OT termites in concrete?

Gary Mitchell · Mar 29, 2016

There was a pole barn on this place when we moved here. I had a floor poured, sectioned off part of it for a storage room and part for a shop. In the ceiling of a corner of a small room off the shop there looks and feels like a wad of cement. It's hard to the touch. I drilled the concrete and plate and stuck all thread in the holes to keep the walls from shifting. It also looks like there is a leak up there. Can termites get through concrete? gm

Janicholson · Mar 29, 2016

Not through, but over for sure. They build Tubes to allow transit to the "food". I had a redwood house in San Jose that had all the carpet tack strips eaten out of it, but the house was not touched. They built tubes up the redwood to get to the soft pine. Jim

David G · Mar 29, 2016

Jim is right, they will build tubes around the concrete to get to wood, same thing with treated lumber.

jeffcat · Mar 29, 2016

They need the tubes to protect them but mostly they need the moisture.T hey die pretty quick if exposed to dry outdoors air. Some people use a prosess of "cooking" termites with dry high temp air and a blower system.. Bunny hugger way to do it. It does work but you need to get ALL of them and then treat the sub areas with something to kill anyone who is left. Clorodane used to work really well until they found out how deadly the stuff really is. I hope I have this correct. My neighbor used to do termite treatment. Tons of testing and paper work for every job. They will travel for many many feet to get to some yummy wood.

Adirondack case guy · Mar 29, 2016

Termites can't chew thru concrete. That is just an example of poor engineering/design. Concrete draws moisture and you DO NOT put nontreated lumber in direct contact with concrete, especially partical board. Migration of moisture is your biggest problem. Moisture draws unwanted pests.
Loren.

37chief · Mar 29, 2016

Termites also fly. I don't know the life cycle of a termite, but somewhere along the way they have wings.Stan

Indiana Ken · Mar 29, 2016

I had termites in a house I purchased. They were in the garage sill plate and came in through the small space between the garage floor and the foundation wall. Easy to see - look for the dirt tubes from the garage floor to the sill plate. They will also come in through cracks in concrete to find wood.

da.bees · Mar 29, 2016

I know it sound's like a crock (I wouldn't have believed it had I not saw it) termites ate thousands of holes in a bundle of fiberglass shingles that was laying on the ground. The termites were still in the shingles when I discovered what was happening. I haven't found anything to control them long term since Cloradane.

donjr · Mar 29, 2016

Man, you got troubles. They ain't termites. What you probly got is a form of stone worm thet eats concrete. They started out gittin imported from Ireland or Scotland via England, and were first diagnosed in New Jersey, and spread from there. Shortly after they were first noticed, USDA tried treating them with insecticides that were too weak to kill them because of Callyfornicate rulings. It only took a short time for the bugs to develop a resistance to most pesticides, and sought a second host to stone and started munching on concrete. So the next best thing you can do is to keep the area affected doused down with Jack Daniels or Jim Beam for about a week. You have to have someone at the bottom of the area with a hammer what kin smash the little boggers as they stagger out for some fresh air. Hope this helps- Good Luck.......

john in la · Mar 30, 2016

Not sure I understand your situation.
Why would you have a wad of concrete in the ceiling?

But anyway.
Termites can not chew threw "solid" concrete.
They can get threw any crack in the concrete.
They will tunnel around any concrete or treated wood to get to untreated wood.

Now here is the kicker that most do not consider.
The only reason a termite needs a tunnel or way back to the ground is to have access to water.
If you have a leak; they get to your A/C condensing coil pan; or ANY other source of water they do not need access to the ground. They can fly in set up shop and use this water source to survive.

OT termites in concrete?

Gary Mitchell

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Janicholson

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David G

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jeffcat

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Adirondack case guy

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37chief

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Indiana Ken

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da.bees

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donjr

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john in la

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