What termites leave behind

Signs of termites in a Queensland house

The signs QBCC lists include mud shelter tubes, sagging floors, doors or ceilings, damaged skirting boards, door jambs or architraves, discarded wings near windows, timber that sounds hollow when tapped, and dry, sand-like pellets called frass. If you find activity, the Queensland Government’s fact sheet says not to disturb the workings until a decision has been made on how to manage them.

General information, not building advice. The official places to check are QBCC’s termite pages and the Queensland Government fact sheets listed at the foot of this page.

The signs, and where they show

Termites work out of sight, which is why they do so much damage: they usually reach the timber without being seen and are noticed only after they have been there for some time. The signs below are the ones the two Queensland sources describe.

A selection from QBCC’s list of signs and the Queensland Government’s fact sheet on termites in buildings.
Sign	Where it shows	What the source says
Mud shelter tubes	Inside, next to architraves or skirting boards; in the undercroft; on brick foundations and external walls at ground level.	Built by termites for protection.
Mud “plastering”	Along joints and cracks in a timber surface.	A way termite damage in timber may be detected.
Bulging, staining or rippling	Timber walls and painted timber; stained plaster in a brick veneer house.	May mean termites working between timber walls, in painted timber, or in the wall cavity.
A hollow or papery sound	Damaged wood, lightly tapped.	QBCC lists timber that sounds hollow when tapped; the fact sheet describes a “papery” sound.
Things out of true	Floors, doors or ceilings that sag; skirting boards, door jambs or architraves that are damaged; paint or plaster that is cracked or blistered.	All on QBCC’s list of signs of a potential infestation, along with power failures.
Discarded wings	Near windows, in spider webs or in light fittings.	On QBCC’s list.
Frass	Coming out of tunnel openings; in cone-shaped piles or circles on the surface of infested wood.	Dry, sand-like faecal pellets.

Where to look first

The fact sheet says to inspect the parts of the building in contact with or close to the soil first, and names damp or humid places, such as bathrooms, laundries and places with leaky pipes or drains, as likely places of infestation.

Foundations, piers or stumps, and the sub-floor area.
Skirting boards, architraves, cornices and mouldings.
Roof timbers, particularly those made of softwood.

A house on a slab hides more than a house on stumps. Infestation is more likely to go undetected under a slab-on-ground floor than a suspended one, and termites may get in at the edge of the slab, through cracks, joints and imperfections in the concrete, or around service pipes. The drawing on the home page shows the slab edge and the weep hole.

Wings in the warm months

The winged termites, called alates, are the possible kings and queens of new colonies. They usually swarm in spring to early summer or late summer to early autumn, normally at dusk, and may be attracted to lights at night. That is why the wings turn up near windows and light fittings.

Wings indoors are on QBCC’s list, and the fact sheet adds some context. In most cases, the fact sheet says, winged subterranean termites that get into a building do not start a colony, because there is no moist, partly decayed timber for them; the rare exception is a building with a permanent source of moisture and food inside, such as leaking plumbing.

Drywood termites leave quieter signs

The West Indian drywood termite needs no contact with soil and can set up colonies inside a structure. Colonies can be very small, and there may be no outward sign other than frass.

What Business Queensland describes

It can take around 5 years, or longer, for an infestation to be detectable.
Frass near skirting boards, under windowsills and in the corners of rooms.
Termites or wings in rooms in late spring or early summer, as temperature and humidity rise; the wings have a bluish-pink tinge.
A small ejection hole, about 1 mm across, near the frass, which may be sealed and hard to see.

How it differs

Its galleries are clean, holding dry pellets of frass, unlike the muddy or caked galleries of subterranean termites. Frass can be light or dark and can look like other debris, such as ant debris. It is commonly found in pine, especially hoop pine, and in cabinet timbers.

Reporting is no longer compulsory. The West Indian drywood termite is not regulated biosecurity matter under Queensland’s Biosecurity Act 2014, so reporting is helpful but not mandatory; the Department of Primary Industries uses reports to show the suburbs where it has been found, and you can report a suspected sighting online.

Once you find it, leave it

Don’t break into the workings

When an active infestation is discovered, the fact sheet says it is important not to disturb the termite workings until management decisions have been made. Early attempts to repair or replace infested timber may make the termites withdraw for a while and get in the way of effective treatment. It also says to always seek professional advice on the right approach.

QBCC’s advice, if you suspect termites or think your termite management system has been compromised, is to seek an inspection straight away from someone with a QBCC termite management contractor licence. Question 04 explains those licences and how to check one.

Wet weather raises the stakes. In a warning after flooding in north Queensland, QBCC said moisture and high humidity give termites the conditions to flourish, and suggested clearing pooled water from gutters, cans and other objects, fixing leaking pipes and taps, and removing wood that touches the ground or sits near the house. Question 06 follows the damp further.