I need to demolish and store a rice barn. It is made of good materials, mostly teak with mai dang for the joists. There is no rot.

I intend to "flatpack" it and who knows it may be years.

I am concerned about insect trouble. I have been told by someone to spray the ground under with insecticide, and by my Thai landlord to use diesel.

Can anyone enlighten me as comprehensively as possible?

Thank you....

Edited January 1, 200719 yr by reasonstobecheerful

Keep the wood off the ground so that you can spray on and around it using shelldrite or similar. You will need to keep an eye on the wood and spray at the first sign of insect attack. Some friends spray on the first day of every month and have no problems storing wood but I think this is too much and I would only spray when you see the little buggers approaching.

Keep the wood off the ground so that you can spray on and around it using shelldrite or similar. You will need to keep an eye on the wood and spray at the first sign of insect attack. Some friends spray on the first day of every month and have no problems storing wood but I think this is too much and I would only spray when you see the little buggers approaching.

Spray every month.

These are sneaky little pests and you will not see them coming............

Keep the wood off the ground so that you can spray on and around it using shelldrite or similar. You will need to keep an eye on the wood and spray at the first sign of insect attack. Some friends spray on the first day of every month and have no problems storing wood but I think this is too much and I would only spray when you see the little buggers approaching.

Spray every month.

These are sneaky little pests and you will not see them coming............

Thankyou both for your comments.

A couple of things.....

There is a pond not far from where the wood will be stored. I would not like to pollute it. Do you know the active ingredient of Shelldrite, it is not esy to find on a search. It seems it may be a permethrin and these are said to be very toxic to fish.

Secondly, Astral, you say make sure to spray monthly. Is this based on gut feeling or evidence? It would be a pain as I would have to drive a ways to go there. I have already realised that rain could be a major factor in washing insecticide away, and am considering building some sort of roofed structure to protect it.

It's kind of strange having to do all this given that the barn has been up for about 60 years and there is no evidence at all of insect damage!

Thanks again.

definitely keep the wood dry.....do you have to tear it down?....sounds like its doing well on its own....do you know of someone with an attic space that you could squeeze it into?....that way it would be remote from most insects (which usually arive via the earth under a pile of wood) and dry.

Chownah

definitely keep the wood dry.....do you have to tear it down?....sounds like its doing well on its own....do you know of someone with an attic space that you could squeeze it into?....that way it would be remote from most insects (which usually arive via the earth under a pile of wood) and dry.

Chownah

Yes Chownah I have agreed to remove the barn soon. As for your attic idea....it is really a sizeable barn, over 7 metres long and high to boot.....there is a lot of wood, and I estimate the ten เสา alone are about half a ton each....you wouldn't want them coming through the ceiling!

The upside of going through the hassle is that this barn can form the basis of a dwelling on it's own. There's room for an opened up sala type dayroom/office and a modest bedroom upstairs, and room for a shower room, storage locker and open kitchen/art studio or something downstairs. It could be a useful addition to an existing property or a small but pleasant retreat on it's own. It looks a bit rough in the photo in my first post, but that bit of dodgy gutter board is about the only piece of wood not very good and straight indeed which I am told is rare. Some one I know had to buy three barns to make one recently because of poor condition.

What's the rough cost of Shelldrite please anyone and if you have some in the shed what's the main ingredient?

Also is it true a pressure sprayer will cut the grey surface back to the true colour?

Edited January 3, 200719 yr by reasonstobecheerful

I'm bumping this cos I'd still really like to find someone who can answer the two questions in my last post.....thankyou:

What's the rough cost of Shelldrite please anyone and if you have some in the shed what's the main ingredient?

Is it true a pressure sprayer will cut the grey surface back to the true colour?

I believe teak can be sanded back to its original colour, and should then be oiled.

That is the way they deal with teak decks on yachts.

try sanding a patch and see

I believe teak can be sanded back to its original colour, and should then be oiled.

That is the way they deal with teak decks on yachts.

teak is a low maintaince material with high content of natural oils ,

traditional maintance on yachts is a salt water wash only .............

Have you considered moving the whole thing complete, lower it onto a trailer and relocate it.

Don't know your space situation but just a thought.

Thanks for all your suggestions I actually have done an awful lot of woodwork in my time but am still interested in the ingredients and price of shelldrite.

If the grey is indeed removed by a pressure sprayer it would be a new one on me and a very quick way of cleaning up the appearance of timber, so I would love to know about anyone's personal experience.

BTW I don't have a place to put up the barn, and want to store it as well as possible for however long it takes until a site comes up....could be a long time.

Around here, there are hundreds of such rice barns and their wood doesn't seem to get attacked by insects.

Could that be because they are up on pillars?

If I had your problem, and no local Thai to advise me, I would relocate some of the pillars that are presently holding up the barn to be supports for the store of wood and use some of the present roof to make a raised cover that would shed the rain.

Then wait and watch what happens.

But, around here, I would expect to get advice from people who have had generations of knowledge about how to store such timber handed down to them. I would expect to find that it is one small part of 'village lore', with roots that go back long before the formation of the Royal Dutch Shell company!

You can use a sandblaster to remove the surface layer of the wood but it will differentially abrade the grain so that it will stand out from the surface a bit....some people like this effect as it looks weathered but keeps the original wood color.....a matter of taste. You can do a similar thing by wire brushing...we used to char the surface of cedar and then brush it with a rotary wire brush to make an interesting effect and I imagine you could do the same with teak...or just do the brushing without the charring.

Chownah

You can use a sandblaster to remove the surface layer of the wood but it will differentially abrade the grain so that it will stand out from the surface a bit....some people like this effect as it looks weathered but keeps the original wood color.....a matter of taste. You can do a similar thing by wire brushing...we used to char the surface of cedar and then brush it with a rotary wire brush to make an interesting effect and I imagine you could do the same with teak...or just do the brushing without the charring.

Chownah

Interesting thanks Chownah yes I can see that.......has anyone done it with just the pressure sprayer perhaps that will remove the colour without differentially abrading the grain?

Ingredients/price/effectiveness of Shelldrite?

Ingredients/price/effectiveness of Shelldrite?

Thai distributor http://www.victorm.com/product/product.html

No hint of the ingredients though

The manufacturer http://www.sherwood.co.th/index.html Thai site, so I can't tell what's in the stuff (or even if the site has details).

Edited January 8, 200719 yr by Crossy

Did you google "shelldrite active ingredient"?

stay away from both the sandblaster and the pressure washer ,

you'll remove way too much of the soft pith and destroy a beautiful timber .