Subterranean termites can spend months or even years around a Clearwater home before a homeowner realizes they’re here. They live in the ground, travel through soil and mud tubes, and search for cellulose wherever they can find it. In a city with established neighborhoods, mature landscaping, irrigation, and plenty of older homes, the space between the soil and your house matters. By the time you see a mud tubes or termite damage, the colony may have already been feeding for some time.
Termites Underneath Your Clearwater Home
Subterranean termites don’t start by flying into your house and settling in a wall. Their colonies live in or around the soil, and workers travel from the colony to food sources above ground. Instead, they can enter a structure through small cracks and joints in the foundation or build mud tubes along the foundation to stay protected from drying out.
Because of that, the area around your home just as important as the house itself.
Clearwater has neighborhoods with homes that have been standing for decades. The city notes that many homes in older parts of Clearwater and portions of Clearwater beach date to before the early 1960s, and many use slab on grade construction. Over time, landscaping, irrigation, additions, repairs, and changes around the foundation can create new places for moisture to collect or make termite entry points harder to see.
More importantly, subterranean termites don’t need an obvious problem like a leaking roof to find moisture. Irrigation hitting the foundation, an AC drainage line releasing water beside the house, poor drainage, or consistently damp soil can create conditions that support termite activity.
