Termite and Wood Boring Insects - hard wood floors - Termites or not?

This evening I removed a piece of wood furniture that had been in place for a little over 3 years and found a pile of debris that has me a bit worried. I have hard wood floors that are approx. 4 years old.

Under the cabinet, it appeared to be some type of insect debris..it was generally dark brown/black and very dry in nature. there appeared to be some light specs of saw dust but that is really hard to tell. I did not see any noticeable insects or holes into the furniture or from the hardwood floors. Though.. there are enough gaps/seems that a formal hole may not be required.

How do I know for sure if I have termites or not?

I live in Maryland, just outside of Baltimore. My neighbor on this side of the house (approx 40' away) had termites a few years ago. I have had my house expected professionally twice since I moved in.

There is a basement immediately below this area and I checked the floor from below and it looked clean (no signs of bugs). the floor level is approx. 3' above ground elevation outside and I did not notice any mud tunnels or other signs. My basement wall is poured in place concrete.

I'm hoping that I do not need to open up part of the floor to confirm but I don't want to wait and have a bigger problem later.

Thank you for the assistance.
Scott

Scott, you say the cabinet was there 3 years.You did not say how large the debris pile was. Would it fill a thimble or a cup?
Does it have a drawer or drawers in it that are used pretty often? Do they align with where you found the debris? What I am thinking is the drawers are wearing as they open and close and this debris is the result of that wear. A quick test would be to place a piece of damp white paper on the floor where you saw the debris. Then open and close the drawers many times and see if the paper is dirty. Wetting the paper makes the dust stick to the paper better and also easier to see.
Termites rarely leave any debris when they work as they use the debris to enhance their tunnels to avoid light.

Scott, it almost sounds like mouse droppings.
http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/images/scat.gif

Newt

The only termite it might be would be drywoods. Those pellets they leave behind are all uniform in shape (5 or 6 concave sides) and always the same color of the wood that they are eating. You may have just had a spider that was living there and that was his grave yard but shes since left or died. I used to live in Reisterstown and we had many customers who would have drywoods in furniture. If so you may need it fumigated.Not a big deal, they'll come out to the house, pick it up and put it under the tent of a house they are already fumigating. (for a small charge of course) There is a good company on Timmonium road (can't say the name I guess) They'll come out for free and let you know. Just by what you said I would'nt lose any sleep. Search the furniture real well as suggested and see if anything else shakes out. If you can post a pic that would help.

Hey Scott,

Any chance you have a picture of this debris? Do there appear to be any insect parts within it? I live in Maryland too and we have quite a problem with Odorous house ants and Acrobat ants. The frass left behind can certainly make you wonder if you have some sort of damaging pest like carpenter ants or termites.

In our area of the country, drywood termites are pretty rare. And subterannean's don't create debris.

Would be interesting to see an image.

Miranda