# Termites - how alarmed should I be?



## wilto (Mar 23, 2011)

Bought my first house 9 months ago, foreclosure as is - no warranty.

I've noticed subterranean termites recently out in the back yard about 30 feet from the house.

We have a Florida room that we do not use as there is no insulation and no ac in that room, I went in there today for the first time in about a month and notice about 100 red brown dead termites. Most of them near the sliding glass door to the outside.

I freaked out and checked the whole house and I found 10 or so dead red/brown termites between the baseboards and carpet throughout the house.

I don't see any actual damage, alive termites or mud tubes. 

We have a huge deck out back - about 1200 sq ft that is probably 5 or 6 years old and beginning to rot, I will be ripping that out in the next few weeks, my thinking is the termites would be going after the deck before entering the house as the deck is easy food right?

Terminix came out in January 2012 for a free evaluation and he spent an hour going around the house and did not see any evidence of termites in the house.

I'm super worried about finding dead termites in different locations in my house and I will have a couple companies come out this week for their opinions.

Just wondering what you guys think and how concerned I should be about the situation?


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

If you can see them then it's just flying swarmers. There going to come out every spring looking for a place to start a new colony.
No exterminator can find hidden damage.

I'd never ever suggest anyone ever have Termix or Orkin do there work.
Go with a local exterminator do the work.


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## wilto (Mar 23, 2011)

Just to clarify the dead termites were inside the Florida room.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

http://www.termitesgonewild.com/termite-identification/


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

joecaption said:


> If you can see them then it's just flying swarmers. There going to come out every spring looking for a place to start a new colony.
> No exterminator can find hidden damage.
> 
> I'd never ever suggest anyone ever have Termix or Orkin do there work.
> Go with a local exterminator do the work.


Normally I would agree with a local guy, but in the case of termites, no way. They cannot guarantee re-infestation. I have had Terminix since we bought this house 30 years ago. About 5 years in, we found termites eating the living room floors. They came and fixed it( and fixed it right!), no questions asked. I pay about $200 a year for this guarantee and feel it is worth every penny.


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## cibula11 (Jan 6, 2007)

We live in an area with lots of termites. We also bought a foreclosure that had small areas of termites. It was $1500 to start the process. Now we pay about $65 twice a year. If they find them, they will remove at no cost. Get somewhere out there ASAP. You DO NOT want to let termites go. No inspector will find EVERY area where termites are at, so if you come across them as the homeowner, do something. If you're seeing them dead, they might be old and there might not be a concern, but it could also mean that there are live ones where you can't see them.


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