Has anybody out there had to fumigate (termites) the shop? My shop is wood frame and I have a really bad termite problem that could end up costing me a lot of bucks. I have got a good appraisal for tenting but the tenter had no clue as what I needed to remove, for example blanks, tools, templates, etc. Any real world advice would be helpful. This is a real problem in here in Cali if you have wood construction anywhere, a few years ago the termites got into my truck camper frame and basically reduced it to dust…
Take the FOAM out. Any cloth and anything in the glassing area that cant be sealed.
I agree w/Acqua… foam, glass,move it out. Resin in a drum no problem… the chemical they use won’t affectstuff like tools and stuff like that. Acetone should be closed but I doubt you have much acetone or catalyst since the advent of UV resin… I’d still take my catalyst and acetone out unless the acetone is in a sealed drum or five gallon cans. Or if in fivers, just take them out to error to caution.
The thing about termites in Cali is common… the Orkin man told me they can reinfest the day the tent comes off. He told me you can look up and see clouds of them in the sky at certain times of year. The companies that offer two year warranties is actually coverage in case they missed something on the originally tenting because it takes longer than that for termites born to develop enough to be destructive.
Subterranean termites are the most destructive… he had me remove any wood piles stacked on the ground adjacent to my house as that attracts them to food sources. They make extensive tunnels in and around wood structures.
The house that I had in Santa Barbara back when I learned this stuff, was built in 1919 up in a canyon off the west side. Orkin man told me “your house is old growth redwood… termites don’t like this stuff and it’s the only reason your house is still standing. The new faster growing redwood species is crap compared to this stuff”.
Just tent it, getit treated, then move back in with the ‘new’ termites.
Too bad they can’t help sand or glass.
The accuracy of this is based on what I was told by a guy that had been in the industry for forty years andhad been a building inspector and appraiser before becoming a supervisor for Orkin.
Yes the SUBS will eat foam, deck pads etc. No doubt . I have personally seen those Viet Nam buggers do it on Maui. Lowel
They rode underneath the body/bed of a truck from Kauai to Maui via Young Bros. I don’t know how they got to Kauai. They may have been “boat people”. When my former bi-polar landlornd bought the van he filled it with boxes of Surf Tech Soft Tops. Short term storage. Boy were we suprised when we pulled them outta the cardboard and plastic and found all those “snail-tail” trails thru the soft-tops. Kinda artsy though. Lowel
Never did like soft tops…
The Garden isle has always been my favorites, I have lots of local friends that I have earned over many years.
One of which lived at the Robinson compound at Pakala. I once asked about termites and they told me, “No problem da lumber was floated in”.
If you research the history of Santa Barbara, you will find that prior to the wharf, they floated the lumber in. Same thing. Hey I don’t know about 1919.
Most of those structures in SB burned or where torn down.
Eh just my worthless 2 cents!
**set some bait traps around the ground when you see termites in there dust them with arsnic
they will continue to clean each other and be all gone
which reminds me i need to put a few around again**
cheers huie
…does that work for soft tops too?
…I have my house infested with some of these or similar; they have been eating the wood of the garage roof framing for about 35 years or more; they like the sanding and shaping racks, sanding blocks wooden backs and some Balsa planks that I have from Ecuador; Some planks look like cheese; however they do not like foam; PU or PS; at least this specie…
I tried fumigating with some gases, but without success.
Thanks guys for all the advice! My old shop was steel but I was renting. The landlord kept coming by and kept seeing me moving product out of the shop and kept raising the rent every chance he got to where it was ridiculous. I now own my shop but the wood construction has attracted the bugs! I’m going to wait to fumigate until winter when orders slow down and I have a lot less blanks & material on hand. I will use the stakes on the two sides that are exposed to soil like Huie suggests. The only other problem I have had is the bees, which are attracted to finished shapes sprayed yellow! They like to take little bites out (they think it’s a giant flower with pollen) so I have to cover them as soon as they are dry. The bees are everywhere as we have a lot of beekeepers in the area. Once they are glassed, they don’t attract them.
Again, thanks everyone….