G'day all, newbie re termite damage

[I_hate_termites]

Gday Everyone,
Im Greg from Bidwill in Western Sydney. Just found your forum and I hope to learn and be of assistance to others here. I have always loved woodworking from highschool days and made much of my own furniture.

I am now in need of serious higher learning as termites have stuffed my house, my subfloor is destroyed, most bearers and joists in my house are eaten out and they have penetrated in to roof space eating the rafters. This has been a depressing nightmare as I cannot afford to demolish and rebuild, but lately I have been more positive thinking I can fix this myself over time, especially as I was sucessfull in replacing half of of the eaten facia boards myself so that I could put up new gutters and i can use tools. This took some improvising due to the eaten rafters but my neighbor helped me of which I am very greatful.

It is very bad damage as my kitchen floor has suck 1" from skirting boards to floor boards and the floors are very bouncy and noisy but the kitchen is worst and i hope to start there with the floor.

I know I cannot learn everything from one post but hope I can post questions to this forum and learn and others with similar problems may also be helped.

So I would be very thankful of any knowledge you can impart to me and any help with where to appropriatly post threads and for now maybe you can help with any web sites or books that deal with DIY ripping up & relacing floors ( I hope to reuse the old floor boards as these dont seem to be eaten) replacing bearers and joists on a limited budget and with a very small crawl space underneath ( I cant fit under the house in many places).
My house is a three bedroom brick veneer with wood frame and subloor on brick peers.

Thankyou and I hope to get to know you all better.
Greg

[Christos]

Welcome to the forum.

[snowyskiesau]

Welcome and commiserations.
I had a similar experience earlier this year. Damage still to be repaired.

There's another forum, sibling to this one, where there are several threads regarding termite damage. Here's one.

[munruben]

Welcome Greg and sorry to hear about the damage that has been caused by termites.
I am sure you will receive plenty of advice on here and maybe some on hands help. The guys on here are unbelievable and more generous people with their time you will never find.. Good luck with your repairs.

[I_hate_termites]

Thanks Christos, sure weel chat on the forum sometime.
Greg

[I_hate_termites]

Welcome and commiserations.
I had a similar experience earlier this year. Damage still to be repaired.

There's another forum, sibling to this one, where there are several threads regarding termite damage. Here's one.

Thanks snowyskiesau, sorry to hear you also suffered from termites. After a long time of hopelessness Im now looking forward to getting stuck into some serious building, though will take a long time, Im confident I can do it with some knowledge I hope to learn here. I Hope your repairs go well too.
Ban termites from the city I say. ( :

Cheers Greg

[I_hate_termites]

Welcome Greg and sorry to hear about the damage that has been caused by termites.
I am sure you will receive plenty of advice on here and maybe some on hands help. The guys on here are unbelievable and more generous people with their time you will never find.. Good luck with your repairs.

Thanks munruben, appreciate the replies and am looking forward to learning from all the experience here. Seems to be some nice people on the forum.
Ill post some questions as i come up with them, sure there will be lots.
Cheers
Greg

[I_hate_termites]

And thanks for links to the other forum snowyskiesau, appreciate it
Greg

[San]

Hi Greg,
I deal with problems such as your every day, and I kind of understand your situation.
Termite damage is more common than you think, and unless you have an annual inspection, you really are flying blind.

From a termite specialist point of view, it is firstly important that you eradicate the colony responsible for the damage, and have a termite management system in plce to prevent further attack. There are a few options when it comes to termite prevention and eradication and your pest control operator will advise you according to the construction of your home.

I would like to recommend our Termicure Termite Baiting System, however, I think you may need to use an integrated Termite Management system with the use of a Chemical treatment as well as a baiting system.

As far as chemical soil treatments go, the best treatment chemical is Termidor. It is undetectable to termites, so they will continue to feed, however as soon as they come into contact with treated soil, they will transfer tiny particles of the active constituant back to the central nest whilst feeding the colony via the transfer effect. This will begin the process of wiping out the colony.

Once you have created a termite safe area around your home, I would then begin to rebuild your home as you are able.

I look forward hearing you progress with the house.

[I_hate_termites]

Hi Greg,
I deal with problems such as your every day, and I kind of understand your situation.
Termite damage is more common than you think, and unless you have an annual inspection, you really are flying blind.

From a termite specialist point of view, it is firstly important that you eradicate the colony responsible for the damage...,
As far as chemical soil treatments go, the best treatment chemical is Termidor.
I look forward hearing you progress with the house.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hi San,
Thanks for your reply and your expertise. Just as you mentioned the pest inspector I last used recommended Termidor as well. However he ended up spraying my entire subfloor with "Bifenthrin", he also drilled and soaked 2 trees, He said this would kill the colony and it seems to have. However I am still a bit worried as previous quotes I got said that trenching and soaking the trench inside and outside the boader of my house would be needed but this gentleman did not do that, but he was also much cheaper than the other quotes and I went with what I could afford at the time.He did seem thorough and helpfull. He has given me a 10 year warranty as long as I get him back each year to check for termites which seems reasonable and as you suggest is probably necessary.

From your expertise do you think spraying "Bifenthrin" on the ground and the wood under the house is sufficient ? As I wonder about the termites attacking again from outside the boader of the house eg under concrete slabs next to the house which have not been drilled and treated as were recomended in other quotes I had. ?
Would termidor be better next time. ?

It will be a fair while till I am able to start repairing the damage I am still trying to save for the timber costs and I will have to rip out and pay fpor a new kitchen as well. Its a terrible experience but I suppose it will keep me occupied after work and on weekends for the next few years ( :
thanks again for your reply.

Cheers, Greg

[San]

At least you have had something done....
You did what you could afford, sometimes that's all you can do.

Bifenthrin is a cheaper termiticide, and is basically a termite "repellent". This was the most effective termiticide on the market a few years back after they banned Heptachlor and Deildron, and many technicians still use it as a cheaper alternative to Termidor. Termidor, when applied correctly, is undectable to termites, and they will continue to forage as usual, travelling through treated areas without their knowledge, carrying it back to the nest. The limitation with bifenthrin, is that termites will actively seek gaps in the treated zone, and once a gap is located, termites have an entry point. Bifenthrin will work fine in a nest treatment situation, and it seems that your pesty has located the nest in the trees, and treated it correctly. This will do the trick, provided the nest has been accurately located.

As for the areas your pestie has treated and the method, I am unable to comment. Most sub floor situations require both sides of the footings treated and concrete drilled and injected with termiticide where is cannot be trenched.
This is expensive in a sub floor situation. A slab on ground house would be around half the price as ther is only one side of the footing to be treated.

Something which many pesties do not class as part of their scope is sub floor ventilation. Insufficient sub floor ventilation can create a termite haven, as moisture is retained within the confines of the sub floor. We recommend the installation of sub floor fans wherever this is the case.

In our manufacturing business, we created a professional baiting product which has traditionally been expensive, and implimented a system where it is suitable for installation and monitoring by the homeowner. Treatment is still a job for your pest controller, but it keeps your costs to a minimum. With the use of Bifenthrin in your subfloor, and in the nests, chances are that there will still be active termites on your property, albeit from another colony, if the original colony has been killed.

I would still place some baits around your property to keep an eye on any activity in the area. If the baits become active, then treatment of the active baits is almost certain to destroy other colonies around your home. You would place them in areas which have not been treated with bifenthrin, as they will be repelled from the treated zones.

Our baits are sold with a text message and email reminder service for the homeowner, so that baits do not go unchecked. Again, we recommend the use of Termidor Dust, liquid or foam for any treatment to ensure the highest odds of colony eradication.

I would like to post a link to our website as there is lots of valuable information, however, I don't want to get banned from the forum. If the forum administrator will allow me to, I will post it.

Save it. Just go to my profile and visit our homepage. There's more termite info there than you can poke a stick at, and details on our termite baits and sub floor ventilation fans. Any questions, just send me an email....

The main thing is, that you keep your chin up. These things can be rectified. It may take some time and money, however, at least you get the opportunity to change some of the things you may not have liked about your home.

[I_hate_termites]

I appreciate the trouble you have gone to and the information you have helped me with.
It does sound like Termidor is the way I should have gone. I have had a look at your web site http://www.termicure.com.au/ and appreciate the 12 tips on termites and I will definatly consider the termite baiting. Can I buy termidor from you or do you have to be a registered pest inspector ?. I was able to buy some "Dursban" a few years back it was for sale without a licence needed when I tried to deal with the problem myself as I could not afford the thousands of dollars I was being quoted at the time and as most of the damage had already been done.
Cheers & thanks again for your help.
Greg

[San]

No problems for the info. Termites are my working life, sadly, I'm passionate about getting people the CORRECT information, as there are so many companies portraying the products which make the most money. Ane example: I went to a ladys house on tuesday because she wanted a second quote on a termite protection system for her home. A slab on ground house, I priced up a termidor barrier at around $2200. She immediately asked me if this was the best treatment so I gave her a Termidor DVD to watch which explains the process and the protection. She gave me the go ahead on the spot, and handed me a quote from another company which had a baiting system proposal of $3300, which is pretty standard. But what the proposal didn't have, was the estimated cost of servicing each year attached. So this poor old lady would have purchased a system which required an additional $1200 per year or more for servicing, without even being informed. And what's worse, is that the system she was quoted, still belonged to manufacturers, and if a service agreement was not extended to the following year, the installers had the right to remove it.

I do beleive that the best way to protect a property is with a Termidor Barrier. Sometimes construction methods make it impossible to do a Barrier, and then, I beleive baits come into their own. Baits are a great way to treat problem areas and eradicate termite colonies, but overall, a barrier is working for you 24-7 for up to 8-10 years.

Unfortunately, termidor is not available to the general public, and even if you could get some, I would have a pesty do the application for you, as it is easy to botch a treatment if you don't know what you're doing.

Keeping in mind that during tratment of a live bait, you must not apply too much dust or liquid as you will overdose the termites in the bait, and they will not survive long enough to get back to the nest. Alternatively, if you don't apply enough, there may be some decrease in colony numbers, but you won't be successful with a full kill.

[Coptotermes]

No problems for the info. Termites are my working life, sadly, I'm passionate about getting people the CORRECT information, as there are so many companies portraying the products which make the most money. Ane example: I went to a ladys house on tuesday because she wanted a second quote on a termite protection system for her home. A slab on ground house, I priced up a termidor barrier at around $2200. She immediately asked me if this was the best treatment so I gave her a Termidor DVD to watch which explains the process and the protection. She gave me the go ahead on the spot, and handed me a quote from another company which had a baiting system proposal of $3300, which is pretty standard. But what the proposal didn't have, was the estimated cost of servicing each year attached. So this poor old lady would have purchased a system which required an additional $1200 per year or more for servicing, without even being informed. And what's worse, is that the system she was quoted, still belonged to manufacturers, and if a service agreement was not extended to the following year, the installers had the right to remove it.

I do beleive that the best way to protect a property is with a Termidor Barrier. Sometimes construction methods make it impossible to do a Barrier, and then, I beleive baits come into their own. Baits are a great way to treat problem areas and eradicate termite colonies, but overall, a barrier is working for you 24-7 for up to 8-10 years.

Unfortunately, termidor is not available to the general public, and even if you could get some, I would have a pesty do the application for you, as it is easy to botch a treatment if you don't know what you're doing.

Keeping in mind that during tratment of a live bait, you must not apply too much dust or liquid as you will overdose the termites in the bait, and they will not survive long enough to get back to the nest. Alternatively, if you don't apply enough, there may be some decrease in colony numbers, but you won't be successful with a full kill.

Excellent and thorough information San , though just to be a bit pedantic as anyone dealing with termites day to day has to be,Termidor is technically not a Barrier treatment. While I agree Termidor Dust is a superb product, it is not always suitable for every situation, including but not limited to baiting systems or bait boxes, especially if you can't aggregate enough termites (label suggests minimum 15,000 termites) in the bait stations. Arguably the highest odds of colony control is the use of a registered termite bait in an active bait station(you can start baiting with a lot less than 15,000 termites), but this is the most time consuming and usually most expensive option.

Welcome and Good luck with all your renovations and as San correctly said subfloor ventilation and drainage for that matter is very important and often neglected. Termidor may be obtainable, but as the label says "to be used by licensed pest control operators only". An even cheaper bait box is this one.
http://www.csiro.au/resources/Termit..._pageNo-4.html

But always leave the treatment of active termites to a professional.

With all these Termites in Sydney it sound's like I Live at the wrong end of the F3 freeway. Still I get my share up here too.


This post is general in nature and cannot be relied upon, as all situations are different it is strongly recommended that you have at a minimum an annual termite inspection ( more frequently in high risk situations) by a timber pest specialist.

[glen boulton]

gidday i hate

well it looks like you got the termite thing covered and i have nothing to add to that as you are in the hands of very experienced people....

as for the damage and how to fix it.
it's easy

SPEND LOTS OF MONEY !!!!!!!!

sorry there is no shortcut. you need to strip off plasterboard and start hunting. you need to find where the infestation is at its worst and start by removing plasterboard and cleaning out walls to recover your cavity again. my suggestion to you is a room by room basis. find a room that you can remove the floor and wall linings and start from scratch.
it sounds like you have cypress floor boards.... if that is right then i hope they have been laid properly(in between the walls and not under them.). if so then you have an easier job than if it was particle board.
i suppose a few more details would help to give you a better idea, maybe even a few photos. the biggest problem for us contractors is the budget. the right way to do it is expensive.
i will help as much as i can with advise
let me know more about it
good luck with it ... and as the book from the ABC shop says "DON'T PANIC"
i know your not in arther dents situation but at first it feels like you are.