Most of what bugs people in the summer goes quiet when the first hard freeze comes through the New River Valley. Termites are not on that list. The eastern subterranean termite lives in the soil, and the colony under your house does not care that it is twenty degrees outside. If it was feeding on your house in August, it is still feeding on it now.
We have said it before: all the bugs do not die in the winter. Termites are the most expensive example of that.
Why termites stay active in winter
Subterranean termites live underground and travel up into a house through mud tubes they build along foundation walls, piers and plumbing. Inside the walls and floors of a heated house, the wood they are eating is not cold at all. Cold weather does not stop them from feeding on the wood in your home. It just means you are less likely to notice.
That is the real problem with winter. In spring, a mature colony sends out swarmers, the winged termites people see around windows and doors, and that is when most people find out they have termites. In the winter there are no swarmers, the crawl space is cold and nobody goes down there, and the damage keeps adding up quietly.
What to check for termites while it is cold
Winter is a good time to look, because the leaves are down, the plants along the foundation have died back and you can see the parts of the house that are hidden all summer. Walk around the outside and, if you can, take a flashlight into the crawl space or basement.
Mud tubes. Look for pencil-width tunnels of soil on the foundation, on block piers in the crawl space, along plumbing lines and on the sides of steps and porches. This is the sign we find most often.
Soft or hollow wood. Press on the sill plate and the ends of the floor joists where they sit on the foundation, and anywhere wood stays damp. Wood that gives, sounds hollow or crumbles is worth a call.
Old wings. A pile of identical wings on a windowsill, in a spider web or under a door, even from last spring, means a colony was close.
Easy ways in. Wood touching the soil, mulch piled against the siding, a downspout dumping next to the foundation, a damp crawl space, and firewood stacked against the house. That last one is a winter special: the woodpile goes up against the back wall in November and sits there until spring.
If you find mud tubes, leave them alone. Do not break them up or spray anything on them. They show exactly where the termites are traveling, and that is what the inspection needs to see.
Termite treatment does not wait for spring
A lot of people assume termite work is a warm-weather job. It is not. Termites feed all year, so we inspect and treat all year. Winter is also a good time to get an inspection done before the spring swarm season and the spring real estate market both start.
If you are selling a house in the spring, getting the termite inspection done now means no surprises once you are under contract. If you are buying, here is what the inspection looks for. And if we do find termites, here is how treatment works and how it is priced.
New River Pest Control LLC does termite work year round across the New River Valley and beyond: Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Dublin and Radford, out to Riner, Giles County, Craig County, Bland County, Carroll County and Wythe County. Older homes, homes with crawl spaces and homes on wooded lots are the ones most at risk, and there are a lot of them outside the towns. Call or text (540) 818-9375 for a no-obligation estimate.
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(540) 818-9375