Termite Detection: A Guide for Australian Homeowners

Detecting termites before they cause expensive damage will seldom happen unless you look.

But what do you look for?

The simple answer is to look for a ‘mud’ which termites use to make tunnels and to instinctively seal up cracks, splits and gaps and secondly, you’ll be looking for uneven or distorted surfaces of wood and timbers which they have hollowed out.

And, where do you look?

At every timber moulding, framing and built-in inside, at the foundations and underfloor (if you have a home with a suspended floor) and also as much of the roofing timbers as you can see — insulation and sarking permitting.

Listening is almost as important as looking. By tapping, you can hear a change in sound from solid to hollow. If it sounds different, you have a closer look and add your next sense, feel, to assess that particular spot. In fact, some termite species will react to your tapping by making a defensive sound similar to the ratchet on those old fashioned watches, or if there are a lot of them, the sound is similar to that of a screwdriver dragged slowly over coarse sandpaper.

Here are some termite illustrations to explain:

Termite Detection in the home

	Look for termite ‘mud’ filling up gaps between timbers...
...or splits in fence posts.
	This window frame has been hollowed and termites have repaired the little cracks where they got too close to the surface.
Look for distortion and an uneven surface where termites have hollowed out the timber mouldings and frames.
	You should check all weep holes and anywhere cables go through the outside walls.
This pool pump screen can provide a bridge across from the yard to the wall where termites can go though the wall at the power point, up behind the downpipe to the eaves... or through the weephole.
	If you have a suspended floor you need to check that termites haven’t gone up the piers, over the ant-caps into the underfloor timbers
If your house is on wooden stumps, check they haven’t gone over the ant-caps or the metal ties that hold your house down.
	Inside, check the timber supports of the built-ins. Termites don’t eat the chipboard, MDF or laminates.
You may not be able to see all the roofing timbers because of sarking and insulation but look at whatever is visible, particularly for ‘mud’ in the gaps in joints and for any uneven surfaces.
	Your detecting termite tools are a torch, screwdriver or knife...
. . . and a tapper. This one was made from a left-over piece of curtain rod and a round finial. It gives you reach and saves stooping. Just listen for the change in sound from solid to hollow.

DO NOT depend on what the builder or real estate agent told you about the termite protection given by building codes, the Australian Standards, pest control guarantees, termite barrier treatments... NOTHING!

The reason you see TV programs showing termite damage and elderly pensioners crying while termites scurry through riddled timbers is because these things happen — every day!!!

Yep!

Every day (but not always on TV). The reason it actually happens several times every day is because termites by-pass chemical and physical barriers and the owner does not have their home checked or check it themselves.

If termites are detected by banging a broom through a skirting board, by a door hinge giving away, by a cupboard door being jammed or a heavy piece of furniture sagging through the floor boards... then the damage is well under way. And expensive!

If you decide to become a termite detective, it is not all that hard.

You can do the termite inspection as well or probably better than many professional pest technicians. They can hide behind their get out clauses. They definitely can’t see through the plasterboard, the insulation or sarking. But neither can you. They will not move the stuff in wardrobes or your linen press, or pull out heavy lounge suites from the wall so they can see the skirting boards — but you can.

That’s what makes you better.

It’s your house!