Termite Control & Inspections in Northeast Tennessee

What to look for

What Termite Activity Looks Like

Most of these are things you can spot yourself, if you know what you’re looking at.

• Mud tubes

  Pencil-width tunnels of dried dirt running up foundation walls, piers or crawlspace joists. The most common sign, and the easiest to spot.

• Discarded wings

  Small piles of identical wings on windowsills or by doors, usually in spring. Swarmers shed them once they’ve paired off.

• Wood that sounds hollow

  Tap a baseboard or door frame and it sounds papery. Termites eat wood from the inside out, so the surface often looks normal.

• Doors and windows sticking

  Floors that sag or feel spongy, frames gone slightly out of square. Easy to blame on humidity — sometimes that’s all it is, sometimes it isn’t.

• Frass

  Small piles of what looks like sawdust or coarse coffee grounds beneath wood. A sign of drywood termite activity.

• Seen one of these?

  You don’t need to be sure before you call. Working out what it is happens to be our job.

  Call (423) 342-5722 →

Treatment

How Termites Get Treated

Termite work isn’t one-size-fits-all. The right approach depends on how your house is built, what the soil is doing, and where the activity actually is — which is why we look first and recommend afterwards.

• Bait systems

  Stations placed in the soil around the property and then monitored. Rather than treating the whole structure at once, baiting works on the colony itself and keeps watch on the property between visits.

• Liquid barrier treatment

  A treated zone in the soil around the foundation that termites can’t cross to reach the house. Often the right answer where there’s active infestation to deal with now.

We use both, and sometimes a combination — which one makes sense depends on how your house is built, what the soil is doing, and where the activity actually is. That’s why we look first and recommend afterwards.

Termite treatment and monitoring are included in our Gold Standard Protection plan.

Whichever way we go, you’ll know the plan before we start — what we’re recommending and why, what it involves, and what it costs.

Questions

Common Questions

• Is the termite inspection really free?

  Yes. We’ll come out, check the property properly and tell you what we find, at no charge. If there’s nothing there we’ll say so — we’re not going to sell you a treatment for a problem you haven’t got.

• What does termite treatment cost?

  It depends on the size of your foundation and what we find when we inspect, so we’d be guessing if we put a number on this page. The inspection is free, so call us and we’ll come and look — you’ll get a real figure rather than a range that turns out not to apply to your house.

• How do I know if it’s termites or just flying ants?

  They get mixed up constantly. Termites have straight antennae, a thick waist, and four wings all the same length. Ants have bent antennae, a pinched waist, and front wings longer than the back ones. If you’ve got a pile of wings, keep a few — it makes identification much easier.

• Do I need to leave the house?

  We’ll tell you before we start exactly what the work involves and whether you need to be out of the way for any part of it. For most jobs, most of the work happens outside and underneath.

• How often should a house be checked?

  Once a year is the usual advice in this part of Tennessee. Older homes, houses with crawlspaces, and anywhere that’s had activity before are worth keeping a closer eye on.

• I found mud tubes but no termites. Is it still a problem?

  Quite possibly, and it’s worth checking. Termites stay inside their tubes and inside the wood, so not seeing any insects tells you very little. Empty tubes can mean old activity — or that the colony has moved to a different part of the structure.

• Do you treat termites as part of a regular plan?

  Yes — termite treatment and monitoring are part of our Gold Standard Protection plan, alongside general pest and mosquito coverage. See the plans →