Interesting. I do have some termite issue in my own concrete house. The kind that I have can come up through a 1/32 inch crack in the concrete floor to get at cabinets, wood studs, etc. At present they're not active, part of the house was remediated before I got here, and I'm figuring out what to do. None of the affected wood is not structural or load-bearing of the roof, and the termites are not active at this moment, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do.
It is several hundred dollars to fix, and a homeowner has other expenses. Maybe I'll remove all the house's wood, make a pile of it outside, invite the termites over and collect methane emissions from their activities? >>I wonder why the poster left out concrete or steel framing? Too much >>interaction with modern civilization necessary for these >>more-industrialized materials to be used? > >Not sure - I am sure he'd know all about it though. He does add >something about concrete in a follow-up post, but it's more about >termites. (Below.) I don't know much about concrete and steel framing >- is it cost-competitive? Is it in fact that industrialised? He seems >to have been thinking more of using locally available materials. > >>Anyway, thx for the excellent post. > >Yer welcome MM. Follow-up: > >>I didn't say a thing about termite protection. Should know better. >>It was important when I was building tract housing in the early >>50's---today it is infinitely worse with the widening infestation of >>the ravenous Formosa Termite. Termites won't eat concrete, but will >>run their dirt access tunnels up poured concrete or block stem walls >>to get at anything containing cellulose---starting with stud walls >>and eating your roof structure for dessert. This is principally a >>hazard of crawl-space houses where the tunnels are concealed. >>Poured-basement houses are unaffected. Block basement houses are >>extremely vulnerable. Cap those exposed interior passages at both >>ends. >> >>Slab houses can be affected though. In a cold climate, slabs are >>designed to float inside the stem-wall, so the ends are insulated >>from the stem wall by a couple inches of styrofoam insulation. If >>you don't do this, in midwinter there will be up to two feet of >>frost extending inwards from all your exterior walls. Termites >>don't metabolize styrofoam, but they will tunnel through it to get >>to wood. Good idea to employ an insulation that is, or can be made >>chemically poisonous to termites (and roaches). Boric acid >>works---has to have a metal shield or other vapor barrier under it >>to prevent water or water vapor leaching it away. There are other >>chemical applications---research them carefully, manufacturers have >>no inhibitions abour misrepresenting product safety---by the time >>someone is seriously injured and attempts to sue them, they have >>collapsed their corporation and moved to the Cayman Islands where >>they can thumb their noses at you. > > > > > > >Biofuel at Journey to Forever: >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > >Biofuels list archives: >http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ > >Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. >To unsubscribe, send an email to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
