Termites

[Mike Lamb]

This house has been vacant for 4 yrs. and the tubes are on the exposed drywall at about half the house. Someone cleaned up some funky stuff on the carpet and walls. Is this some kind of termite nest residue?

Click to Enlarge

50.14 KB

Click to Enlarge

44.88 KB

Click to Enlarge

22.98 KB

[John Kogel]

1) Too small in diam for termys, IMO.

2) They wouldn't waste time on drywall in daylight when there's dark wood behind that drywall. They're not brainless that way.

But I can't tell you what that is.

[kurt]

We get tubes that small; I see surprisingly small tubes, maybe 1/8" sometimes. It's odd though.

[ghentjr]

Those tube marks are from termites. The color appears to be grey. Is the house on slab?

[Ben H]

Yup, termites.

[Jim Katen]

I suspect that the residue is where there used to be an object, which got moved. The termites had filled the space between the object and the wall or floor and when the object was moved, the tunnel material was left behind in a heap.

[mjr6550]

What you see on the carpet can happen when there is a cardboard box or something else there that they were eating.

I think the gray tubes relate to what they are eating. Cardboard/paper versus wood.

[John Kogel]

What you see on the carpet can happen when there is a cardboard box or something else there that they were eating.

I think the gray tubes relate to what they are eating. Cardboard/paper versus wood.

Mystery solved, thanks.

[Steven Hockstein]

I would be willing to bet that what you see is only part of the story. I would advise my clients that they arrange for a damage assessment (some destructive investigation will be required).