So I found a piece of wood in a storage room in the basement that is partially rotted along one entire section of the wood. My house had evidence of termites 10 years ago and was treated. There are no mud tubes to this piece of wood so I'm wondering if it's possible that it is termite damage? My apologies, thank you for the instructions

 

Welcome to the forums.

I think a picture would be helpful here. http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html

When I had termites.... I used a sharp ice pick to check for internal damage since the termites hollow out the inside of the framing lumber.

 

One more photo....the wood is solid when I touch and poke it.





Moderator note: Added two enhanced pics

 

I just can’t tell from these pics. Could be wood-boring beetles, carpenter ants, termites. Maybe even wood destroying fungus/mold.

Is there any dried dirt/mud in the wood? You don’t always have mud tunnels if they can get in behind the piece or get in at the ends.

 

Thank you for chiming in, I do see several areas that appear to be cobwebs, but not spider like if that makes sense. I do not really see any dried mud or dirt..and the rot appears all the way down along the edge of the wood for the most part.

 

Hi, It can be difficult to tell if what you have is in fact termite damage from the photos. It takes a trained eye and it often looks similar to other problems.

That being said, here are some typical things we see with termites (these are some common exampes and are not all inclusive):
- brown dry cyindrical tunnels
- discarded wings
- mud tubes
- long grooves in wood (test the wood to see if it's hollow inside, sometimes you have to cut through it to tell)
- signs of water damage such as buckling wood, swollen wood, mazes in wood, and the scent of mildew and mold (yes, this can be termites)

From the photos it could be a number of things.

Hope this helps,
Sam