Posted by Anon
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Oct 21, 2011 at 8:33 am

Welcome to California! Guess what-- dry wood termites are all around, and there is nothing you can, or should, do about it. Just have your house inspected every so often, whether or not you see flying termites outside.

Posted by Toby
a resident of Fairmeadow
on Oct 22, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Toby is a registered user.

There are many kinds of insects and termites. I have seen them come and go without touching my house. BUT I make sure that there are no leaks anywhere! No moist wood. No wood piled against the house. No compost pile next to the house.

If your home has a crawl space make sure it is free of moisture. Make sure there isn't stuff scattered there to attract insects. I once had a house where the previous owners had put carpet in the crawl space which retained moisture! Horrors!

Also, ants are good! No I don't want them in my house. But if you keep your kitchen clean ants can be a good indicator of problems. For example in one house I had ants come into the house to crawl into a light switch. I thought about it, knew there was a bathroom above that room, and also knew that leaks in toilets were common. So I replaced the wax seal under the toilet and waited. Three days later the ants were gone and never returned. So I know that I had a toilet leak, the ants were in my house for water, and the problem was fixed. Phew! My next suspect was a shower leak and that would have been a major problem to fix.

Leaks around the chimney are also quite common.

It's a good idea to walk around your home to look for leaks every once in a while. Look under the sinks! How are the laundry hoses?