You would not want the lumber of your new house to end up in the bellies of a gang of termites. Well! Then you need to coat them with some of the readily available chemicals that contain boron. Boron application safeguards your home’s wooden articles, not only from wood-boring beetles like termites but also shield them against fungi (wet rot, white and brown) that cause wood decomposition.
Application of borate chemicals to your lumber shields the wood before the unwanted visitors arrive. Borate compounds are unique. In markets, they are generally found in powder form that can be readily dissolved in water. These chemicals are extracted from naturally occurring minerals. Once the borate solution is shielded on bare wood, it soaks profoundly into the wood. The extent and depth of incursion depend on factors like a number of applications, the interior moisture content of the wood niche, the texture and kind of wood, and the temperature of wood. Lumber that has a jagged texture and low humidity content absorbs the solutions easily.
There are many other added benefits of applying borate solutions on wooden articles. Even though these chemicals are highly noxious to those little devils, they reveal low toxicity to animals and humans. So you do not have to worry about the safety quotient of your children and pets. Once the lumber is treated and dehydrated, borate fortification is extremely enduring. What’s more, borates do not impinge on the workability or outer appearance of the wood. Features like non-corrosion to metal fasteners and no odor enhances their cost-effectiveness.
A word of caution follows. As mentioned earlier, the powder is mixed with water to smear it to the wood. Over a period of time, this same water can take the shape of a siding leak and remove the borate chemical from lumber by re-dissolving in it. If that happens, lumber is susceptible to attack. If borate treated wood comes in contact with moist soil or rainwater, the effect simply reduces to zero over a period of time. However, this should not be a cause of much concern as the application of a penetrating water repellent on a usual basis ensures a defensive mechanism for your wooden essentials.
You can treat your wooden articles with borate chemicals yourself. While applying borates take care that your lumber is under a roof so that it has no contact with any type of moisture. If you want to spray the borate solution before covering the lumber with plastic or insulation then consult your builder. It would be better to schedule two applications on different days.
The best time to treat your lumber is during the construction phase. However, borates can also be put on already existing ones. The only complication is that many wooden facades have been covered by other materials. Little beetles may wreak harm by finding their path through untreated wood.
While shopping for borate compounds, you should ponder for ones that are registered and branded as wood preservatives. They are categorized as safe by the Environment Protection Agency for use.