Termite Inspection in Media and Delaware County, PA

When should you schedule a termite inspection?

The most urgent reason is a swarm. Winged insects coming out of a basement wall, a window frame or the floor near a porch in spring are a signal to call that week, before the evidence is swept up.

Quieter reasons count too: a mud tube in the basement, a soft stair tread, or a neighbor on a shared twin wall who just had termites treated. Many homeowners also set an annual termite inspection each spring, especially in older houses on stone foundations.

If the inspection is for a home sale, the lender may need a specific form. That's a different service, covered on our WDI inspection report page.

Local ground conditions matter as well. Houses that back onto the Crum, Ridley or Darby creek valleys, or that have a sump running much of the spring, keep the soil along the foundation damp, and a look before swarm season tells you whether that moisture has drawn termites to the sills.

What we check during a termite inspection in Media, PA

We look wherever wood, soil and moisture come close together. On a typical Delaware County home that includes:

• The full outside foundation line, including spots hidden behind shrubs, mulch and stacked firewood
• Front porches, stoops and steps, especially soil-filled concrete porches on older twins
• Basement walls, sill plates, rim joists and the underside of the first floor
• Stone foundation mortar joints, block wall tops and cracks in poured walls
• Crawl spaces, garage slabs and the expansion joint where garage meets house
• Door and window frames near grade, cellar stairs and support posts
• Moisture sources: downspouts, gutters, sump pits, plumbing leaks and AC condensate
• Wood debris, old form boards, stumps and landscape timbers near the house

Our termite inspection, step by step

1. 1

   Quick call

   We ask what you've seen and where, how old the house is, and whether the basement is finished. Any photos help.

2. 2

   Walk the exterior

   We circle the foundation, look under porches and steps, and note grading, gutters and anything stacked against the walls.

3. 3

   Work through the inside

   In the basement or crawl space we follow sills and joists with a flashlight and sound suspect wood with a probe.

4. 4

   Identify the insect

   Wings, bodies, frass or tube material tell us whether it's termites, carpenter ants or a wood-boring beetle.

5. 5

   Walk you through it

   We show you what we found, where it is and how active it looks before we leave.

6. 6

   Written quote

   If treatment is needed, you receive a written quote with the method, the areas and any prep.

Termite swarmers in PA: spring's early warning

Eastern subterranean termites send out swarmers on warm days, often right after a spring rain, from roughly March into May. Swarmers are about a quarter inch long and dark brown to black, with four long, milky wings of equal length. They break their wings off quickly, so a pile of wings on a sill is often the only clue left by afternoon.

Seeing swarmers indoors usually means a mature colony is feeding in or under the house, not that termites just arrived. Swarmers don't chew wood and soon die indoors. Vacuum them, but save a few in a sealed bag for the inspection.

What you receive after the inspection

Before we leave, we walk you through what we saw: active tubes, old damage, moisture problems and any spots we couldn't reach, such as a finished basement wall or a crawl space with no access.

If no treatment is needed, we'll say so and suggest any grading, mulch or gutter changes. If treatment is needed, you get a written quote.

What happens if we find termites?

Finding activity doesn't mean the house is failing. Termites work slowly, and most damage we see in Delaware County is limited to sills, joist ends and porch framing.

The quote will recommend an approach for your foundation type and site. For many older homes that's a liquid termite treatment along the foundation; properties near a well or with hard-to-drill slabs may be better candidates for in-ground bait. If we find carpenter ants or beetles instead, the plan changes to match.

Pennsylvania licensing to ask about before an inspection

An inspection uses no pesticide, but the company behind it will treat your house if termites turn up, so check its standing first. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) licenses pest control businesses and certifies applicators under the Pesticide Control Act of 1973, and 7 Pa. Code § 128.31 requires the business license number on service vehicles. Ask for it when you book.

Know which kind of inspection you need, too. A general termite inspection like this one tells you what is happening in your house. A real-estate wood-destroying insect report, usually on the NPMA-33 form, is what a lender may ask for on an FHA or VA loan, and it must come from a properly licensed inspector.

Is a termite inspection free, and what affects the cost of treatment?

Our inspection before treatment is free, the same as our free pest inspection for other pests. What the follow-up work costs depends on what the inspection turns up:

A clean result ends the conversation at no cost. When we do find termites, the size of the job shows up in what we record: tubes on one porch slab of a Drexel Hill twin point to a contained treatment, while activity on three walls of a fieldstone cellar plus the garage slab points to the full perimeter.

Hidden areas are part of the picture too. Paneled basement walls, a low crawl space under a ranch addition or a porch enclosed decades ago may need access work, and the written quote spells out what is included and which areas we could not see.

• Whether termites are active, or the damage is old and inactive
• How many sides of the foundation show activity
• Access: finished basements, low crawl spaces or enclosed porches
• Detached garages, sheds or decks that also need attention
• Whether repairs by a carpenter must happen before or after treatment