Termite inspection for Long Beach homes, from the attic hatch to the crawlspace vents

The treatment that fixes one termite does nothing for another, so identification is the most useful thing an inspection produces. Drywood termites live entirely inside the wood they eat. They leave clean, smooth galleries that cut across the grain and they push out hard, six-sided pellets that pile up below the opening. In coastal Long Beach they are the termite we find most often, especially in attic framing and on the sunny south and west faces of a house.

Subterranean termites come up from the soil. Their galleries follow the softer spring wood along the grain and are lined with a mix of soil and saliva, so damaged wood looks dirty inside. They need moisture, which is why they show up near leaking hose bibs, sprinkler overspray and planters packed against stucco. Dampwood termites are larger, need wood that stays wet and are usually tied to a specific leak, a rotted fence post or lumber touching soil.

A termite inspection is visual and uses probing and tapping, not demolition. We do not open finished walls, lift roofing or pull up carpet. That means some areas are always listed as inaccessible: the inside of wall cavities, the space under built-in tubs, areas behind heavy furniture or stored items, and attic corners where the roof pitch is too low to reach safely. A good report names those areas plainly instead of implying they were checked.

If something suggests activity inside a closed space, such as pellets falling from a ceiling seam, we note it as a further inspection item. You can then decide whether to open the area or treat it in a way that reaches hidden colonies. Clearing storage away before we arrive shrinks that inaccessible list.

• Wall cavities and the inside of closed soffits
• Areas under tile, carpet and floor coverings
• Roof surfaces and low attic eaves
• Spaces blocked by stored items or furniture

The diagram is the heart of the report. It is a simple floor plan of the house with numbered marks for each finding, so you can walk to the spot and see exactly what we saw. Each number links to a short description: the termite type, the location, whether the activity looks current, and whether there is damage that may need repair.

California separates findings into two groups. Active infestation and existing damage are Section 1 items. Conditions likely to invite termites later, such as wood touching soil, a plumbing leak or excess moisture in the crawlspace, are Section 2 items. Treatment options sit next to each finding, ranging from a single spot treatment to whole-structure fumigation when activity is spread through the house.

Keep the report with your house records. When you call us a year or two later about new pellets, the old diagram shows whether the spot was treated before, which changes how we read the new evidence.

In a mild coastal climate drywood termites can swarm into a house every year, and a new colony grows slowly enough that it may take a few years before you notice pellets. That slow start is exactly why a routine check helps. For most Long Beach homes, an inspection every one to two years catches new colonies while they are still small enough for a local treatment rather than a tent.

Older homes with original wood siding, exposed rafter tails or a crawlspace benefit from yearly checks. Newer slab homes with stucco and limited exposed wood can usually go two years. Any time you remodel, reroof or open walls, ask us to look at the exposed framing while it is visible, because that is the one chance to see wood that will otherwise stay hidden for decades. Exposed framing is also the right moment to apply a borate treatment to bare wood.

Housing age shapes almost every inspection here. In California Heights and Bixby Knolls, many 1920s and 1930s homes sit on raised foundations with a crawlspace, original redwood or fir framing and wood windows. We regularly find drywood colonies in the attic and in rafter tails, and subterranean mud tubes on the piers where a planter or a leaking line keeps the soil damp.

Further east, the 1950s ranch tracts of Los Altos and the streets near Cal State Long Beach sit on slabs. There the crawl is replaced by a careful look at the slab edge, the garage sill plate and plumbing penetrations, where subterranean termites slip through hairline gaps. Attics in those tracts are low and packed with insulation, so pellets on top of the insulation are often the first clue. Along the coast, from Bluff Park to Belmont Shore, salt air and the marine layer keep exposed wood damp in the morning and dry by afternoon, and we watch fascia and window trim on the ocean side for both drywood activity and early rot.