Drilling & Injecting

Drilling concrete slabs and injecting chemical is one of the ways to protect a property from termites, and then there are obviously variations of those treatment methods depending on the type of construction and requirements of the treatment. However, there have to be a few specifications met to ensure it is done correctly. Here we will highlight a few for you to consider.

Hole Spacings! When holes are drilled to inject termiticide under a concrete slab to treat the footing of a wall, the holes cannot be more than 150mm from the wall. This home had holes exceeding 300mm. Needless to say, the original treatment failed and the home was re infested. 

Injecting Termidor under a slab.

Holes are often drilled around a perimeter to ensure a complete chemical barrier to prevent termites getting in.

Hole spacings on this property exceeded 300mm! Once again, they were beyond specification, holes should be between 150-300mm apart. The greater tolerance is reserved for porous soil types and rarely used in our practice. Ironically this was done on an internal wall that was a 

Once again, hole spacing was beyond specification. More examples below.... 

Termatrac finds termites - where thermal imaging won't!

Most people have heard of thermal imaging inspections, mostly due to the heavy advertising that takes place to promote it by inspectors. But many people don't realise the limitations that comes from using thermal imaging. Here is a great example of why the Termatrac T3i is superior in detecting termites. (And no, I'm not paid by Termatrac, more like I pay them for my Termatrac!)

A Termatrac T3i Set up on a tripod to detect termites moving in a ceiling - this was in a 2 storey building where the cavity was heavily insulated.

In this particular instance, the ceiling did not have any temperature variation at all, which meant that thermal imaging was not able to detect any activity at all. The Termatrac however, could locate the areas of activity, thus allowing the area to be baited accurately with minimal disturbance to the termites.

The Termites were subsequently baited, you can see here the cavity and the insulation on the side of the bait box.

The colony was safely eradicated due to the ability for the Termatrac to accurately pinpoint the areas of activity!

Hidden dangers of previous treatments.

With 1 in 3 Australian houses being affected by termites, it's not uncommon for a house to have had a previous treatment, and while it's good that something has been done to deal with the termites, sometimes the residues of the treatment are far from safe.

Take Arsenic Trioxide for example.

This highly toxic substance has been used for many years to eradicate termite colonies, the main drawback however, is that this substance is left behind in the timber long after the termites have been eradicated.

If there was any doubt about how dangerous it is, look at the MSDS for the Arsenic Dust commonly used for termite eradication and then correlate the Schedule 7 Poison label with this list.

To add insult to injury, it's mandated that notification be provided when arsenic is used to control termites in a building (as with many other termite treatments) however, during our inspections we seldom find any reference to any termite treatment in the meter box or anywhere else in the house. It's usually when we're confronted by the actual dusting that we first realise  that arsenic dusting has taken place.

If you're worried that your home could have arsenic in the timber, make sure that you get a thorough inspection outlining if there has been any termite damage or treatments.

The bright red dust you see in this picture is arsenic trioxide dust. It was used in the past to eradicate termites from this timber and the dust is clearly visible.

The Arsenic trioxide dust penetrates deep into galleries in the timber. Thus exposing anyone who works on the timber, (think renovation) exposed to arsenic trioxide dust. A Schedule 7 Dangerous poison.

Baiting for Colony eradication.

Eradicating termites involves more than just "killing the termites"!

The aim is to kill off the whole nest rather than just the ones that are attacking your home. 

Baiting involves more than just putting a bait box where termites are found.

Once the termites have been identified, it's important to bait correctly, this involves:

1. . Baiting at a feeding site - termites will rarely want to feed along a shelter tube, they have areas where they are feeding and all the termites know where they are as they communicate via pheromones, so it's important to install the bait at the correct location.
2. Bait without disturbance - termites shy away from any dangers, particularly the workers - which do the feeding. As soon as a breach of their workings occurs, the termite workers evacuate the area and the soldiers head straight for the breach to defend the colony. The Soldiers don't do any feeding, so you want to keep this situation to a minimum, otherwise the termites might shut down the feeding site and go elsewhere.
3. Supplying the bait in a way that termites will find desirable - Termites know what they like, and each species is different, so it's important that bait placement and consistency is in line with the preference of the termites that have been found. If it's not done correctly, the termites may just bypass the bait and keep feeding on your home.

A baiting program commenced on a property, here the termites were found indoors in the flooring. Being careful when installing the bait station is imperative to getting them to feed. 

One week in and they have already devoured all of the bait, this was replenished and they continued to feed....

A tight spot between levels on a multi-storey building meant being creative with the bait. These were Schedorhinotermes being baited, they can be very difficult to bait and in this case, required several baiting locations, this colony consumed more than 800g of bait!

These Coptotermes had to be baited in a subfloor, there were very few feeding sites, so finding a spot where they would feed took a lot of hunting!

Determining termite genus & species - another part of an inspection.

Getting a termite inspection also involves determining the species of termites in a building and also the species of those surrounding the building. Each species have their own characteristics, interestingly only About 12 Species of termite damage sound timber in Australia. That's of the approximately 350 species in Australia, so determining termite species is important. The behaviour of these timber destroying species does vary, so an accurate identification is essential. 

A Coptotermes acinaciformus worker. The Coptotermes genus is one of the most destructive termites in Australia, accounting for the majority of the timber damage in structures. These were found in a subfloor and were consuming leftover formwork in the subfloor.

Nasutitermes on a fence post, this genus are very destructive termites, and are a threat to homes and timber structures. These were within 50m of a house and are a direct threat to the home.

The destructive Schedorhinotermes can be very difficult to control because of their their shy behaviour. And yes, they are very destructive! Here are some during a baiting programme we're carrying out.

So, make sure that termites are identified correctly during an inspection. The threat to your property, the type of treatment options and the effectiveness on control all depend on correctly identifying the termites in and around your home!

Termatrac - Detecting termites in difficult places.

Termites often like to hide out in concealed places, it's the very nature of their existence, so it's important to have the right tools to find them.

We use a Termatrac extensively during our inspections, it helps us to identify termite activity or often just for peace of mind that there really is no activity. The unit uses a radar to bounce signals into wood and other materials to determine if there's movement, it's so sensitive that it's best to set up on a tripod as you can see in the pictures. The benefit is that we can get an extremely accurate understanding of what's happening inside walls and means we don't have to do any destructive inspecting.

Checking a door jamb where evidence of termite mudding existed.

The unit sends signals deep into the timber to accurately measure movement.

Termites were discovered in this wall because of the Termatrac.