Beltsville Termite Control

South Beltsville was laid out as a street grid in 1891, but most of its lots stayed empty until the post-war housing boom. From the late 1940s into the 1970s, builders put up wood-frame and brick-veneer houses across Beltsville Heights, Vansville, Sunnyside, and the subdivisions off Powder Mill Road and Cherry Hill Road. The median home here was built in the late 1970s, so a large share of houses are 50 to 75 years old. Any soil treatment applied during construction wore out decades ago.

The split-level is the house we see most in Beltsville, and its design puts wood close to the dirt. The lower level is half below grade. The garage slab sits right at ground level. The wood band board and sill plate that carry the house rest on a block wall only inches above the soil outside. Our technician Daren finds termites most often in three places: the mulch beds around the house, the band board and sill plate in the lower level, and the garage. On the outside, it is usually the chimney or the front stoop. That is why he starts every inspection at one side of the stoop and works all the way around the house.

Block Walls and Finished Lower Levels

Many of these homes stand on concrete block, not poured concrete. Block has hollow cores and mortar joints that crack as the house settles. Termites can climb through those gaps without building a single visible tube. Then there is the family room. A lot of Beltsville lower levels were finished with paneling or drywall decades ago, which covers the exact sill plate and block wall we most need to see. When swarmers show up in a finished lower level, the only way to find where they came from may be to open part of a wall.

Ranchers, Cape Cods, and Newer Townhouses

Ranchers and Cape Cods here often have a crawlspace or a partial basement under an addition. The seam where an addition meets the original house is a common entry point. The newer townhouse communities off Route 1 sit on slabs, which termites can still enter through plumbing gaps and expansion joints. In a row of attached homes, termites can move from one house to the next, so a neighbor's problem can become yours.

Most people in Beltsville learn they have termites in the spring. Between March and May, on a warm afternoon after rain, termite swarmers push out through a crack and take off. They shed their wings within minutes. In a split-level, check the lower-level floor near the sliding door, the garage windowsills, and the concrete by the front stoop. A pile of wings inside means a mature colony is very close.

The rest of the year, the signs are quieter. Walk the house and look for:

• Pencil-width mud tubes on the block wall, the garage slab edge, or the chimney base
• Soft spots on the bottom stair tread or the wood where the garage wall meets the slab
• Paint that bubbles or ripples on lower-level baseboards and door trim
• Firewood, brush, or old railroad ties stacked against the house
• Mulch piled higher than the top of the foundation
• Deck posts or stair stringers set right in the dirt

Wooded lots come with fireplaces and woodpiles, and termites in firewood are a common find. Keep the stack off the ground and well away from the wall. Also know that plenty of "termite damage" is really wood rot. Our guide to termite damage vs. wood rot shows how to tell them apart. If you find something, leave it alone and call us so we can see it as it is.