Termite inspection in Mobile, AL — matched to a licensed operator, day or night.

Before anything else: if you are selling or buying a Mobile home and a lender or real estate agent is asking for the official closing inspection report, that is a different service — see our WDO inspection guide for what that visit covers and how its timing works against a closing date. This page is about the inspection a homeowner requests on suspicion, or schedules annually, and in Mobile that second category matters more than almost anywhere else in Alabama.

The reason is Formosan termites, the dominant species on the coast and the whole reason annual inspections carry real weight here. Formosan colonies build carton nests — papery, moisture-retaining structures assembled from chewed wood and soil — inside wall voids and attics, entirely above ground and with no need for continuous soil contact. A standard soil-barrier treatment assumes the colony has to cross a treated zone to reach the structure; a Formosan colony living in a carton nest above that barrier never has to.

Midtown’s shotgun houses sit on brick or wood piers with the same open-crawlspace vulnerability found in older neighborhoods statewide, and an inspection here checks piers and sills for mud tubes the way it would in any pier-built house — but a Mobile inspector also checks the attic and wall voids for the aerial nests a Formosan colony can establish without ever touching that crawlspace evidence.

Oakleigh and Leinkauf’s historic districts hold some of the city’s oldest continuously-occupied wood-frame houses, and their age plus decades of prior treatments means an inspector has to distinguish old repair work and cosmetic damage from active infestation — a judgment call that favors an operator who has actually worked these specific blocks before.

Spring Hill’s mature live-oak canopy creates the kind of elevated, humid harborage Formosan alates favor for aerial nest sites, and a canopy-heavy lot changes what an inspector looks for well above the foundation line, not just at grade.

May through July is swarm season for Formosan termites specifically — night flights around porch lights and streetlights that homeowners across Midtown, Spring Hill and the historic districts report seeing, often before they notice any other evidence. Eastern subterranean termites, also present in Mobile though secondary to the Formosan pressure, swarm a few weeks earlier, in March and April, so timing alone can hint at which species is involved before an inspector confirms it.

Because a Formosan colony does not depend on soil contact to keep feeding, an annual inspection scheduled on its own — not waiting for a swarm, a sale, or visible damage — is the single most effective way a Mobile homeowner stays ahead of a species that can quietly outgrow the assumptions built into an older or lapsed treatment.

• “Is this the suspicion inspection I need, or the closing WDO report?” A homeowner who found evidence needs a different visit than a buyer or seller whose closing requires the official real estate report. If you need the closing document, ask about that service specifically — it is a separate page on this site.
• “What’s your ADAI license number?” Confirmable through the Pesticide Management Section in Montgomery. A licensed operator gives it without hesitation.
• “Are you checking for Formosan carton nests above ground, not just soil contact?” A soil-only inspection misses a Formosan colony living in a wall void or attic. Ask whether the inspector is specifically looking for aerial and carton nests in Midtown, Oakleigh or Spring Hill construction.
• “How current is the termite bond, and does it cover Formosan specifically?” Some older Mobile bonds were written before Formosan pressure was well understood locally. Ask whether the current contract actually covers this species.
• “Did you check the attic and wall voids, not just the crawlspace?” Formosan nests do not need ground contact, so an inspection that only walks the crawlspace under a Midtown shotgun house may be missing the more dangerous colony higher up.

None of these questions slow down an operator who already works Mobile’s Formosan pressure every week — the answers tell you who you’re dealing with before anything is scheduled.