Small pellet piles
Dampwood termite frass: dry six-sided pellets accumulating below infested wood, distinct from the fibrous sawdust of carpenter ants.
Ants & Wood Destroyers
Termite & WDO Inspection in Seattle
In western Washington, the wood destroyer list is longer than termites, and a real inspection covers all of it. Dampwood termites, carpenter ants, wood-boring beetles and plain fungal rot all damage Puget Sound structures. A WDO inspection walks the whole building, names what is active, and gives you a written report you can act on or transact with.
Call (206) 944-0849 All treatments
- Full WDO scope, not termites only
- Crawl space to roofline
- Written photo report
- Answered 24/7
Reviewed by Marjorie Tidwell, Pest Prevention Writer. Updated 2026-10-05.
In short: Call (206) 944-0849 to book a wood-destroying organism inspection. A technician examines the crawl space, attic, exterior envelope and interior wood for termites, carpenter ants, wood-boring beetles and conducive rot conditions, probes and moisture-reads suspect members, and delivers a written, photographed report with findings and recommendations, typically within a day of the visit.
What this treatment covers
One walk-through, every wood destroyer, in writing
A WDO inspection is a systematic survey of everything that eats, excavates or rots the wood in a structure. In western Washington that means four targets. Dampwood termites, the region's main termite, colonize wet wood and betray themselves with distinctive six-sided fecal pellets. Carpenter ants, the state's most common structural pest, leave sawdust-like frass and smooth galleries. Wood-boring beetles, mostly anobiids in this climate, pepper joists with small round exit holes and powdery frass. And fungal rot, which is not an insect at all, softens more Northwest framing than any of them and creates the moisture conditions the insects follow.
The inspection route is the whole envelope: crawl space joists and sills probed and moisture-read, attic framing and sheathing examined, exterior siding, trim, decks and grade conditions walked, and interior wood checked where access allows. Every finding is photographed and located on a simple diagram, and conducive conditions, earth-to-wood contact, failed gutters, plumbing leaks, blocked vents, are documented with the same seriousness as live activity, because they are next year's infestation.
You receive a written report fit for your purpose: a homeowner's action list if you called about suspect damage, or a thorough, transaction-ready document if a sale is in motion. Where activity is found, the report separates what is active from what is historical, which is the difference between a treatment quote and peace of mind.
What the visit includes
- Crawl space inspection with probing and moisture readings
- Attic, exterior envelope and interior wood examination
- Identification of termite, carpenter ant and beetle activity, active versus historical
- Fungal rot and conducive-condition documentation
- Photographed written report with a location diagram
- Clear recommendations, with treatment quotes only where activity warrants
Catch it early
Six findings that justify the booking
Sawdust cones and big black ants
Carpenter ant frass and workers mean active excavation somewhere in the moisture-affected wood.
Pin-size round holes in joists
Beetle exit holes, often with fine powder, mark emerged adults; the question the inspection answers is whether larvae remain.
Wood that probes soft
A screwdriver sinking into a sill, post base or deck connection finds rot or galleries either way, and both belong in the report.
Swarmers or shed wings
Winged insects at windows in spring or fall, or discarded wings on sills, mean a mature colony of something nearby.
A sale in motion
Buying or selling an older Seattle home without a current WDO report is negotiating blind in a city where most houses have crawl spaces.
The Seattle angle
What western Washington wood actually faces
Seattle's wood-destroyer profile is unusual and worth understanding before paying for the wrong worry. Subterranean termites, the species that drives the termite industry in most states, are comparatively rare west of the Cascades; the termite you meet here is the dampwood, a larger insect that only colonizes wood already wet. That inverts the usual logic: in this city, the moisture is the infestation's cause, not just its accelerant, and an inspection that skips moisture mapping has missed the point. Carpenter ants, meanwhile, out-damage termites locally, which is why a termites-only inspection is the wrong product for this region.
The structures themselves argue for periodic inspection. Roughly 62 percent of the city's single-family homes stand over vented crawl spaces whose sills and joists live closest to ground moisture, the housing stock is largely pre-1980, and the climate delivers around 150 wet days a year. An inspection every few years, and always at purchase, is how owners here stay ahead of a problem that compounds quietly.
How the job runs
How the inspection runs
Book and brief
Tell us why: suspect damage, a transaction, or due diligence. The report format follows the purpose.
Walk the envelope
Crawl space, attic, exterior and accessible interior wood, in that order, with probing and moisture readings.
Identify and date
Every find is identified to organism and judged active or historical, which is the decision that matters.
Document
Photos and a location diagram tie each finding to the structure; conducive conditions get equal billing.
Report and advise
Written report within a day, recommendations ranked, and treatment quoted only where activity earns it.
Honest numbers
What a WDO inspection costs
Inspection pricing is flat-rate by structure rather than by findings, so the report has no incentive problem. What sets the rate:
- Home size and whether outbuildings, decks and detached garages are included
- Crawl space accessibility, since a tight or partially floored crawl extends the visit
- Transaction formality, where a sale requires fuller documentation
- Follow-up verification visits where a treatment later needs clearance
- Re-inspection discounts for homes we have mapped before
- Bundling with a treatment when active WDO findings move straight to work
If the inspection finds nothing active, the report says so plainly and the engagement ends there; a clean report is a perfectly good outcome and most of them are. Where activity exists, the treatment quote arrives itemized and separate, so the inspection stands on its own.
Make the visit count
Before the inspector arrives
- Clear the crawl space hatch and a path through stored items along interior walls
- Unlock the attic access and any crawl or storage doors
- Gather past pest or repair records if you have them
- Note every spot that has ever probed soft, stained or smelled musty
- Save any insects or wings you have found, tape works fine
- List known leaks, past floods and gutter problems
- Move vehicles if garage walls need examining
- For transactions, have the parties agree who receives the report
Straight answers
Inspection questions, answered before you book
Yes, but mostly dampwood termites, which need wet wood, rather than the subterranean species common elsewhere; subterraneans are rare west of the Cascades. The practical translation: your termite risk here is a moisture question, and the inspection reads both together.
Depth on one subject. A general home inspector notes suspect wood and recommends a WDO specialist; this inspection is that specialist step, with organism-level identification, active-versus-historical judgment and probing a generalist will not do.
The economics run the other way: the inspection is flat-rate and most reports close with monitoring advice, not work orders. Where we do find activity, the photos and locations are in the report, so you can verify or second-opinion everything.
Freshness indicators: frass color and accumulation rate, pellet moisture, gallery surface condition, live insects or larvae, and seasonal timing. Historical damage in dry wood with no fresh sign is noted as exactly that, and it usually needs a repair conversation, not a pesticide.
A clearance re-inspection after treatment is cheap certainty, and it doubles as a check that no second organism was riding the same moisture. Wet wood rarely hosts only one problem.
Every three to five years is a sensible cadence for pre-1980 homes over crawl spaces, annually if there is a history of activity, and always at purchase. The inspection costs a fraction of the smallest repair it prevents.
Buying, selling or just suspicious? Book the inspection.
Call (206) 944-0849
Talk to a technician
Know what the wood is hiding
One visit, every wood destroyer, a written photographed report within a day. Call to put a date on the calendar.
Call (206) 944-0849Answered 24/7 from our Seattle service office.