Termite Alert

You spotted something on the foundation wall - a thin trail of dried mud, or a scatter of papery wings on the windowsill - and now you can't stop looking at it. Is this a $200 fix or a $20,000 nightmare? Every pest control company you call seems to have a different answer, and somehow it's always the most expensive one. Termite Alert is the calm, structured guide for homeowners who need to know what they're actually looking at before they spend another dollar. Instead of vague reassurance or scare tactics, this book gives you a real triage framework - built from how professional inspectors actually assess a property - so you can tell a localized, monitorable issue from a genuine structural emergency, in your own house, tonight. This isn't a general pest-control encyclopedia or a dry entomology textbook, and it isn't a sales funnel disguised as a book. It's a practical field manual built around the two moments that actually matter: the moment you find a warning sign, and the moment a quote lands in your inbox. How to tell termite swarmers from flying ants in under 30 seconds (wings, waist, antennae) A room-by-room, attic-to-crawlspace DIY inspection you can run with tools you already own The exact decision tree for sorting a finding into monitor, schedule, or emergency What liquid barrier treatment, bait stations, fumigation, and spot treatment are each actually for - and what they should cost How to read a wood-destroying-organism (WDO) inspection report line by line A word-for-word script for vetting and comparing pest control contractors Why homeowners insurance almost never covers termite damage, and how to budget and negotiate around that gap A prevention and annual-maintenance calendar that meaningfully lowers your odds of ever facing this again Whether you're staring at your first mud tube, sorting through conflicting quotes, or trying to decode a termite report before closing on a house, Termite Alert replaces panic and guesswork with a clear plan - so you spend money on the right fix, not the loudest sales pitch.