Termite damage will only be apparent after the colony has been active for several years. A mature colony can destroy up to a pound of wood per day. While this might not seem like a staggering number, it adds up after a long term of unnoticed termite activity.
Termite colonies can grow to have thousands upon thousands of individual members. Queen termites are able to lay up to 30,000 eggs in just one day! This adds up to 10 million in a year.