The earliest sign of termites in wood furniture is usually a small pile of tiny pellets collecting beneath or near the piece. These pellets, called frass, look like fine sawdust or coffee grounds and are about the size of a grain of sand. If you’re spotting this or noticing pinhole-sized openings in your furniture’s surface, you’re likely dealing with drywood termites in the early stages of an infestation.
What Early Termite Damage Looks Like
Drywood termites live entirely inside the wood they eat, which makes early detection tricky. They don’t build the mud tubes you might associate with termites around a home’s foundation. Instead, they tunnel through furniture from the inside out, leaving very little visible evidence on the surface until the colony grows.
The most reliable early clue is frass: tiny hexagonal pellets that termites push out of their tunnels through small “kick-out holes” to keep their galleries clean. The pellets are hard and dry, and their color ranges from light tan to dark brown depending on the wood species being consumed. You’ll typically find them in a small cone-shaped pile on a shelf, tabletop, or floor directly below the infested spot. People often mistake frass for ordinary dust or assume it came from a woodworking project, so it’s worth looking closely. Under magnification, each pellet has six concave sides, which distinguishes it from generic sawdust.
The kick-out holes themselves are another telltale sign. They’re barely the diameter of a pencil tip, making them easy to overlook on textured or dark-stained wood. Run your fingers along surfaces and joints where you noticed pellets. If you feel tiny pits or see pinprick openings, termites are tunneling inside.
A third check is the tap test. Knock on the wood with your knuckle and listen for a hollow sound. Solid wood produces a dull, dense thud. If a section sounds papery or hollow compared to nearby areas, termites have likely eaten away material behind the surface. In early infestations the hollow zone may be small, so tap in a grid pattern rather than just one spot.
How Termites Get Into Furniture
Drywood termites start new colonies through swarming. In late summer and early fall, winged reproductive termites leave an existing colony, pair up, shed their wings, and search for a new nesting site. They’re attracted to light, which draws them through open windows and doors. A small crack, joint, or unfinished end grain on a piece of furniture is all they need to start tunneling in.
Because swarmers are small (roughly 7/16 to 9/16 of an inch long, depending on the species) and some species swarm at night, you may never see them arrive. What you might notice afterward is a scattering of tiny translucent wings on a windowsill or near furniture. Shed wings are a strong indicator that swarmers have entered your home and are looking for wood to colonize.
Unlike subterranean termites, which need contact with soil moisture, drywood termites get all the water they need from the wood itself. That means any piece of wooden furniture in your home is a potential target, whether it’s on the ground floor or the third story.
Treating an Early Infestation
Catching termites early in a single piece of furniture is actually good news, because localized treatments can be very effective before a colony spreads. You have both chemical and non-chemical options.
Heat Treatment
Drywood termites die when the wood they occupy reaches 120°F and stays there for at least 33 minutes. For a single piece of furniture, pest professionals can use portable heating equipment to raise the wood’s internal temperature to that threshold. This kills termites at every life stage, including eggs, without introducing chemicals into your home. The main risk is heat damage to finishes, glues, or veneers, so it’s worth discussing the piece’s construction with whoever performs the treatment.
Chemical Spot Treatments
Spot treatments involve drilling small holes into the infested area (ideally intersecting a termite gallery) and injecting a product directly into the tunnels. Borate-based solutions are among the most commonly used options. These mineral-salt compounds soak into the wood and are toxic to termites that contact or ingest them, though they work slowly. In lab studies, termites exposed to borate dust or liquid took anywhere from 5 to 12 days to reach lethal doses after a 24-hour exposure. Foam-based insecticides and liquid concentrates have also shown high effectiveness when injected into active galleries.
For a single piece of furniture with a small, contained colony, spot treatment is usually sufficient. If you discover frass in multiple rooms or on several pieces, that points to a larger or multi-colony problem that may require a professional whole-structure evaluation.
Freezing
For smaller items like picture frames, decorative boxes, or narrow boards, freezing can work. Placing infested wood in a deep freezer for several days exposes termites to sustained cold that kills them. This approach is less practical for large dressers or tables but worth knowing about for smaller belongings.
Protecting Furniture From Future Infestations
Prevention focuses on two things: sealing the wood’s surface and controlling the environment around it.
Unfinished or worn wood is an open invitation to swarmers looking for a place to nest. Applying a coat of varnish, polyurethane, or wood sealant closes off the tiny cracks and exposed grain that termites exploit. Pay special attention to the undersides of furniture, back panels, and joints, since those areas are often left unfinished by manufacturers. If your furniture already has a finish but it’s chipped or worn through in spots, a touch-up in those areas removes easy entry points.
Reapply protective coatings periodically, especially on pieces that see heavy use or sit in humid rooms. Moisture-softened wood is more attractive to termites and easier for them to chew through. Keep furniture away from damp walls, and use protective pads or risers to maintain airflow underneath pieces that sit close to the floor. Good ventilation and a dehumidifier in basements or storage areas reduce the moisture content of wood over time, making it a less hospitable environment.
During swarming season (typically late August through September in many regions), keeping windows screened and exterior lights dimmed in the evening helps reduce the number of swarmers that enter your home. If you buy antique or secondhand furniture, inspect it carefully before bringing it inside. Check joints, undersides, and any unfinished surfaces for frass, kick-out holes, or hollow-sounding spots. A few minutes of inspection can prevent introducing an active colony into your home.