Free Termite Inspection in Kansas City

Termites can work silently behind walls, under flooring, around foundations, and inside damaged wood long before a homeowner sees obvious evidence.

In the Kansas City area, moisture, soil contact, crawlspaces, wood debris, and aging structures can all increase termite risk. A professional inspection helps catch warning signs before damage becomes expensive.

We check the foundation, the basement or crawlspace and the garage for activity and for the conditions termites like. A visual inspection can only see what's accessible — it can't see inside finished walls or under floor coverings — which is why the signs below are worth knowing yourself.

A home sale usually calls for a wood-destroying insect (WDI) inspection written up on the standard NPMA-33 form. VA loans commonly require one, and FHA and conventional lenders often ask for one. That report is a paid service, quoted when you call — it is not the free routine inspection on this page.

If you're a seller, buyer or agent, start with our real estate termite inspections page, and see what the NPMA-33 report says for a plain-English walk-through of the form.

The termite here is the eastern subterranean termite. The colony lives in the soil and sends workers out to feed on anything made of cellulose — framing, sill plates, trim, paper, cardboard. Workers dry out quickly in open air, so they travel through the soil and through mud tubes they build up foundation walls to reach wood.

Swarm season is spring, most often March through May, usually on a warm day after rain. Swarmers are about three-eighths of an inch long, black, with four equal-length wings. They come out of a mature colony to start new ones, and they shed their wings within minutes, so piles of wings on a windowsill or basement floor are often the first thing people notice. Under a heated house, termites stay active all winter and can even swarm indoors in late winter.

Mud tubes about the width of a pencil running up the foundation, piers, basement walls or along plumbing. Swarmers or shed wings near windows, doors and light. Wood that sounds hollow when tapped, trim or baseboards that feel soft, paint that bubbles or ripples, and small pinholes in drywall with bits of dried mud in them.

Damaged wood tells you a lot. Termite galleries follow the grain and are packed with mud and soil. Carpenter ant galleries are smooth and clean, with piles of sawdust-like debris pushed out nearby. Carpenter ants and acrobat ants are often connected to moisture problems inside walls or damaged wood, and those same moisture conditions can also attract termites.

Wood touching soil — siding run down to grade, deck and porch posts set in dirt, fence posts against the house. Moisture — gutters that overflow, downspouts that dump at the foundation, a leaking air-conditioner line, a damp crawlspace, or soil graded toward the house. Mulch piled thick against the foundation, firewood stacked against the wall, and old stumps or buried scrap wood near the house.

Additions, enclosed porches and slab sections where two foundations meet give termites hidden ways in, and foam board insulation run below grade can hide tubes from view.

Keep a few inches of bare foundation visible between the soil or mulch and the siding, so tubes have nowhere to hide. Keep mulch thin and pulled back from the foundation, stack firewood off the ground and away from the house, extend downspouts, fix leaks, and keep the crawlspace dry. Don't store cardboard boxes or lumber against basement walls.

A few times a year, walk the foundation and the basement walls with a flashlight. If you find a mud tube, don't break it open and spray it — take a photo and leave it alone so the inspection can confirm whether it's active.

Spraying swarmers with bug spray kills the swarmers, not the colony in the soil that sent them. Over-the-counter stakes and spot sprays don't reach the colony either. Heat treatments and orange-oil products you may read about are aimed at drywood termites, a different kind that lives inside the wood instead of the soil. Tearing out damaged wood doesn't stop termites that are still feeding nearby.

Termite treatment is Termidor liquid only — we don't offer bait systems. The treatment comes with a 5-year warranty that transfers to a new owner if you sell. See termite treatment and warranty for the details. We'll get to you as fast as we can, and the inspection costs you nothing.