Termites!

[Wayne Jolly]

I was re-arranging my shop (which is my garage) which involved taking down some shelves I had made with construction lumber. I had two 2x4's bolted to the wall, and one had a few termite tracks under it and some very minor damage to one of the shelf supports that was made out of plywood. I am a little curious where they came from since there doesn't seem to be any path for them to get to the ground, but that is anyother story. I watched the track for a while and didn't see anything moving so I don't know if it is still an active bunch or not, but its bug busters time for me regardless.

Anyway, I had bits and pieces of an assortment of woods on those shelves. About 17 different types I think. But the only damage seems to be the pine. I looked each and every piece over and saw no damage at all. A few of the pieces had some detritus on them that probably fell from the wall so those pieces have been moved outside for now. But I was just curious what kinds of woods are susceptable to the California type of termites. Or should I say either more, or less susceptable. These are the tiny little brown things that are smaller than a pin head. The woods I had on this set of shelves were:

Red Oak
White Oak
Black Oak
Ash
Maple
Black Mesquite
Brazillian Cherry
Cherry
Hickory
Paduk
Lacewood
Birch
Wenge
Aeromatic Cedar
Honduran Rosewood
Purpleheart
Red Gum

Thanks,

Wayne

[marty shultz]

There are four types of termites. I would recommend you get a termite person out to your place to see what type you have because the treatment can differ for each type. I'm no expert but I've had to deal with them myself.

good luck

[Jim Andrew]

I found a spot where termites were working on my shop, bought some of the termite stakes at Menards, and installed them around the shop. Had a few left over, and have replaced the one where I found the termites. The termites had been in the thing, and they are no longer active there, but I put a new one in anyway.

[David Helm]

Are you sure it is termites? There are a number of other wood destroying insects besides termites. Likely, in your area you have one of two types of termite; Dampwood which require a very high moisture content and Subterranean which build mud tubes to keep their moisture level at what they need. Since you said that only the Pine was affected, I am inclined to think it was something that only eats soft wood. In the Northwest that would be Anobiid Beetles.

[Jim Andrew]

Don't know which termites we have in Kansas, but did a fire repair on a house about 13 years ago, and it had had termites at one time, we completely gutted the house, and found a few boards that were eaten pretty thoroughly, and the ones beside and under those were completely sound. Seems like they pick a board and consume it. We replaced one floor joist, and only one had damage. Several studs had damage, could not find any damage above the studs. Plates were undamaged.

[Phil Thien]

Carpenter ants can leave damage that looks a lot like the work of termites.

[David Helm]

If carpenter ants (they don't eat the wood, they just tunnel into it to make homes) you should find some relatively coarse sawdust with bits and pieces of ant bodies.