Signs of Termites in a DFW Home: What to Look For and When to Call

If you see one thing on your foundation wall and want to know right away whether you have termites, mud tubes are it. These pencil-width channels, built from soil, saliva, and termite feces, let subterranean termites travel between their underground colony and wood above ground without ever exposing themselves to open air.

Look for mud tubes on foundation walls (both exterior and interior garage or basement walls), on piers under pier-and-beam homes, inside utility closets where plumbing penetrates the slab, and on any wood-to-concrete interface. Tubes can be flat against a surface, branching upward, or hanging free from a surface. Breaking a tube open to check for live termites is useful. If termites are present, the tube is active. If the tube is rebuilt within a day or two, the colony is nearby.

Termite swarmers are winged reproductive termites that emerge from established colonies to start new colonies. In North Texas, swarmer events typically occur from late February through May, often following rainfall and on warm, still days. Finding swarmers, or more commonly piles of their discarded wings, near windows, sliding glass doors, or on window sills inside the home is a strong indicator of an established colony within or very close to the structure.

Swarmers are often confused with flying ants. The key differences: termite swarmers have straight antennae (ants have elbowed antennae), equal-length wings (ants have wings of unequal length), and a straight, thick waist (ants have a pinched waist). If you find swarmers inside your home, not outside near the foundation, a colony is almost certainly already in or immediately under the structure.

Termites eat wood from the inside out, consuming the soft cellulose material and leaving a thin outer shell intact. Wood that has been damaged by termites sounds hollow when tapped and may yield to moderate finger pressure in severe cases. Common locations to check: door and window frames near the floor, hardwood or engineered flooring near exterior walls, baseboards, and any visible structural wood in crawl spaces, garages, or attics.

In advanced cases, floors may feel springy or spongy underfoot, or a blade or probe tool will penetrate wood that should be solid. If you notice these characteristics in any wood element of your home, schedule an inspection promptly rather than waiting.

Termite activity beneath painted surfaces can cause paint to blister or bubble in a way that resembles water damage. The moisture produced by termite activity and the physical displacement of the wood surface beneath the paint produces this characteristic appearance. The key distinction from actual water damage is that blistering from termite activity typically occurs without an identifiable water source nearby.

Check painted baseboards, window frames, and door frames for unexplained blistering. If the blistering is not adjacent to a plumbing fixture, roof penetration, or known moisture source, have it evaluated by a termite inspector.

Termite frass is the material pushed out of termite galleries. Subterranean termites use their frass to construct their mud tubes rather than pushing it out of the wood, so finding frass in the open is more commonly associated with drywood termites (less common in DFW) than subterranean species. However, frass-like material near wood surfaces still warrants investigation.

Secondary signs that suggest professional inspection: unexplained sagging in flooring or ceilings near exterior walls, doors or windows that have recently become difficult to open or close (which can indicate wood distortion from moisture and termite activity), and visible structural wood in crawl spaces or attics that shows irregular channeling or damage.