Hi,

I have a wooden house in the NYC area. I know that there are termites in
the neighborhood.
My next door neighbor discoverd some in his house, 2 years ago and had
his house treated professsionally along the house but a month ago while
doing basement renovations, his guy found a large number of them in the
basement ceiling and as far up as the 2nd floor .
I have so far found no visible evidence of termites in and around my
house (mud trails, wings, waste material). I only have 1 small opening
in my basement ceiling exposing my beams.
I had 2 exterminators do a free examination but neither saw any visible
evidence and din't push their services.
other neighbor across the street who had termites if I don't see any
evidence then don't worry.
The guy who is repairing the damage in my next door neighbor's house
said, unless I open small sections of the ceiling along the edge to look
for any evidencel, I really won't know. By the way, he is a friend of my
neighbor and also declined to do the work as he was much too busy.

I know there are termites near my house because in preparation for the
exterminator's visit, I cleaned under the back porch and I found 1 piece
of old 4/4 lumber with some termites. There were a number of other
pieces but they did not appear to have any.

Should I begin to do some exploratory work on my basement ceiling or as
my other neighbor said, don't worry about it.

Would love some common sense advice.

Thanks in advance

Joe