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Wood that blisters, bubbles, cracks under your hand or sounds hollow can be a sign of drywood termites. I’ve already done episodes on what termite droppings look like and what termite wings look like. This one rounds out the drywood signs with the one you’re most likely to find by accident, while you’re cleaning.
What it looks and feels like
You’re wiping down a window sill or a piece of trim and the wood cracks under your hand, or a little section just gives way. Or you notice a spot where the paint has puckered up like a blister for no reason you can see. That’s worth paying attention to. Same goes for wood that sounds hollow. Here’s a trick I use in the field. Run the back of your hand and your fingernails along the surface. If it sounds like you’re dragging your hand across a single sheet of paper, that’s usually a strong sign there’s something hollow underneath.
Why the wood can look solid and still be hollow
Drywood termites eat the wood from the inside, and they’ll eat right up to the outer edge and stop there. So a piece of trim can look completely solid from the outside while it’s hollowed out underneath. Push on it and it cracks easy, because sometimes all that was holding it together was the paint or the varnish, or just that thin outer layer of wood. That thin layer is what puckers into a bubble.
It doesn’t always mean termites
A hollow sound doesn’t automatically mean termite damage. But it’s enough that you want somebody to take a closer look before you sand it down and paint over it. If you’re also finding little piles of pellets under that spot, that’s a much stronger sign.
What to do if you find it
Don’t paint over it just yet. Snap a close-up picture on your phone and text it to us at 727-458-7900 with your address in the first message. We’ll tell you what it looks like. If it looks like termites, Austin, our termite tech, comes out, looks at it and tells you what it’ll take. There’s no charge to come look.
That covers the drywood signs I wanted to walk through: droppings, wings, and now blisters, bubbles and hollow wood. Subterranean termites leave their own signs, and I’ll get into those another time. For all of them in one place, here’s how to tell if you’ve got termites.
If you have a question about this or anything else, give us a call at 727-462-0400, or text us at 727-458-7900. As long as GOD keeps making them, we’ll keep killing them. You have a great day.