Old wood, close to the water
A lot of Gulfport was built before the Second World War: small cottages with wood siding, raised floors and porches, many of them restored rather than rebuilt. Old-growth pine is dense and has held up for a century, but it is still food for termites, and these houses offer more ways in than a modern slab home. Subterranean termites climb the piers and the porch posts from the crawl space. Drywood termites settle in the siding, window frames and exposed rafter tails, and in attics that were never sealed tightly.
Inspections here spend more time underneath the house than they do in St. Pete’s block neighborhoods. The technician checks every pier, the sill plates and the underside of the floor from the crawl space hatch, and looks along the siding at ground level for mud tubes and soft wood.
After the 2024 storm surge
Hurricane Helene pushed water into large parts of Gulfport in September 2024, and many homes along the bay and in the lower streets had flooded crawl spaces, wet framing and walls opened up for repairs. Wet wood is attractive to subterranean termites and to wood-decay fungi, and walls that were opened and closed again during repairs may hide damage nobody looked at. If your house took water and has not had a termite inspection since, it is worth one, whether or not you see anything.
A WDO report also records wood decay, not just termites, which can help if you are selling a house that was repaired after the storm.
Pests we see most in Gulfport
- 01Drywood termites in siding, window frames and attics of older cottages.
- 02Subterranean termites coming up piers, porch posts and storm-damaged framing.
- 03Saltmarsh and container mosquitoes near the bay and in garden-heavy yards.
- 04Roof rats moving through the dense tree canopy between houses.
Prices in Gulfport
Gulfport jobs are priced the same as St. Petersburg. Raised-floor cottages are often treated through the crawl space rather than by drilling a slab, and a contained drywood colony in a window frame can usually be spot treated for $250–$900 instead of tenting the whole house. A typical termite inspection is $75–$150. These are estimates for planning, not a quote; the written price follows the inspection, and the St. Pete price guide has the full breakdown.
Services available in Gulfport
We cover the whole of Gulfport for termite inspections and WDO reports, termite treatment, tenting, mosquito control, rodent control and bed bugs, along with neighboring South Pasadena and the west side of St. Petersburg.
Last updated October 8, 2026