Free termite inspections in Fresno, no sales pitch

An inspector checks the house, you get a written report, and nobody sells you anything on the spot.

When to get your house checked

Most people call for a termite inspection in Fresno for one of three reasons. They saw something, like wings on a windowsill or pellets on the garage floor. They are buying or selling a house. Or they own an older home that no one has ever checked. All three are good reasons. Subterranean termites work almost every Fresno block with watered soil. A house built before 1980 that has never been looked at is a finding waiting to happen.

One thing belongs up front. A homeowner inspection is free. You ask a question about your own house, and you get an answer. An escrow termite inspection is not free. It produces a formal WDO report, the document buyers, agents, and lenders rely on to close a sale. That report takes more work and carries legal weight, so it is a paid service. If you have a closing date on the calendar, that is the one you need. Any company should tell you that plainly.

The free inspection is a check-up, not a sales appointment. It answers three questions. Is there termite activity? Which species is it? How far has it spread? The answers go in writing. One more thing to know about Fresno. Termite pressure here comes from the soil around the house, not from anything you did wrong. So a clean report does not last forever. A re-check every few years is how local homeowners stay ahead of it.

Where termites show up first

Attic

Rafters and roof boards, checked for pellet piles, shed wings, and small drywood exit holes.
Crawl space

Support piers, foundation walls, and the floor framing. This is where mud tubes show up in raised homes.
Garage

Droppings on the floor, chewed door trim, and stored wood sitting against the concrete.
Eaves and fascia

The sun-baked boards along the roof edge. Drywood termites and dry rot both like to start here.
Window and door frames

Soft wood, bubbled paint, and shed wings left on the sills.
Foundation perimeter

Spots where soil touches wood, planters set against stucco, and dirt piled too high on the wall.

The evidence inspectors look for

Termites hide well, but they leave clues. Mud tubes are the big one for subterranean termites. These are pencil-width tunnels of dried dirt climbing a foundation wall or pier. Termites build them to travel between the soil and the wood they eat. Drywood termites leave frass instead. Frass is their droppings, small dry pellets that look like coarse sand. They push it out of the wood through tiny holes. The wood itself tells a story too. It sounds hollow when tapped. Paint bubbles over the tunnels underneath. A door frame goes soft with no clear cause. And after a swarm, piles of identical shed wings collect on sills and floors.

Which clues show up depends on how the house was built. Fresno’s raised-foundation homes put the story on display. Crawl underneath with a flashlight and mud tubes on the piers stand out from ten feet away. Slab homes hide it. There is no crawl space to check, so the first visible sign is often a bubbled baseboard or a soft door casing. By then the colony has been inside for a while, usually after slipping in through a slab crack or a plumbing gap. Frass turns up most in garages and attics, where drywood termites find bare, undisturbed wood.

None of these clues tells you how bad the problem is. That is the inspection’s job. Want to compare what you’re seeing at home before you call? The full guide to the signs of termites walks through each clue and the look-alikes that fool people.

Stop wondering. A free inspection settles it.

Schedule a free inspection

What happens after the visit

A termite inspection normally ends with a written report, and the report is the real product. It names the species. It maps where the activity and damage are. It lists the conditions feeding the problem, like a planter against the stucco or dirt piled high on the foundation. The recommendation follows from those findings, so you can check the logic yourself. A quote usually comes with it, and the quote does not commit you to anything. It is normal to take the report and get a second opinion. A good report survives one.

When termites turn up, the fix points one of two directions, and often both. Live termites call for treatment matched to the species. Subterranean colonies get treated at the soil. Drywood colonies get treated in the wood. Wood the termites already ate calls for termite damage repair. The order matters here. Treat first, rebuild second. Nobody should nail new fascia boards over a live colony.

A clean report is still worth having. It gives you a baseline for the house. It flags small problems worth fixing while they are cheap. And it answers the question every buyer asks when you sell. Most homeowners file it away and plan a re-check in a couple of years.

Buying or selling a home? That's a different inspection.

Schedule an escrow inspection

What Fresno inspections turn up most

Ask what actually gets written up in Fresno, and it is rarely a dramatic infestation. It is wood touching dirt, over and over. Garage door trim run down to the soil. Patio-cover posts set in dirt instead of on concrete. Firewood stacked against the stucco through a wet winter. Each one is a bridge straight past the foundation, and subterranean termites find them.

The housing stock adds its own patterns. The ranch homes built around Bullard and McLane in the 50s and 60s are showing their age. Their original fascia and eave boards have taken sixty summers of sun. Inspectors find drywood starts and dry rot in the same boards. Additions are another regular find. A 1970s family room tacked onto a slab often sits closer to the dirt than the original house ever did.

Fresno’s hardpan makes all of this worse. Hardpan is a cemented soil layer that water cannot drain through. Water from lawns and drip lines sits on top of it instead of soaking away. So the soil against the foundation stays damp long after the sprinklers shut off. Damp soil at the foundation is exactly what subterranean termites want.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What happens during a termite inspection?

An inspector works through the places termites reach first. That means the attic, crawl space, garage, eaves, window and door frames, and the line where the foundation meets the soil. They look for mud tubes, droppings, damaged wood, and shed wings. What they find goes into a written report with a recommendation, so you know what it means before any treatment talk starts.

How long does an inspection visit take?

About an hour for most homes. A big house, a tight crawl space, or a hard-to-reach attic can stretch it longer. That time is normal in this trade, because the attic and crawl space are where the evidence hides. A quick walk around the yard is not an inspection.

Is an escrow inspection free like a homeowner inspection?

No. A homeowner inspection is free because it answers your own question about your own house. An escrow inspection produces a formal WDO report, short for wood-destroying organism report. Buyers, agents, and lenders rely on that document to close a sale, so it comes with paperwork duties and is a paid service.

How often should a Fresno home be inspected?

Every two to three years is a good rhythm for most Fresno homes. Subterranean termite pressure here is steady, so a clean report does not stay true forever. Check sooner if you spot wings, pellets, or mud tubes. After any treatment, regular re-checks are the normal follow-through.

What if the inspection finds nothing?

A clean report is still worth having. It gives you a baseline for the house and a list of small fixes, like moving firewood off the stucco, while they are still cheap. It also answers the question every buyer asks when you sell. Most owners file it and plan a re-check in a couple of years.