Checking the leaks, gutters, downspouts and grading that keep soil and wood wet enough for termites to use a route to the structure.
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A moisture and drainage review checks the places where water reaches soil or wood next to a Duval County home. The UF/IFAS Extension advice is to repair leaks promptly and direct gutters and drainage away from the house, because damp soil and wood are the conditions that keep termite routes open.
Termites do not need a leak in the roof to find a house interesting. They need moisture, and a house in a humid, wooded city gives them plenty of places to find it. The moisture that matters most is not the rain that falls on the roof but the water that runs down the wall and sits in the soil or the wood beside it.
The UF/IFAS Extension brochure for Duval County gives two plain instructions that a homeowner can act on. Repair leaks promptly, and direct gutters and drainage at least a foot away from the house. Those instructions are simple, but they are often the difference between a route that stays open and one that closes.
Jacksonville Pest Control includes a moisture and drainage review in termite work where the technician finds damp soil or wood near the structure. This page explains what that review checks, what a homeowner can fix without a contractor, and what should be handed to a plumber or a roofer.
Do not climb onto a roof or a ladder that is unstable to clear a gutter, and never work near overhead power lines. Keep a ladder on firm, level ground with a helper. Do not use a chemical drain cleaner on a leak or a shower pan, because it can damage pipes and seals. If you smell gas near an appliance or the water heater, leave the house and call the gas utility from outside.
The review is most useful when the technician looks at the outside after water has been running, because the wet strips, the overflowing corners and the pooled soil are easiest to see then. A dry walk misses half the problem.
Gutters are checked for overflow and sag, and downspouts for discharge point. The grade is checked for any slope that drains toward the foundation, since soil that falls back toward the house holds water against the wall.
Where soil and wood meet, moisture readings and sounding show whether the wood is being kept wet. A reading near the sill or the bottom plate is recorded, because that is the place a route into the structure begins.
The crawlspace, the wall below a bathroom and the cabinet beneath the kitchen sink are checked for damp, stains and odor. A moisture source inside is often the reason a route has been kept open for years.
The review lists each moisture source, whether it is a gutter, a grade problem, an appliance or a plumbing leak, and who is best placed to fix it. The pest technician names the problem and does not pretend to repair it.
Subterranean termites need moisture to survive the travel between soil and wood, and a route stays open only while the soil and the wood beside it stay damp. Drying out the contact line is therefore one of the most effective things a homeowner can do, and it is the reason a moisture review belongs in termite work.
A termite that leaves the soil dries out quickly. Tubes and galleries protect the workers from drying, which is why the colony builds them, but a long stretch of dry weather still forces the route to be rebuilt or abandoned. Water that keeps the soil and the wood damp lets the route stay in use.
The contact line between soil and wood is where the moisture matters most. A stud or sill that sits in damp soil, a porch step that holds water against the house, or a crawlspace that never dries all give the colony a route it can keep using. Drying that line is the first target of a moisture review.
A moisture problem also changes the way a treatment behaves. A barrier applied to soil that is saturated can wash or dilute, and a bait station in a wet yard may be less attractive than the damp wood it competes with. The review is therefore part of the treatment and not a separate job.
The UF/IFAS Extension Duval County advice is to repair leaks promptly and to direct gutters and drainage at least a foot from the house. Those two steps can be taken by most homeowners, and they remove a condition the colony needs.
Repairing leaks promptly means treating any drip, stain or damp patch as a job to be done this week, not next season. A slow leak under a sink or behind a toilet can keep a wall wet long enough to attract termites, and the damage is usually invisible until it is severe.
Directing gutters and drainage away from the house is a plain instruction that is easy to get wrong. A downspout that empties onto a flat concrete splash pad can still send water back toward the foundation, so the water needs to run off a foot or more from the wall and away from the bed.
The Extension advice is written for the whole lot, not only the house. Water from a driveway or a sloped yard can end up against the foundation, and a homeowner who looks at the lot from the street rather than from the door may see the route the water takes.
A homeowner can walk the outside after rain, look at the gutters and downspouts, check the grade and the planting beds, and look inside under sinks and around the water heater. Anything that needs a roof, a plumbing or a grading contractor should be passed on, not attempted by the homeowner.
After a steady rain, walk the perimeter of the house and look where the water goes. A wet strip along the wall, a pool at a corner or a stream from a downspout are each a sign of a moisture problem that the termite plan needs to know about.
Inside, check the cabinet under each sink, the area around the water heater, the bathroom wall below the shower, and the laundry closet where the dryer vents. A stain, a musty smell or a soft patch is worth writing down and photographing for the technician.
Anything at height, on the roof, or involving a gas line or the electrical panel belongs to a qualified tradesperson. The homeowner's role is to find the moisture and report it, not to fix it in ways that create a different problem.
Hand a moisture problem to a plumber, a roofer, a grading contractor or an appliance technician when the source is a leak inside a wall, a roof or gutter that cannot be reached safely, or a grade that slopes toward the foundation. The pest review names the source and the wood it is wetting.
A leak inside a wall or under a slab needs a plumber to find and repair it. A pest technician can locate the wet wood and say where the leak is probably running, but the pipe repair is a plumbing job with its own permit and inspection.
A roof or gutter problem that is out of reach needs a roofer or a gutter contractor. Water that comes off the roof and runs down the wall is a termite route, and the review names the spot so the contractor knows where to look.
A grade that slopes toward the house is a landscaping or civil job. The pest review says where the water sits, and the homeowner can ask a landscaper to bring the grade back to a fall away from the structure.
The review changes the plan in two ways: it names the moisture sources that must be fixed for any treatment to hold, and it sets the monitoring checks to focus on the places that stay wet. A treatment that goes on top of a moisture problem is unlikely to last.
A plan that names a moisture source gives the homeowner a sequence. The moisture source is repaired, the contact line is allowed to dry, and the treatment is applied or checked against that drier condition. Without the repair, the same route tends to reopen within a season.
The monitoring schedule also changes. A wet area named by the review is added to the list of places checked at each visit, so a route that reappears at the same spot is recognized quickly. The record shows the link between the moisture source and the activity, which helps everyone involved.
The homeowner should keep the review with the treatment plan. When a contractor repairs a leak or regrades a bed, the record shows what was wet before and what changed, and the next technician can compare.
Gutters that overflow, sag or dump at a corner are the most common source of soil saturation beside a wall. Clearing them and extending a downspout a foot or more from the foundation is often the simplest fix. A homeowner can do this with a ladder and a helper, and should not climb a roof or work near a power line.
Soil that slopes toward the house or a planting bed that holds water against the wall keeps the foundation damp. Regrading is a job for a landscaper, and it has to keep the grade falling away from the structure. A pest technician can show where the wet strip is and recommend the change.
Leaks under sinks, shower pans and dryer vents that exhaust into the crawlspace keep wood damp in places a homeowner cannot see. The fix is a plumber's or appliance technician's job, and the moisture review's role is to name the leak and the wood it is wetting.
The UF/IFAS Extension Duval County brochure advises repairing leaks promptly and directing gutters and drainage away from the house, and the moisture review checks both on every visit.
Riverside and Avondale are historic neighborhoods on ZIP codes 32204 and 32205, and older houses with aging gutters and crawlspaces are where the review is most often needed.
Gutters and downspouts that empty against a wall are the most common moisture source Extension names for Duval homes, and they are the first thing a review checks.
If it's an emergency, call now. For non-urgent moisture and drainage review for termites, send the form and we'll call you back.
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Soil, bait and structural treatments for subterranean termites that have reached a Duval County home, matched to where the colony is feeding.
Checking planting beds, mulch, woodpiles and landscape timbers against the one-foot clearance that Extension advises for a Duval County home.
Finding and treating established Formosan colonies across Jacksonville and Duval County, and keeping the structure clear once they are there.
Scheduled station reads, re-inspections and a written trigger list, so a Duval County termite job is measured over time rather than assumed finished.
A termite prevention checklist for a Jacksonville home lists the steps that remove the conditions termites need: landscaping and woodpiles kept a foot from the foundation, leaks repaired promptly, and gutters and drainage directed away from the house.
A homeowner's insurance policy generally does not respond to termite or vermin damage, which policies typically exclude outright, while sudden damage from other causes may be covered depending on the policy wording.
Termites need moisture to keep their routes open between the soil and the wood. Water that sits against the foundation or keeps a crawlspace damp gives them a route they can keep using, so drying that route is one of the most useful steps.
The UF/IFAS Extension advice for Duval is to direct gutters and drainage at least a foot from the house. Water should run off and away from the bed, not onto a flat pad that sends it back toward the wall.
A slow leak should be fixed promptly. A homeowner can often replace a supply line or a trap washer, but a leak inside a wall or under a slab should go to a plumber. The moisture review names where the wet wood is.
No, and the review does not pretend otherwise. The technician names where water sits against the foundation and recommends a landscaper or grading contractor do the work.
It can be. A crawlspace that stays damp keeps the wood and soil at the contact line wet, which is the condition subterranean termites use. A review of the crawlspace and the vents or ducts that feed it is part of the check.
Often enough that they do not overflow at a corner during rain. The schedule depends on the trees over the roof, so the homeowner should check after heavy rain and clear any debris that is slowing the flow.