When you live where we do, the question isn't if you are going to get termites. It's when! The best way to prevent termites from infesting your home is to do regular termite inspections. These inspections should be performed annually by a qualified termite inspector. At Modern Pest Control, we perform these termite inspections free of charge. Simply call our office to schedule an appointment. However, in addition to regular inspections, a preventive termite treatment is recommended. You should be aware of some common conducive conditions that, if present, can pose a serious threat to your home.

Some common conducive conditions are:

• High Soil: This means the soil beside your home is higher than the foundation, therefore, providing excellent cover for foraging termites.
• Heavy Foliage: This could be as simple as a small shrub growing against your home or an elaborate climbing plant that completely covers the wall.
• Fence touching the house: A wood fence that touches your house creates a "Super Highway" and excellent cover for invading termites.
• Wood piled against the home: Not only does your wood pile provide cover for termites, it's also a fantastic food source. However, rest assured, they won't stop at your wood pile!

Some other conducive conditions are:

• Excessive moisture
• Wood to ground contact (Deck)
• Debris under or around the structure
• Wood rot
• Form boards left in place
• Insufficient ventilation

Frequently Asked Questions About Termite Inspections

What Does The Inspection Entail?
A licensed technician will perform the inspection. He inspects all visible areas of the structure that are readily accessible to him. If he finds evidence of an infestation, he reports the evidence on a specified form. An inspection may include sounding or probing areas where infestations are suspected.

If we receive a report showing no signs of termites, does this mean our house is termite-free?
No, termite inspections are limited to only visible entry points at the time of the inspection, which means that termites can enter the home without being seen through the slab or other inaccessible and obstructed areas.

What If Evidence Of An Infestation Is Found?
The company will recommend the appropriate treatment to control the pest. For termites, a treatment is usually warranted for a year; meaning, if an infestation is found while the warranty is in effect, the company will re-treat at no charge to you.

THREE TYPES OF REPORTS

1. No Visible Signs of termite activity.
During this inspection, we found that the house appeared to have never had termite treatment and show no active termites. A proposal for a preventive termite treatment will be provided, which will include a renewable one-year service contract.

2. No Active Signs of termite activity.
This report finds no active termite activity at the time of our inspection; however, our interview with the owner of the house, in addition to other visible evidence, makes it clear that at one time in the past, there was an active condition of termites and it has been corrected. We suggest that you contact the homeowner and verify if a service contract is currently in effect. If not, we suggest purchasing a preventive termite treatment. A proposal will be provided, which will include a renewable one-year service contract.

3. Active Signs of Termites.
A current active termite condition has been found. A proposal for the treatment of the termites will be provided. Once we have corrected the termite problem, a renewable one-year service contract will be issued.

Termites, sometimes incorrectly called "white ants", are a group of social insects.

Termites mostly feed on dead plant material, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung, and about 10% of the estimated 4,000 species are economically significant as pests that can cause serious structural damage to buildings, crops or plantation forests.

As social insects, termites live in colonies that, at maturity, number from several hundred to several million individuals. A typical colony contains nymphs (semi-mature young), workers, soldiers, and reproductive individuals of both genders, sometimes containing several egg-laying queens.

Because of their wood-eating habits, termites sometimes do great damage to buildings and other wooden structures. Their habit of remaining concealed often results in their presence being undetected until the timbers are severely damaged and exhibit surface changes. Once termites have entered a building they do not limit themselves just to wood, also damaging paper, cloth, carpets, and other cellulosic materials.

SENTRICON

The Sentricon® System with Always Active™ technology begins the termite colony treatment process without delay and offers continuous property protection from termites.

• Recruit® HD termite bait is immediately available to termites when they enter the Sentricon stations.
• Recruit HD termite bait remains available to foraging termites at all times.
• Highly durable and dense Recruit HD termite bait will stand up to a tough environment for many years.
• Highly durable Recruit HD termite bait is preferred by termites over wood, so they devour it faster than wood, and find it even more desirable as it ages.
• Homeowners prefer the Sentricon System with Always Active technology over other treatment options.

We will do a thorough inspection of your property for signs of termites, and place Sentricon stations in the soil at precise intervals around your property. The Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination System takes advantage of natural termite behavior. Workers constantly forage far and wide looking for wood to feed the colony. When they find food, like the recruit HD termite bait in the Sentricon Station, they leave a special scent trail to summon their nest mates to the food source.

The Sentricon System was developed to be a green product. Where many liquid chemical treatments use hundreds of gallons of chemical solution, the Sentricon System wipes out entire termite colonies using only a few grams of strategically placed active ingredient. It’s the only termite product ever to receive the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. For more information, please visit www.sentricon.com.

Termidor

A Little Bit Of Termidor Goes a Long Way in Treating Your Home

Termidor is applied at very low rates. Typically, the active ingredient (fipronil) is just 0.06% of the solution, a concentration much lower than that of older liquids and less than most insecticides. For an average home treatment, only about 8 ounces of the active ingredient is actually used. Keep in mind, too, that since 1995, fipronil has been used around the world for flea and tick control on household pets and on agricultural crops to protect food supplies. And Termidor has virtually no odor, which means you and your family won't notice a thing.

Advanced Undetectable Technology

Termidor is made from a revolutionary new non-repellent or “undetectable” chemical technology treatment. That means termites cannot see, smell, taste, or avoid Termidor. Instead they contact, ingest, and share it with their nestmates. This is in sharp contrast to older liquid termite controls, which rely on repellent barriers that termites can finds breaks in or avoid completely.

How Termidor Protects Your Home From Termites

After Termidor is applied, termites that contact it transfer it to every other termite they in turn contact in a unique process called the “transfer effect.” And because Termidor is engineered to be slow-acting, termites have ample time to spread it throughout their entire termite population.

Better Than Bait... Without the Wait

Baits can take years to control a termite colony. Termidor begins working immediately to wipe out termites inside and immediately surrounding your home. Termidor is the most effective and fastest at completely eliminating termite populations—up to six-times faster than bait systems.

No Better Choice for Protecting Your Home Against Termites

Termidor is the only termite defense that combines a unique mode of action, a long residual, and the ability to manage colonies faster than a baiting system all in a low-dose, low-odor formulation that meets the stringent standards of the Food Quality Protection Act. There simply is no better choice for termite defense.

Want to Know More?

These are only the highlights. There's much more to the remarkable Termidor story than we can include here. If you'd like additional in-depth information about Termidor and why it's the best solution for your home, visit www.termidorhome.com.

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TERMISTOP

Termistop flanges and blockouts are designed to give PCO's
a non-chemical, long-lasting termite protection at the service penetrations through the slab. Once installed, Termistop eliminates these hidden termite entry points because the mesh is too small to squeeze through and too hard to chew through. Termistop stops termites in their tracks. PERIOD!

Termistop is International Code Council approved for new construction, has completed 9 years of USDA Forestry Service Testing with no failures, and recognized by Green Building Industry professionals. Termistop is designed to eliminate the need for chemical retreatments in the interior of the home, giving homeowners a termiticide-free living area.

Why Do I Need It?

By nature, concrete slabs set, shrink, expand and create gaps between utility pipe penetrations and the concrete itself—gaps large enough for termite entry. Termites commonly use such piping as direct highways right into homes or structures.
And often, termites that enter homes through these areas go undetected longer which enables them to do far more damage before being discovered. This damage can lead to repair bills in the thousands!

Green Building Benefits

Termistop Flanges and Blockouts are a non-chemical solution that prevents termites from entering the home at the service penetrations through the slab. The stainless-steel mesh creates a “physical barrier” to termite entry when it “keys” into the concrete. By addressing these areas during construction with Termistop flanges and blockouts, PCO’s reduce the need to apply chemical termiticides within the living space of the building.

Many green building programs around the country emphasize the use of physical barriers and non-chemical termite solutions. Termistop qualifies as a physical barrier in many of these programs and will capture points for the builder in some of the green building rating systems.

• Termistop and the full Termimesh system have been specified in many high-profile green building projects around the United States in both residential and commercial construction. Listen to what one of the premier green building architects in the nation has to say about the product. For more information visit www.termistopusa.com.

“Termimesh is the only practical and permanent non-toxic termite treatment on the market. It is also a critical component to our efforts to promote 'real and relevant' green building. Specifically, it preserves the quality of the ground water and reduces the chance for indoor air quality problems – both associated with traditional chemical-based treatments. It is the ONLY system we use on ALL of our homes in Texas, and would welcome the ability to specify it for all of residential and commercial projects throughout the United States.”

Peter L. Pfeiffer, FAIA
Barley and Pfeiffer Architects