Termite control in Katy, TX

Termites rarely announce themselves in a Katy, TX house. Brick veneer over a slab hides most of the action, so the first clue tends to be something small: a pile of wings on a windowsill, a thin mud line on the foundation, or a baseboard that dents when the vacuum bumps it.

What termite trouble looks like on a Katy slab home

These are the finds that send homeowners to the phone, roughly in the order people notice them:

• Shed wings. Small, equal-length wings piled on a sill, in a light fixture or on the doormat after a warm, humid evening. Swarmers inside the house usually mean the colony is in the structure, not just the yard.
• Mud tubes. Pencil-width tunnels of soil running up the slab edge onto the brick, along a plumbing penetration, or up the inside of a garage wall. Break one open; if it is rebuilt in a few days, it is active.
• Damaged trim. Door frames, baseboards or window sills that sound hollow when tapped, or paint that bubbles where termites have eaten right up to the surface.
• Mud in odd places. Soil packed into drywall nail holes or cracks in a garage slab.

A crape myrtle bed or flower border piled up against the brick hides the slab edge, which is exactly where tubes start. If you cannot see two to four inches of bare foundation, you cannot see the warning signs either.

Formosan or native: what your find means

Most of the Katy area sits in two counties on Texas A&M's Formosan termite list: Harris and Fort Bend. Waller County and Austin County are not on it, so homes out toward Brookshire, Prairie View and Sealy are dealing with native subterranean termites only.

Facts from Texas A&M AgriLife's Formosan and native subterranean termite pages.

Termite control in Katy, TX: liquid barrier or baits

Both methods are proven on Gulf Coast slab homes. The choice comes down to how active the infestation is, what is poured around the house, and how you feel about yearly monitoring.

Liquid termiticide

The pro trenches the soil along the foundation and drills through patios, sidewalks and the garage apron so the product reaches soil under the concrete. Modern non-repellent products kill termites that tunnel through the treated zone, usually within a few days. Texas A&M's subterranean termite guide puts protection at roughly five years.

Bait stations

Stations go in the ground every few feet around the house. Termites feed on the bait and carry it back, which can wipe out the colony itself. The trade-off is time: AgriLife says control can take several months to more than a year, and baits give no residual protection once stations are pulled.

Inspections and WDI reports for a sale

For a formal termite inspection or treatment, Texas law requires a Wood Destroying Insect report and a sticker posted under the kitchen sink, on the electrical box or on the water heater with the company, date and result. When the inspection is for a home sale, it must be written on the state's official WDI form and issued by a licensed business. A TREC home inspector license alone does not cover it.

Every termite company working in Katy needs a state license from TDA's Structural Pest Control Service. Look up a termite company's TDA license before you sign a contract.

What termite treatment costs around Houston

These are typical published ranges for 2025–2026, not quotes.

• Termite inspection: $100–$200 in Houston per Angi; yearly re-inspections run $75–$150 in Texas per Fixr.
• Typical treatment: $223–$838, averaging about $515 in Houston (Angi).
• Liquid barrier: about $3–$14 per linear foot of foundation (Angi).
• Bait system: about $6–$11 per linear foot to install (Angi), plus monitoring contracts of $230–$540 a year in Texas (Fixr).
• Large infestation: $1,200–$2,400 (Angi).

Two-story Katy homes often have a bigger perimeter than their square footage suggests, thanks to bump-outs, a three-car garage and wraparound patios. Ask the pro to quote by linear foot and list which slabs they will drill.

Swarm months on the Gulf Coast

Native swarmers can show up as early as late winter, while Formosan flights peak on warm nights in late May and early June. If you see either inside, collect a few in a zip bag for the inspection. For the full timeline and how to tell swarmers from flying ants, see our Houston termite swarm season guide.

Making a slab house harder for termites to reach

• Rake mulch back so a band of bare slab shows above it and the brick weep line stays clear.
• Fix sprinkler heads that spray the foundation, and keep gutters draining away from the house.
• Pull firewood, landscape timbers and old fence posts away from the slab.
• Prune shrubs so you can see the foundation all the way around.
• Keep your treatment or bait contract active after a sale; the WDI sticker under the sink shows the next inspector what was done.

Termite calls from Rosenberg to Brookshire

Older housing raises the stakes. Downtown Rosenberg homes near the rail lines and Richmond streets along the Brazos include older houses where a past treatment may have long since lapsed, while the 1970s–90s slabs of east Katy's established subdivisions can have patios and additions poured after the original treatment.

West of the county line, Brookshire-area homes in Waller County fall outside the Formosan list, so treatment plans there focus on native subterranean colonies.

Before you call about termites