PL. 02 · Field guide
TERMITE PROTECTION
For anyone buying, selling, or simply owning a home in Central Florida — where subterranean termites aren't a possibility, they're a scheduling question.
How we handle it
Here's the honest version of the termite talk: Central Florida sits on top of one of the heaviest subterranean termite populations in the country, and eastern subterranean and Formosan colonies don't announce themselves. By the time you see mud tubes on the stem wall or wings on the windowsill in spring, the colony has usually been eating for a while. That's not said to scare you — it's said so the free inspection makes sense.
Our inspection is a real one: slab edges, stem walls, bath traps, the garage expansion joint, attic sheathing where we can reach it, and the moisture conditions that invite termites in the first place. If we don't find activity and your home doesn't need protection yet, we'll tell you exactly that and leave you our findings in writing. Nobody at Mockingbird is paid a commission to find termites.
When protection makes sense, we install a bait-station system around the home's perimeter — the same approach used on schools and hospitals, because it works continuously and doesn't require drenching your soil. Termites find the stations before they find your framing, carry the bait home, and the colony collapses. We monitor the stations on a schedule, document everything, and the system stays on duty year-round for one flat annual price.
Questions we hear about this one
Is the inspection really free, or is it a sales visit?
Really free, and about a third of them end with 'you're fine, here's what to watch for.' We put findings in writing either way. If we recommend protection, it's because we found activity or conditions that genuinely call for it.
Bait stations or liquid treatment — which is better?
We install bait systems for most homes because they protect continuously, don't require trenching hundreds of gallons of termiticide around a yard where kids and pets play, and give us proof of what's happening underground. There are cases where liquid spot treatment is right, and we'll say so when it is.
I found wings on the windowsill. How fast can you come?
Swarm season sightings get priority scheduling — usually same day or next morning. Save a few of the wings in a zip-top bag if you can; they help us confirm species before we arrive.