Barrier

Barriers to keep termites out of houses

Termite control methods

Here's a quick summary of the various termite control methods:

 

For Dampwood termites

  • Take the moisture away so that they can't live.
  • Replace old, rotted wood with fresh timbers.
  • Apply poisons or preservatives into the wood.
  • Open up the wood and let the ants eat them.

 

How do we keep the termites in the garden but away from eating the house?

Keeping termites in the garden largely means leaving them alone.  Keeping those termites out of you house can be harder.  For the subterranean pest forms, particularly some species of Coptotermes and Reticulitermes, it is probably better not to take the risk.  To be sure, you need to know what species you have and how much of a risk they are in your area. 

What can I do to keep things dry around my house?

OK, so the termites are after moisture. What can I do to make life hard for them?

Here's some pointers to get you started.

You can do things that reduce the amount of water getting in to the soil near your perimeter walls:

  1. Make sure that rainwater on the roof does not drain into the soil.
  2. Grade the soil around the house so that water drains away, not towards the walls
  3. Don't have gardens, ponds, sprinklers, ferneries or pools near walls.
  4. Make sure that overflow drains from hot water services and air conditioners don't soak into the soil near the wall.

You can do things to help the water get away: 

Are strawbale buildings safe from termites?

Very few termites are likely to be interested in eating the straw bales themselves.  Lots of subterranean termites will happily travel through the bales to reach unprotected framing timbers (such as door frames and window lintels). 

You won't sit the bales right on the soil anyway (moisture hazard) so all it takes is some attention to design to put a termite barrier in the foundation, just as you would with any other block house design.

If you've already built without barriers, find a well-skilled termite manager to inspect and advise.

How long should a termite inspection take?

This will depend on the size and complexity of the structure, the location and the type of inspection required.  Say you are getting a typical house checked out before you buy it.  I would normally expect that to take around two to three hours for the pre-purchase inspection.  Obviously, an old or heavily renovated house will take more effort than a brand new one.  If you have a contracted service or have a barrier system installed (subterreanean termites), then the regular inspection can be a lot faster, maybe even 45 minutes to one hour.  If you have reported an i

Do termites tunnel through concrete/mortar/cement/cinder blocks etc.?

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Termites will put a lot of effort into breaking through something that stands between them and food or water, just so long as the prize justifies the effort required.  Plaster (drywall etc.) is no barrier.  Mortars slow them down, but lime mortars are readily penetrable while mortars with a high cement content may not be excavated.  Good quality concrete cannot be excavated BUT cracks in poor concrete may be opened with ease.  Autoclaved aerated concrete (those lightweight bubbly blocks) were readily penetrated in my field tests.  Concrete (cinder) blocks sometimes

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