Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 11, 2000 01:21am | #1

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   b TVMDC

   Termites don't eat Cement! If complete safety from termites is your concern, build with cement block walls, cement slab amd metal stud walls.

   If you want reasonable protection with wood framing, build a raised foundation with at least an 18" crawl space. Use pressure-treated lumber for the mud sill and continue with regular construction lumber. Prior to insulating, wrapping and drywalling, spray all the plywood subflooring (both sides), bottom plate, exterior plywood (both sides) and the wall studs about 2 feet up from the sill plate with a borate solution such as BoraCare. A local PCO (Pest Control Operator) can give you a bid for such a pretreatment. This should give you many years of protection from Subterranean termites.

   As for long-term protection from drywood termites, get a bid to spray all exterior sheathing, doors and windows and their trim as well as fascias, etc.

   BoraCare is also effective against dryrot. You can find more information about BoraCare from nisuscorp.com BoraCase is sold in 1 gallon bottles of concentrate and is diluted 1:1 with hot water. A gallon of mixed solution will cover about 300-400 sq ft.

   Nisus also produces Tib-Bor which is a dry power borate product. Both products have the same active ingredient: Disodium Octaborate Tetrahydrate. While more cost-effective than BoraCare, it does NOT have the glycol that makes BoraCare a deep-penetrating product.

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 11, 2000 02:27am | #2

   *Not an expert in this area, but I believe Formosian termites do eat concrete - or lease go thru it to get to wood.Dennis

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 11, 2000 09:33pm | #3

   *Can you compare BoraCare with Jasco's Termin-8? I've used termin-8 on exterior stuff like fences. It seems to be very effective, but the drabacks are a deep green stain (it's a copper compound), and a strong chemical smell.-- J.S.

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 12, 2000 02:49am | #4

   *b TVMDCJasco Termin-8: "the drabacks are a deep green stain (it's a copper compound), and a strong chemical smell." I believe it's copper arsenate. I heard a story about a contractor who used it to protect an entire fence. Problem was the owner was allergic to the smell and the contractor had to tear it down!The best protection for fences and decks is to use treated lumber. Then paint all 6 sides prioor to assembly.Borates are suitable for exterior uses. But since they are water soluable (that's how they soak into thw wood) borate-treated exterior wood must be water proofed.

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 12, 2000 04:54am | #5

   *Was curious about the Formosan termites. Nothing about eating concrete, but they do appear much more destructive than your normal termite. A couple of interesting sites were:Louisiana State University extention service web site (be sure to page down on this page as well as click on the links to other pages:http://www.agctr.lsu.edu/wwwac/termite/United States Dept of Agriculture (with an invasion map, among other details - and, yes, Formosan termites are reported in Florida):http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/fullstop/A report from New Mexico Tech that the ingredient that puts the "hot" in hot peppers (capsaicin) repells formosan termites:http://www.nmt.edu/mainpage/news/2000/formosan.htmlAnd a commercial site that bills itself as a "do-it-yourself" pest control web sitehttp://www.bugclinic.com/

2. 
   Guest_ | Sep 13, 2000 03:53am | #7

   *Flying termites (they're out there) can get to the wood roof trusses so often employed on "termite-proof" concrete walls. If the house design is straightforward, look into steel trusses. If the house is complex, wood truss programs are still light years ahead of(and correspondingly less expensive than) steel truss programs. Of course, you can also look into the possiblity of framing the whole house in steel. There are many suppliers now.

2. 
   Patrick_Pizzuli | Sep 13, 2000 03:53am | #6

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   We are leaving the Midwest for Florida and need some sources on construction methods that are bug-proof and climate effective. Any help would be apreciated. Sources of materials too.