Sometimes no matter what you do to protect yourself something bigger happens – like a water leak within the home. I came home a few years ago to find water coming out of the garage of one of my neighbors home. I knocked on their door and nobody answered, so I shut off the water at the meter box. The bathroom toilet fill line busted and was spraying water within the home .

The pictures below are not as serious, the water hose on the outside of the water developed a crack and during one of our notorious monsoons it finally burst. You will notice that the termite tube came right up behind that hose – was it an accident or did the termites do that on purpose? How about the river rock, did that allow termites further access?

My opinion: termites do like water and if a pipe is dripping I think this affords them opportunity. So if you have a leak within the home, call and seek advice.

Don’t stack river rocks or small stone to the stucco, this hides the foundation and makes inspections difficult. Its impossible to see anything behind the meter box.

I took away a few stones and you can now see the tiny little termite mud tube, just to the left of pipe.

A closer view of that sneaky little termite tunnels coming up the foundation of the home.