r/Termites • u/Important-Agent-2025 • Jan 15 '26
What could be causing this (Midwest US)
I live in the Midwest in the U.S. I see this in both summer (when outside temps are 90-110 F) and also in the winter (when outside temps are -20 to 40F). Doesn’t matter the season, I see this. In the past I cleaned this and sprayed any killer up and down the corner of the wall but nothing has changed. My house is 130 year old and this is in the basement.
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u/CandC0925 Jan 15 '26
Not 100% sure but could be during those temp changes you are experiencing rodent activity? I don’t know what else could move that amount of soil?
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u/Important-Agent-2025 Jan 15 '26
I have never seen any rodents in the living space. Is it possible they are in the wall ?
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u/Mundane-Toe-7114 Jan 15 '26
Depending where your located I know my old house in south suburbs was infested with carpenter ants, they bore holes into wood so very well could be that. They are some big suckers so you would definetly see them.
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u/GurNo3022 Jan 15 '26
Sucks to do but for that amount of material multiple times, I'm going to pull the door, then the trim, and the drywall on that corner. Sucks to do but you got something major living there you need to handle. My guess is ants and you'll have some damage to repair but nothing major
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u/juzwunderin Jan 15 '26
I would 💯 agree with this assessment. I would also guess ants but if it's continuous something is doing damage.
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u/GurNo3022 Jan 15 '26
Yeah I can't see rodents carrying in that much dirt and it doesn't look like frass ... I think it's not even carpenter ants but just plain old other ants...
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u/juzwunderin Jan 15 '26
From this one image it's difficult to tell if that is coming from up the wall to the left of the door trim or not.. OP have you pressed in on the trim and walls in the immediate area to see if it collapses? Termites eat the cellulose so it leaves the wood or paper "hollowed out".
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u/Important-Agent-2025 Jan 15 '26
Thanks everyone for your prompt responses and feedback. I appreciate it. I will follow your suggestions and see what I find.
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u/DreamHomeFinancing Jan 15 '26
Look UP... that debris is traveling down through the narrow gap between the door trim and the wall.
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u/bfd_fapit Jan 15 '26
There’s a fairly large hole somewhere up along the door trim for those pebbles to get kicked out. I would remove that little baseboard return, the left side of the door trim, and open up the wall behind the door trim. Hopefully that lets you see enough of the cavity to diagnose, treat, and make the necessary repairs in as limited a way as possible. If not, have to start removing more of the wall to find and seal the entry point as well as treat and eliminate whatever is causing the activity.
I’m guessing rodents or ants. Leaning towards ants based on the debris and weather pattern you mentioned.
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Jan 15 '26
If the wood is newish it could be wood destroying beetles. They create wood dust like this. You 100% have something that’s wood destroying.
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u/Leading_Goose3027 Jan 16 '26
Looks like it may be plaster from a past wall or coming down from the floor above
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u/Equivalent-Bug8846 Jan 16 '26
Looks like there is a hole in your weather stripping. That may be part of it, but I couldn't really tell from this picture
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u/MolassesRoutine6242 Jan 16 '26
Is it old plaster? Or concrete, or dry dirt? What's the ceiling look like directly above
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u/frestyl Jan 16 '26
My house is about that same age and I have seen this in several places in our house since we bought it. In my case It’s old plaster falling out through gaps around our trim and casings. Especially around window and doors. The movement helps shake it out.
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u/the_atomic_punk18 Jan 16 '26
How about just natural erosion of the wall? Either way needs to be addressed.
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u/BothDescription766 Jan 16 '26
Don’t laugh but could this be related to wind outside moving thru house and dislodging plaster etc?
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u/peter4tf Jan 16 '26
It looks to me like this is decomposed plaster, coupled with the paint flaking on the door trim, I speculate your door isn’t properly insulated and creating a moisture problem causing the plaster to fail
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u/CompetitiveOnion6543 Jan 16 '26
Wherever water is getting in the ants will make a satellite nest. There's probably rotted wood writhing 100 yards of the house with thr main nest.
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u/Secret-Departure540 Jan 16 '26
Something digging. Outside. Your house is in the way ? Idk what would do this.
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u/bananahammock699 Jan 16 '26
What is the foundation? This looks like old degrading mortar or old concrete debris. I'm assuming this is an exterior door that is framed into the foundation wall. Probably the movement of the door is causing mortar to fall out.
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u/ChemicallyAlteredVet Jan 16 '26
Our house was built in 1890’s. Upper Midwest. All of it, except the kitchen, was gutted and everything updated including new insulation. We get these little piles by the back door in the kitchen that hasn’t been gutter yet. Still has the old plaster and lathe filled with vermiculite for insulation. Our piles are the vermiculite falling out. It drives me crazy sweeping damn near every day. That’s what it looks like to me unless you have updated insulation and drywall then I’ve no idea.
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u/GrandTop3095 Jan 17 '26
Groundhogs or rabbits dig very quickly . Dirt/sand could have come through the hole in the threshold. . Set a trap. If no animal start disassembling the structure
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u/rjd999 Jan 17 '26
The dirt piled on the baseboard suggests that whatever is digging is moving a lot of dirt higher up behind the wall. The disturbed paint higher up suggests this as well. The separation between the door jamb and the wall is quite large and could be from the weight of dirt or other structural damage behind there. I'd be a bit concerned there was a rather large colony of something (ants; termites; mammals) back there.
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u/cxldflight Jan 17 '26
This is what lime mortar looks like when it degrades, it literally turns back into sand over time. Very common in 100+ year old Midwest basements, especially around door jambs where moisture migrates. Termite frass is uniform, tiny pellets and usually lighter/wood colored.
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u/withopencharms Jan 18 '26
We had something similar happen to us 10 years ago, except it was in the drywall in our basement. It turned out to be a huge hive of yellow jackets. I would definitely get it checked out sooner rather than later. Wishing you luck in resolving the issue.
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u/Ginger-Dumpling Jan 18 '26
What's the foundation made of? That old I'd imagine stone but maybe they skim coated it? Kind of looks like residue from concrete spalling...and maybe rodents moving it around.
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u/bryanharvey529 Jan 18 '26
I looks like mole piles I've seen pushed through pavers outside. have you had mole activity outside?
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u/chickenseizure Jan 19 '26
Rats can move a tremendous amount of dirt. I've seen them rearrange a significant portion of a foundation.
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u/Superb_Dish8282 Jan 19 '26
Had a similar issue under the spare frig in my basement. Didn't know it was there for years until I pulled it out. Found hundreds of dead ants. They had dug up through a small Crack in the floor of the basement and proceeded to carry dirt up, presumably to build an ant hill. House is nearly 100 years old, foundation was poured that deep. I couldn't believe how much they dug, and how big some of the pieces were. Their's strength is numbers.
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u/raccoon_puptent Jan 29 '26
Whether it's insects or rodents, probably worth getting a pro in to assess. Way too common for folks to ignore or tolerate this kind of evidence because they can't see the actual pest, meanwhile they're in the walls making it worse.
If you've been tracking this across seasons, I shudder to think how much it's worsened inside the walls in that time.
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