Termites work the day shift, the night shift, weekends and holidays.

Termites work silently and invisibly, sawing into your floor joists, cutting into your wall studs, hollowing out the heart of your home and hiding the damage until it's too late.

One of the greatest hazards any homeowner faces is termites, which may do more damage than fires, storms, and earthquakes combined. Termites survive by eating wood, paper, fiberboard, cotton fabrics, and other cellulose products. If ignored, termites can actually threaten the structural integrity of your house, and this is where the danger lies.

Houses and other buildings provide termites with the ideal combination of warmth, moisture and food. Termites can find ways to enter your house that you've never thought of. They are small enough to gain entry into hidden areas of basements, crawl spaces, and concrete slabs, through openings as small as 1/32nd of an inch.

A. Termites can build mud tubes across many feet of concrete, brick, cinder block, treated wood, or metal termite shields into even the upper floors of a structure.

B. Termites eat wood from the inside out, often defying detection for years while doing extensive damage to the wood - and threatening the integrity of your home.

Although small in size they are large in numbers. Termites congregate in enormous underground colonies that house hundreds of thousands to millions of individual termites. They are dispersed throughout the soil at feeding sites around your home and can forage hundreds of feet from their colony.

Termite survival depends on finding edible material to support the colony. Moving out from their colony, they tunnel through the soil in search of moisture and food. They forage around mulch beds, near air conditioner drip lines and below gutters. They also like tree stumps, decks, buried wood, construction material, and piles of firewood. A loose mortar joint, a small space around a drain pipe, or a settlement crack in the basement is all they need to gain entry to your home.

Your pest management professional knows how to uncover termite activity.

There are several clear indications of termite infestation. In the spring in most parts of the country and in the fall in others, reproductive swarmers emerge in great numbers. Sometimes, you may see them swarm, or you may only see signs that they have swarmed. Their wings break off after flight and you may find piles of wings that have dropped off. Often, you will miss the swarm, so be sure to look for other signs of damage to wood or visible mud tubes.

If you become aware of any of the signs of termite infestation, or your neighbors have termites, call your local pest management professional who is trained to use the FirstLine® Termite Defense System^SM from FMC. He or she will inspect inside your home and around your home looking for areas that are vulnerable to termite infestation. Your pest management professional will examine areas where termites forage for moisture and food, giving special attention to conditions which are conducive to termite attack such as cracks, voids, and spaces where wiring and utilities pass through walls and slabs.

Typical sites of termite activity
A. Tree stump
B. Air conditioner drip line
C. Chimney slightly pulled away from house
D. Wood-to-ground contact
E. Wood piles
F. Stucco/rigid foam insulation below soil
G. Mulch bed
H. Damp soil under slab
I. Poor drainage
J. Railroad ties

Pest management professionals are well trained in termite behavior. They know where to look for termites and can determine how they got there. They also know about available treatment options, and how to use them to protect your home for years to come.

The FirstLine^® Termite Defense System^SM effectively controls subterranean termites, the most destructive termites found throughout the United States. It's the most comprehensive and effective program designed for complete control of termites. It's the only system in the industry that includes termite baits, liquid termiticides and software for complete control. Your pest management professional has been specially trained by FMC to use the complete FirstLine^® Termite Defense System.

First your pest management professional will complete a thorough inspection of your home and the property around your home to evaluate termite activity, identify sources conducive to termites and make recommendations to reduce moisture and food sources. He/she will then discuss the treatment plan with you before proceeding.

Your pest management professional wants to stop any live termite infestation from further destruction of your property before the introduction of a monitoring/baiting component. For optimum protection of your home, your pest management professional will make a localized treatment of TalstarOne^TM  multi-insecticide.

TalstarOne^TM  multi-insecticide has the longest average residual in the industry, creating a powerful barrier of long lasting protection. United States Department of Agriculture research shows that TalstarOne^TM  multi-insecticide provides 100% control for over 11.25 years and in some states, such as Florida and Arizona, it provides 100% control for 14 years. In certain cases your pest management professional may choose FirstLine^® termite bait stations (above-ground) to control termites where active mud tubes are found.

SMARTDISCT locators and monitoring stations and FirstLine^® GT Plus termite bait stations will be used around your home based on the general use directions established by FMC and EPA Registered product labels. The SMARTDISCT locator is used with the monitoring station and the FirstLine^® GT Plus termite bait station to help channel termites into the stations.

Typically, SMARTDISCT locators and monitoring stations are placed around your home, about every 10 feet. They are inspected on a regular schedule for the presence of termites. Once termites are found in a monitoring station, it is replaced with a FirstLine^® GT Plus termite bait station. Each station contains the active ingredient sulfluramid, which can kill at least 80,000 termites. Unlike other termite baiting systems, sulfluramid can kill all types of subterranean termites, including reproductives. The active ingredient disrupts the production of energy, causing termites to die. In some cases where termites are found in the soil, a FirstLine^® GT Plus termite bait station (in-ground) may be used right away.

Your pest management professional will visit your house periodically to monitor the bait stations to verify termite activity, install additional stations when needed, and search for new infestation. Once the termites have stopped feeding, your pest management professional will continue to monitor for new termite activity and inspect your home on an annual basis.

If you see your pest management professional using a hand-held electronic device while at your property, he/she is probably using one of three software programs developed by FMC to help keep accurate records about your property. This state-of-the-art technology helps to document each step in the entire FirstLine^® Termite Defense System^SM process. Historical termite activity, treatments performed and results will be recorded in a consistent manner including graphs of initial treatments and each sequential monitoring.

Let a Parsons Pest Control protect your home from termites using the FirstLine^® Termite Defense System^SM. So you can sleep nights - while your termites rest in peace. Click here to schedule a free inspection.