The swarm itself is brief and easy to miss — what people find is the aftermath: small piles of identical translucent wings on windowsills, in sinks, or near door frames. Termite swarmers have two pairs of wings of equal length and a straight, uniform waist. Flying ants have a pinched waist and front wings noticeably longer than the back pair.

Finding swarmers inside your home is the single most urgent sign on this list. It means the colony is not near your house — it's in it.

3. Wood that sounds hollow or papery

Termites eat wood from the inside, following the grain and leaving a thin outer shell intact. Tap along baseboards, door frames, window sills, and any exposed structural wood with the handle of a screwdriver. Healthy wood sounds solid. Infested wood sounds hollow, and in advanced cases the surface gives way under light pressure.

4. Bubbling, blistering, or uneven paint

Paint that looks like it has water damage — bubbling, rippling, or peeling in patches — can indicate termites tunneling just beneath the surface, bringing moisture with them. It's easy to write this off as humidity or a bad paint job, particularly on trim and window casings.

5. Doors and windows that suddenly stick

Texas houses shift with the soil, so sticking doors aren't automatically alarming. But termite galleries introduce moisture and warp the frame from within. If a door or window that always worked fine starts binding — especially alongside anything else on this list — it's worth a look.

6. Frass (termite droppings)

Drywood termites push their droppings out of small kick-out holes, leaving little mounds of what looks like coarse sawdust or coffee grounds, often with a gritty, pellet-like texture. Finding unexplained piles of this near wooden structures — with no drilling or woodworking to explain it — warrants an inspection.

What to do if you find any of these

Don't disturb it. This is the most common and most costly mistake. Breaking open mud tubes, spraying a colony with over-the-counter insecticide, or poking through damaged wood tends to scatter termites into other areas of the structure. That makes treatment harder and more expensive, and it destroys the evidence a technician needs to locate the colony.

Instead:

• Leave tubes, wings, and damaged wood exactly as you found them.
• Photograph what you found and note where.
• Schedule a professional inspection.

Effective termite work isn't a spray — it's either a continuous liquid barrier in the soil around the structure or a bait station system that carries the treatment back to the colony. Both require correct placement to work, which is why this is one of the few pest problems genuinely worth leaving to a licensed technician.

Reduce the risk in the meantime

Termites need moisture and a path to wood. You can make your home a harder target:

• Fix leaking spigots, AC condensate lines, and dripping gutters promptly.
• Keep mulch, soil, and firewood away from direct contact with siding and the foundation.
• Maintain a visible inspection gap between soil level and any wood on the structure.
• Grade soil so water drains away from the foundation, not toward it.
• Ventilate crawlspaces and address standing water under the house.

None of this replaces an inspection, but it removes the conditions that invite a colony in the first place.

If anything here sounds familiar, get it looked at. Termite damage compounds quietly — the quote is free, and it's a great deal cheaper than the repair.