Fighting Termites

[st11x]

G'day,

I have been away from my property in Chiang Mai and just learnt that my kitchen cabinets have been eaten by termites. How do you properly deal with them if you are going to leave your property vacant?

We have a housekeeper to come and clean the house, she will run the water, turn on the air conditioning, etc. I suspect the cabinets were not opened to be aired nor were they cleaned. We also have a contract with a termite company that comes 4 times a year.

Recently, we asked the termite company to drill a hole in the floor under one of the cabinets and inject the liquid inside as well.

It'll cost 60K THB to replace the cabinets. I question if I should replace them now since I am going to be there for a short while and then go away again. If they get infected again, it's money down the drain.

So any suggestions what else I can do to protect the investments and prevent it from spreading?

I have mold that had developed on other cabinets in the living room, but that seems to be easy to deal with.

thanks

Matt

[rayinkrabi]

Sorry to state the obvious but why would you even consider replacing timber units with same after whats happened? Surely the way to go is to build brick or concrete base units and preferably not bother with closing them in with doors if you have enough wall units to store all your stuff.

One more thought, although the kitchen unit destruction by termites is annoying..it could be worse, have you checked out the rest of your house? starting with anything structural, i.e. roof timbers and door frames etc. A friend of mine has exactly the same problem as you, the pesky termites have made a meal of everything in his 3 bedroom house, roof timbers, kit'n units, skirting boards, picture frames and even clothes!

[Lazy Sod]

3 years after we bought this house we had an infestation of termites downstairs, they were everywhere, eating the floor, gypsum ceiling, built-in cabinets, it was a nightmare. It took a while to get rid of them but we finally did it 3 years ago (I hope) here is what I suggest from my own experience.

No wooden floors on the ground floor

No wood near or attached to the outside of the house

No built-in wooden cabinets - in the kitchen build the cabinets from brick/tiles with wooden doors only, as the poster above suggests

Install rain canopies over windows and doors. You dont wany any rain pouring onto wooden things like doors and windows, and even better no rain flowing down outside walls (which will collect under the house and be perfect for a termite colony). Consider rain gutters.

Termites need water, try to check if there are any water leaks if possible.

Don't relay on monthly perimeter sprays, they are more for the ants.

Get the pest control company to drill holes in the floor and flood the entire under house with pesticide.

Termites are constantly foraging for new food, the colony is underground and so the first place they look is the ground floor, the theory is that if you have no food for them on the ground floor they will normally not bother to go upstairs. So far it has worked for us, we have exactly the same wooden floors upstairs as downstairs, but upstairs they are untouched (fingers crossed). But, I've heard of termites on high floors in offices, but I guess there is food for them 'on the way up'.

[Lazy Sod]

One other thing I did. There was one area where the termites were entering behind a cupboard. I got a bag of the termite/ant powder (from most supermarkets) and mixed it 50/50 with a tub of wall putty (wear gloves and a mask). I coated the area/wall and let it dry and put the cupboard back. It seems to have worked so far as I guess the termites will die on contact. I thought of it after seeing on the internet that you can buy similar stuff ready mixed in some countries.

Sorry to say, but if you have only replaced the wooden built-in cupboards then chances are they will be back. You may be lucky and the underfloor spraying might stop them but only time will tell.

[cheeryble]

I have wood stored outside my house which the termites have had their percentage of.

An interesting thing....

I occasionally knock any pieces that have the mud-looking stuff which they walk inside.

The stuff falls off easily.

Here's the interesting bit:

When it's knocked off the termites don't return.....or at least for a long time.

I suspect maybe they release a chemical saying "hey this is a dangerous area".

If this is the case and could be produced and sprayed on voila.....and likely to be non-toxic to us.

So there's the possible key to a fortune....go out and do it someone, and don't forget old Cheeryble.

Cheeryble

[thaipod]

There is a nematode that you can get from Kasetsat university , that we had great success on our orchard you just find a nest and mix them with water and pour it around and never to seen again.

[Khun Jean]

Interesting, do you have the name of the specific species?

[thaipod]

Not sure of the species . You need to check with the Uni