Thread: Termites, enough to make one cry!

I'm guessing you had the timber sitting on the ground or close to it? need to keep it well up of the ground with plenty of Air flow under neath and between the lengths (spaces) and keep it dry !! Move the timber away from that spot that will stop the termites from returning to the nest and keep it high of the ground with plenty of air flow keeping it in the sunlight for 3-4 days (The termites will move out and go back in the ground ) ...then move it Into a shed if possible (concrete floor) is best! remember to space your timber and keep it high and dry

My mistake, after "rescuing all of this timber I have allowed this to happen. Was about 100mm off of the ground on hardwood bearers theat havent been touched. I fear that most of it is firewood. Might put some through the thicknesser to see how it comes out. I will lay it out in the sun tomorrow and give it a bit of Carbarol.

G'day mate,

don't give up on that worked on pile because for some years now I have been making furniture out of the timber white ants have been munching on, they give amazing detail to the surface and if you can get over the shock of first seeing them at work, you may be able to use the remainder to your advantage. But if you want straight sound sticks, as they said high and dry!

Cheers Oddjob1

A bit late now, but in future stack timber well off the ground. Obviously the ants have come from the ground and gone all the way to the top. I should imagine you will find a seasonal nest some where towards the centre of the pack. They will be using your timber stack as they would a tree.
Set up a decent foundation for your stack ie brick or block piers 200mm high topped with ant caps, Run two bearers over the piers 800mm apart running with the length of the stack, Then 1000mm gluts at 450mm centres across the bearers. Keep the grass away and you should be ant free.

The first piece of information is that termites eat wood that is affected by decay organisms, and therefore, logic has it that wood that is unaffected by fungi are unattractive to termites. What this means is that any piece of timber that at one time stood as a living tree in a forest that when exposed to any form of injury is automatically affected by wood rotting fungi, which will carry the affect to its wood all the way to the frame of a house or in your case, to the sawn and stacked timber in your shed. Termites target decayed wood that is always affected by fungi and never healthy wood albeit sap wood.

Now all you have to do is figure out how to use this new feature in your next project...