Home Inspections

Don't buy a home without a inspection from a licensed Pest Management Professional.
Get a Wood Destroying Insect (WDI) Inspection!

The best way to know if wood destroying insects are present is to have a state certified professional inspect for them. A WDI inspection is required by your mortgage lender. We provide a thorough WDI inspection, which is approved for use with FHA and VA loans, and is reported on the required NPCA-1 form. Call a professional at Insecta X Termite & Pest Control Management LLC.

Termites, powder post beetles, carpenter bees and ants are the focus here. Termites and beetles are the primary concern because they are much more destructive. Did you know there are 2200 termite species worldwide and 45 of those are in the United States? Subterranean termites come from the soil to eat and digest cellulose (wood containing matter). They thrive where cellulose and high moisture exist, therefore it is essential that moisture drains away from your dwelling and wood products are up and away from the finish grade. Termites can have colonies of over 1,000,000 and can eat one pound of wood per day. Termites appear similar to winged ants except they have non-segmented bodies, four wings of equal length and straight antennas (not elbowed like ants). Powder Post Beetles enter a home already embedded inside wood members (usually large timbers in older homes). They too can be devastating to your homes structural integrity. They kick out their frass (sawdust like powder) from small 1\16 inch holes they create in the wood.

Subterranean Termites

• Cause serious damage to structures often long before they are discovered – more than $1.5 billion in property damage a year to over 600,000 homes in the U.S.
• Feed on books, papers or anything containing cellulose.
• Favor warmer climates and actively avoid light.
• Live in underground colonies – some containing over two million members.
• In a larger nest, a queen and king may live for 15 years, with the queen laying up to one egg every 15 seconds for most of her life.

Powder Post Beetles

• There are several hundred species of these, but fewer than 20 are widespread.
• Are small, between one-tenth and one-third inch in length and usually are reddish brown in color.
• Can emerge from wood used in construction from one to 10 years after a structure has been built.
• Usually emerge in the spring.
• Are most likely to be found in softwoods (pine, spruce, fir) or certain hardwoods (oak, maple) frequently used for construction, including wood used in log homes, conventional homes and furniture.
• Are attracted to lights or to windows.
• Live between one and two years.
• Burrow small, one-eighth inch round holes in wood, and larvae create channels where they have chewed their way through. There is usually a fine sawdust-like powder streaming from exit holes.

• Size ranges from one-fourth inch for a worker ant to up to three-fourths inch for a queen in the most common species.
• May range from red to black in color.
• Build nests in deteriorating, moist wood; often the colony will extend its nest into adjacent, sound wood.
• Are commonly found in porch pillars and roofs, window sills, telephone poles, live and dead trees, rotting logs and stumps and wood in contact with soil.
• Do not actually eat the wood removed during nest-building activities; rather, deposit it outside entrances to the colony in small piles

• Resemble bumblebees, but the top of the carpenter bee’s abdomen is hairless, often shiny, black, and has no yellow stripe.
• Are about one inch in length.
• Bore into dried, seasoned and untreated wood surfaces, preferring softwoods such as cedar, redwood, cypress, pine and fir.
• Males are noted for aggressive behavior and a white spot on their face. They are harmless, however, and do not possess stingers; females have stingers but are generally docile.
• Nest in nail holes, exposed saw cuts and unpainted wood.
• Leave sawdust piles near perfectly round tunnels in wood; often these sawdust piles are accompanied by defecation stains.
• Usually emerge from the nest in spring.
• Are commonly found in porch and shed ceilings, railings, overhead trim, wooden porch furniture, dead tree limbs, fence posts, wooden shingles, wooden siding, window sills and wooden doors; prefer wood that is at least two inches thick.