Seeing swarming termites is NOT a sign you have termites!!
We do live in a forest and our forest landscape has termites who perform a very valuable function (chomp,chomp). This is the season for swarming and it just means a colony is dividing. You can see a swarm anywhere, anytime so do not jump to conclusions.
You can inspect your foundation yourself or call a pest control company to do so for you.
If you have wood from your home buried in the ground, you are more likely to have a problem than someone with a concrete/concrete block foundation. You usually can see termite tunnels on foundations walls - coming up from the ground if you actually have termites.
Further, we have winged ants that will also swarm at this time of year and can be confused with termites. Looking at one of them is easy to tell the difference – ants have unequal wing sizes vs. termites with wings the same size, ants have thin waists vs. termites who have a wide or no waist and ants have bent antenna vs. termites having straight antenna.
So please look before you leap. And be very careful of pest control companies – they will want to chemically treat your home ($$) just because you see termites. I would bet they will not even look at a termites to see if they are a winged ant. Further, dryrot is often pointed at and said to be termite damage by pest control firms. No, no, no. Remember, they make no money by telling you do not have termites and pest control certifications do not include a section on ethics.
Let me know if you have further questions.
Kevin Howe - HalfMoon Circle