Frisco homeowners love their new home and their gorgeous brick home. However, behind that beautiful face, there may hide an ugly secret. In newer Frisco neighborhoods with those popular brick-over-foam wall systems, pests can go undetected in the perfect hiding place. Termites, carpenter ants, or rodents can cause significant damage before you notice it in your home.
The foam insulation layer is like a wall and a highway for pest entry, making it almost impossible to detect them without professional help. Consulting professionals will also ensure you get rid of pests in Frisco easily. Learn about this vulnerability so you can prevent costly repairs if your home was built in the last 20 years.
What Brick-Over-Foam Wall Construction Actually Looks Like
Brick-over-foam construction consists of an exterior brick veneer that sits on an airspace separated from the home’s structural frame by rigid foam insulation board. It usually consists of a wood frame, a foam board (1-2 inches thick), a little air space, and the exterior decorative brick.
Builders around Frisco quickly adopted this method during the city’s construction heyday because the foam has excellent insulation properties. But that leaves a void system highly attractive to pests. This design is effectively a tunneled system around the perimeter of your entire home, and it is not your standard brick home where the brick itself touches your home.
Why These Walls Are Particularly Vulnerable in Frisco Homes
Because of Frisco’s peculiarities with pest infiltration, brick-over-foam walls are particularly susceptible:
- Explosive growth patterns – Frisco went from about 33,000 residents to over 200,000 today. The fast-track nature of incremental home building meant thousands went up from then to now, in this cheaper, questionable-quality construction style.
- Clay soil expansion and contraction – The clay soil in North Texas expands and contracts without notice, depending on the moisture content, and gaps and cracks then form in the foam to the foundation seal, and pests gain access
- Mild winters – Frisco has temperate winters; pests never die off completely, and they are always searching for a warm place to hide in the protected wall cavities.
- Moisture from summer storms – Moisture enters small cracks from heavy spring and summer rains, raising humidity inside foam voids (where termites and other wood-destroying insects can get in).
Early Warning Signs Hidden Walls Won’t Show You
The warning signs in brick-over-foam construction are delayed compared to those in conventional homes. The construction is even more insidious:
- No visible mud tubes – Instead of building tunnels that are recognizable from the outside, termites secretly burrow into the foam layer proper.
- Delayed hollow sounds – By the time you can tap on walls and hear hollow spots, damage has often already spread throughout the area behind the foam barrier.
- Missing exterior clues – Gaps or holes from pests are behind the brick and foam, where you cannot see them, unlike how easily you would notice damage on wood siding.
- Structural sagging without cause – Interior drywall often shows cracks and other visible symptoms before support beams begin to weaken significantly
When DIY Inspections Won’t Cut It Anymore
When you suspect pest activity in brick-over-foam walls, you quickly find yourself in a position where only professionals should look for the signs. Saela Pest Control, among other companies, uses professional-grade thermal imaging cameras and moisture meters to pinpoint pest presence without damaging walls. They know Frisco’s construction trends and exactly where builders typically let their guard down during the hot-growth period.
Of the Frisco homes built 2005-2015, local inspection data indicates that as many as 15% may be hiding pest damage in foam wall systems. A professional inspection will check foundation transitions, window and door penetrations, and utility entry points: the weak spots where the foam barrier typically fails. If you catch the problem early, you can get more focused treatment rather than extensive repairs to your home’s structure.
