Termite protection - new and existing building work

Hi. We have a bit of an issue. We have just had a chemical termite barrier put in, and now the building inspector says that chemical barriers are not sufficient under AS 3660.1. The inspector says it needs to be a phyiscal barrier (eg. Termimesh). I've just got off the phone with the local Termimesh agent and they say a physical barrier won't work.

Our house is a Queenslander that sits on concrete block walls. The house was lifted, and an additional 4 rows of blocks were added. Also, there was a small section of wall that was missing, where a new footing and block wall were constructed. So, the majority of the footing and block wall is existing building work, but there is a small section that is new. Also a slab has been poured downstairs.

The inspector is applying AS 3660.1 (new building work) rather than AS 3660.2 (existing building work). Does anyone have a view on whether this is right, and whether it would make any difference?

Termimesh say their product won't work because of the block walls. They say it needs to be laid into the slab and/or should have been laid into a mortar course in the blockwork. Obviously a bit late for that now...

Anyone got any idea or solutions? We seem to be reaching a point where there is no practical solution, so the building work can never be able to be signed off.

thanks.

I would get the termimesh agent to come out and have a look because I can't for the life of me see why it wont work in your situation. We have just finished building a new house, half is on bearers and joists and half on a slab. We have used Termimesh for the pier caps and the continuous ant capping around the perimeter wall. It was also used at the point of interface with the slab edge, where we bedded it in the slab and brought it down under the ajacent bearer and over the engaged piers.

Ahh, I should have read your post properly. You've already finished the job. In that case, I don't know....

Maybe Granite Guard?

We are building a new house in Brissie and the builder is using "TermiGlass" similar idea to granite gard using glass instead of the rock. Not sure if it can help you out though...

http://www.termicide.com.au/termiglass/termiglass.asp

Sorry Cameron, I know SFA about termites.

You have the option of a chemical or physical barrier, if the slab was poured without a spray underneath that could be the problem. It may be possible to drill and spray. If there are no penetrations then it may only need to be done around the inside and outside perimeter of the new slab. Discuss with the pest controller that did your spray. There should also be an appeal or modification process in which you can modify the building regulations, thus shifting the liability from the building surveyor. If have never come accross a situation where you can not us chemical barriers.

The inspector is right in applying AS 3660.1 to the new works, the existing should be irrelevant.

good luck

No that doesn't sound at all right Cameron.
Under the BCA you can use physical, chemical or visual methods.
Queensland do have a state additional provision under the BCA with further requirements which I am unsure of, but I seem to remember it relates to protecting perimeter sprays etc. - there will be references through qld government websites.
There are concerns that because the organochlorines only last around 5 odd years that many home owners aren't aware that the chemicals may not be performing but I'd be extremely surprised if queensland was brave enough not to allow chemical sprays.
If the inspector has given you a bum steer as I suspect I'd be asking for reimbursement for the time you've wasted.

We had a similar problem two or three years ago with our place. I ended up using a mix of termimesh on the new bits, and a chemical barrier, complete with buried irrigation piping so it can be re done every now and then on the old.

The Termimesh guys did the lot.

Cheers,

P

Hi, I am a uni student studying building surveying and can access the bca online. I just had a brief look and section 3.1.3.3 states ' barriers for concrete slab on ground must have penetrations and perimeter treated, edge of slab on ground may be used as perimeter barrier provided edge is
(i) left exposed 75mm above finished ground level & (ii) the exposed edge is smooth - does not conceal termite activity & (iii) the exposed slab surface is not rendered, tiled, clad or concealed by flashing. don't know if that helps, regards M

a chemical soil barrier can be used as an external perimeter barrier. it consists of a a trench treated and backfilled with treated material and covered by 50mm concrete cover strip not less than 300mm wide measured from the external wall of the building - BCA (qld acceptable construction manual 3.1.3.0)

I'm doing a "spec"home at the moment and we have used much the same system as bitingmidge did,a pvc pipe is dug in around the perimeter of the house before the paths are poured and there are several access points so it can be topped up at a later date.We also could have used a barrier such as termimesh but as bricklayers the termimesh blokes drive us mad sometimes especially on raft slabs when they want us to brick up two courses and then wait for a couple of days or so until they get to the job and put the mesh in.

We got our new house chemically treated. There were some other physical protection features (ant caps etc), but because it wasn't continuous in all areas we had to top it up with a comprehensive chemical treatment. There was no mention of Termimesh or Graniteguard at all (our inspector (council man) was usually very careful not to specify proprietary products, companies or tradesmen to us at any time.)
BCA are a guide to the standards to be achieved. If you propose a solution to your inspector that satisfies the standards, then they absolutely have the power (and obligation - IMHO) to accept that. They would not be a popular inspector if they were not capable of 'applying' the standards to all the inevitable problems that come up when building, and which are not necessarily covered by specific clauses of the BCA.

Good luck, Justine

would these help,

http://www.termitetrap.com.au/index.html

Hi elphingirl, I don't know how you apply the BCA in Vic, here in Qld, Local and regional planning instruments, then the QDC, then BCA then AS are given precedence in that order. Of course the BCA calls up many standards, but whatever does not conform to 'acceptable construction' techniques will usually need to be engineer designed, so to use the bca to solve construction problems(including white ants) will certainly save a sh*tload of cash in the long run, it is not merely a guide here in the sunny state