WHEN I WAS STUDYING at UCLA in the early 1950s, I lived in a small house that was held together by stucco on the outside and plaster on the inside. The wall framing had long been devoured by families of termites. Today, a number of defensive strategies are used to deter termites. Check with the building inspector and with builders in your area to find out which of the following strategies are used locally and how they work with different types of foundations.
Keeping wood dry. Termites like wet wood. Scrap wood buried at a job site can attract an infestation. And once they’re finished with that Lumber, they’ll look for other wet wood, such as wood siding in contact with the ground or moisture-laden floor joists in a damp crawl space. Eliminate the supply of wet wood and termites will be motivated to look elsewhere.
Pressure-treated wood. Today, most houses are required to have at least some wood that termites don’t eat. Pressure-treated wood qualifies, but on most houses it’s used only as the mudsill atop the foundation. A more extensive use of pressure-treated wood (in the joists over a crawl space, for example) provides good protection in termite-prone areas.
Pesticide treatment. A licensed pest-control contractor can apply termiticide (termite-targeting pesticide) around footings and foundations before backfilling to create a barrier that deters insects.
Termite shields. This metal flashing is installed between the top of the foundation and the mudsill. The shield makes it more difficult for termites to build their earth-tone access tubes between the ground and the floor framing. The shield also makes the tubes easier to spot curing an inspection.
be applied. Asphalt-type coalings are popular because they are inexpensive and have been used for manv years. More effective and more expensive coatings are also available and should be considered when you’re building in soil that stays wet for extended periods of time. No matter how good a waterproof coating is supposed to he, it shouldn’t be your only line of defense against under-house moisture (see the sidebar on p. 48).
