Subterranean termites — locally called white ants — cause more structural damage in Mumbai homes than any other pest, and they do it silently. By the time a door frame collapses under thumb pressure, the colony has usually been active for a year or more.
Mumbai humidity and the monsoon make conditions ideal, particularly in ground and first-floor flats, buildings with garden beds against the plinth, and older wooden joinery.
The five signs, in the order you usually notice them
- Mud tubes: pencil-thin brown earth tracks running up skirting, wall corners, plinth or the back of wardrobes. This is the clearest confirmation.
- Hollow-sounding wood: tap the door frame, skirting or wardrobe base. Termite-eaten timber sounds papery and gives under a fingernail.
- Blistered or bubbled paint: wall paint that lifts in small patches, often mistaken for damp. Termite galleries behind plaster push it outward.
- Discarded wings: small transparent wings collected on window sills or near tube lights after the first monsoon showers, when winged reproductives swarm.
- Frass and soil in joinery: fine soil-like debris at the base of a cupboard or below a skirting joint.
Where to check first in a Mumbai flat
- Behind and under wooden wardrobes standing against an outer wall
- Door and window frames at floor level, especially bathroom-adjacent frames
- Skirting along the wall shared with the duct or bathroom
- Kitchen platform sides, loft boards and any plywood false ceiling
- The plinth wall outside, where garden soil touches the building
What not to do when you find them
Do not break open the mud tubes and spray insecticide into them. It kills the workers you can see, alerts the colony and makes it relocate galleries to another part of the wall — which means the next damage appears somewhere you are not watching.
Leave the tubes intact and get an inspection. A technician follows the tube back to the entry point, which is what determines where the chemical barrier has to go.
How post-construction treatment works
For an occupied flat, treatment is drill–fill–seal. Holes are drilled at set intervals along the floor–wall junction and around affected joinery, a termiticide emulsion is injected under pressure to create a continuous barrier, and the holes are sealed and finished.
Affected woodwork is separately injected. A full treatment for a flat takes 2–4 hours and carries a warranty of up to 5 years with annual inspections. Pricing runs roughly ₹8–₹12 per sq ft of treated area, confirmed after inspection.
Need this handled professionally?
RPS Pest Control has served Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane for over 15 years with CIB-approved treatments, same-day service and written warranties.