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Termites & radiant floors

Wayco Wayne_2
Wayco Wayne_2 Member Posts: 2,479
in THE MAIN WALL
from a customer who recently got a radiant floor installed. The exterminator would not treat her house for termites because she had a radiant floor. He said the heat would attact the termites. I'm surprized by this claim since I've never heard of such a thing. The floor is 1/2 multi-core, in slab, on grade insulated around the perimeter with styrofoam and underneath with insultarp. I've done it a lot and never had any claims concerning termites. Any information out there about this subject????? WW

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Comments

  • hr
    hr Member Posts: 6,106
    Yeah, they like foam

    alright! Pest experts tell me they "usually" will not eat or bore to nest without a close source of water.

    Some of the foams are available with a borate treatment, but it is not long lasting, and needs to be retreated. Not easily done under a slab.

    I have had two jobs here in Missouri where terminators came in to treat for termite problems and drilled into the radiant tube while trying to treat the ground underneath. Bummer! Maybe that is part of your guy's concern.

    I removed this piece of 2" from an exteriow wall of a radiantly heated home, a few years back. Makes me wonder what the under slab insulation looks like :(

    Last I heard Dow has some new termiticides that are working, but yet to be approved by the EPA?

    Yet another reason to consider InsulTarp. The manufacture tells me, tests show they won't chew thru the aluminum layer inside the tarp. Maybe it hurts their teeth :)

    Think I would rather take the R value hit and not lay awake at night wondering about that chewing sound :)



    Search the FHB and JLC websites for more good articles on foam and insects.

    hot rod

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  • Capt.Dan
    Capt.Dan Member Posts: 19
    very timely

    This termite issue is very interesting because I have just finished up with an evening class on radiant heat and controls. One night we kind of got distracted and started talking about termites and foam insulation. We spent better than half the class time that night talking about it. One of my fellow students has a business doing concrete drains and what not and has an engineering degree in something to do with concrete. It is his belief that by placing styrofoam down before the pour will invite termites because they like warmth and go searching for it. The only solution that he could offer was to spread so sort of repellant on the soil before putting the foam down. I am finding too much stuff out after i have already done things. I am ready to start over. Dan
  • Weezbo
    Weezbo Member Posts: 6,232
    how do we poll the termites.....

    preferences? i wonder if they like red rehau for lunch rather than the plain white he pex...maybe the little demons are becomming coniseurs of say stadler products maybe they will become sated on the 2 inches of foam and DIE of Bloat the rotten little B@%#@*#ds :)
  • Ken_8
    Ken_8 Member Posts: 1,640
    Rumor has it...

    That copper radiant tube saturated with chloridane, surrounded by mercury and PCB's is a pretty effective deterent; especially when the insulation is urea-formaldehyde.

    No need for a boiler. The thermo-chemical soup produces about 1,000 BTUH's per S.F. and every termite within a two-mile radius dies within 20 minutes.

    All the houses down by the mighty Passaic River have used this method of heating for years!

    Live birth-rate stats are confusing, but what the heck. It is Jersey after all...

    [Hey! it IS Friday - joke day after all]



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  • Mark Hunt
    Mark Hunt Member Posts: 4,908
    You're killin' me!!!



    What kind of BTU output could one expect from spent fuel rods?

    Love it Ken!

    Mark H

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  • hr
    hr Member Posts: 6,106
    Termite treatment

    needs to be an ongoing process. Most pest companies around here treat the perimiter of the building, on exisiting homes. They have these long rods they stick into the ground to inject the treatment. Usually about every 1 foot around the building.

    The treatment does not last, depending on drainage, rain, etc, and needs to be retreated ocassionally.

    Most banks and lending compoanies around here require certified pest treatment as part of the closing docs.

    Can't say I have ever known a bug to eat pex! And to survive under your slab they need a water and food source. Deny them this and they move to the neighbors!

    I have seen several jobs with rubber tube that had small holes from some sort of insect. Heard some contractors in New Mexico had similar problems.

    Bottom line is to keep the bugs at bay :)

    Biggest mistake, exterminators tell me, is when plumbers use wood to build a tub or shower rough in box on a slab job. This wood form NEEDS to be removed or termites will find this moist food source and travel a long distance to get to it. I have seen several examples of this locally.

    Of course they will then move into the walls, usually starting at the sill plates and eating their way up the studs.

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  • Ken_8
    Ken_8 Member Posts: 1,640
    Can't use those!

    Termites imported by Al Qaeda suck all the isotopes out and then put them in shopping carts and old tires - also on the banks of the Mighty Passaic River...

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  • Rudy
    Rudy Member Posts: 482
    What....no DDT or Agent Orange?

    > Termites imported by Al Qaeda suck all the

    > isotopes out and then put them in shopping carts

    > and old tires - also on the banks of the Mighty

    > Passaic River...

    >

    > _A

    > HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=

    > 68&Step=30"_To Learn More About This

    > Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in

    > "Find A Professional"_/A_



  • Rudy
    Rudy Member Posts: 482
    What....no DDT or Agent Orange?

    Do you guys think termites, etc. would cozy up under a basement slab around 3-4 ft. of foundation footing . I'm sure slab on grade and snow melt would be much more susceptible but I'm curious.
  • Mad Dog
    Mad Dog Member Posts: 2,595
    When are we goin fishin in the Passaic Ken?

    It can't be any more polluted than the Gowanus Canal...I've caught fish in there. We don't have to eat 'em...catch and release. Yep Chlordane is the best termite killer. I still got a few jars that the farmer left in my barn. Mad Dog

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  • Ken_8
    Ken_8 Member Posts: 1,640
    We fish off the banks of the Mighty Passaic River

    using coat hangers as the preferred rod 'n reeless rig.

    The only fish still found in the Mighty Passaic are semi-dead carp. The few that drift in, lay gasping at the banks and we foul hook 'em with the curved part of a coat hanger.

    They make great "J.S." (Jersey sushi), a delicacy known only to the scant few true gourmet types like me.

    Instead of tarter sauce and wassabbe, we use agent orange and lead paint chips as a dipping sauce. Once you bite all the paint chips into small little pieces, the full flavor of the carp really gives your taste buds a buzz.

    I'll bring some leftovers along for those interested, at Wetstock 4







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  • ScottMP
    ScottMP Member Posts: 5,883
    ahhh

    A long missing reference to the Mighty Passaic ....

    Hav'nt heard this for years, good to have you around Ken.

    How is the Evolution of the Shopping Cart Museum going ?

    Scott

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  • hr
    hr Member Posts: 6,106
    Mad Dog the Chlordane pimp?? ):

    Think I would get the "left over" Chlordane to a disposal site, if you truly have some. Never know who may be lurking here :)

    http://www.chem-tox.com/chlordane/default.htm

    hot rod

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  • Mad Dog
    Mad Dog Member Posts: 2,595
    Any indigestion??? from that Ken?

    Nothing Pepto-bismol can't handle, right? Mad Dog

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  • Mad Dog
    Mad Dog Member Posts: 2,595
    Pimp...huh.?...thank you for the kind words..........

    Mad Dog

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  • Mad Dog
    Mad Dog Member Posts: 2,595
    I can bring my trident spears....

    we can smoke 'em over a burnin' pile of tires. They'll be better than Kipppers. I'll bring those old bottles of Chlordane to soak the carp in - it'll kill any microbes and viruses...we just can't use too much, or I we'll alter our DNA.......What kinda beer should I bring?????? Mad Dog

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  • leo g_13
    leo g_13 Member Posts: 435
    the scary

    thing to me, is, according to that link, HR, this chemical is still being produced and allowd for export! this is the same BS that our government has done with the asbestos industry here!

    question - if we know that it is toxic to our citizens, should we not then assume that it is also toxic to those living in other countries?

    leo g

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