My concern is that bring too close to the house is the termites. My brother in law is a pestman and he's obsessed with termites. Lol.

Hmmmm never thought about termites. I kept a big pile of fresh mulch and 1 significant chunk of trunk to set things on like the string trimmer when I try to get it going or a bag of something that waiting to go from front to back.

The tree guy is talented. The catalpa was at least 2 ft across the bottom and about 30 ft tall. Many dead and dying branches. One guy took it down this afternoon in a western facing spot. He arrived around 12:15 and finished about 6 15. He took breaks and did it all himself. Used a hoist to load chunks of trunk into his truck and haul it away.

I really value having chipped up tree limbs for mulch handy. I have the tree guys dump them in an open area when I can catch them. In all the years I've taken the pile to the bottom I've never seen termites, or any signs of rats; which is another thing people worry about getting into piles of mulch.