Wow, thanks for the lesson!

You're right that they eat anything with cellulose. I first noticed their
presence when I noticed an expansion joint had been all but destroyed by
them.

I hadn't heard of Premise before. I may look into that as I do have the
pets and us to worry about! I've had the outside treated before. The guy
hits em with some form of Borax but not sure of the trade name. He says it
repells them and keeps the house safe. Hmmm, not too sure of that one.

I've had carpenter ants before. Thankfully they don't eat the wood, they
spit it out and it's pretty easy to discover them early on with all the
little piles of sawdust around!

I would think that someone that sold "Pre-treated Lumber" specifically for
termites would make a fortune.
Cheers,
cc

"CaptMike" wrote in message
...
Jim...

Termidor and Premise are the two top professional termiticides on the
market today. Both work on what's called a "non-repellent" basis. I
happen to prefer Premise (by Bayer) and think it's safer to use with kids
and pets around. Termites live in a colony 20-25 feet underground and
commute to your house 24/7 to forage (get food/bring it back). A typical
colony could be 300,000 to 3,000,000. Think of a 55-gallon drum full of
squirming rice and you'd have a small colony. As they pass thru the
treated soil, they get some residue of these products on their bodies, and
termites socially preen themselves and inadvertently the checmical gets
into their systems. The excess food (cellulose) they bring back from your
house is reguritated in a food store to feed larvae, pupae, queen &
king... plus any underdeveloped termite. So tainted food is shared with
the colony. These chemicals act like time-release drugs, and it can take
15 to 45 days to eliminate the colony... but they usually all die.

I inspect houses, and in addition to wood, termites eat the paper on
sheetrock, yellow pages, books, cardboard, newspaper, some ceiling tiles,
homosote board, masonite, and just about anything with a cellulose base.
PT wood is untasty when new, but if you lie it on the ground the chemical
will eventually leach out and the termites will infest the wood. And to
throw a rock in the gears... Carpenter Ants do not eat wood... but they
can cause almost identical sorts of damage as they hollow out wood to
build sub-colony nests in houses.

Both are officially called WDI's (Wood Destroying Insects) in our
nationally spec'd reports. Two other WDIs are Carpenter Bees and Powder
Post Beetles. If you sink the wood into the concrete, you're not helping
the wood, and that's why the PT warranty is voided if the wood is placed
on/in the ground and not on a raised sonotube or cement foundation.

Termidor and Premise are not available to the general public AFAIK. You
have to have a specific termite license to buy/use it here in New England.

Termite 101 is over...


James "Cubby" Culbertson wrote:
Thanks Larry,
Yeah, the termites are pretty prolific here too (NM). I've actually
decided to mount the post to the wall above the ground. After all the
trouble of mounting, layout, etc...I just decided to heck with it and
will put some gringo blocks in the adobe and mount to them. The gate
will be pretty small so it shouldn't need much support.

On a side note, I've noticed the termites don't mess with the treated
lumber. I have a few cutoffs of regular doug fir and some treated stuff
out in the yard. Went to clean them up the other day and the termites
were all over the doug fir but didn't tough the treated stuff.

I've been reading about a new chem (actually not that new) called
Termidor that supposedly works very well against the critters. Might
have to inquire about that one of these days.
Cheers,