Termites will eat your house (and your wallet)

The Silent Destroyers

In the US, they worry about fires. In the Philippines, we worry about Termites (“Anay”). They can eat a wooden door frame in 3 weeks. They can eat a kitchen cabinet in 2 months.

“But I used Solignum!”

Solignum is cute. Termites laugh at Solignum. It only penetrates 1-2mm into the wood. Once the termite digs past that, it’s a buffet.

The Real Solutions

1. Soil Poisoning (The Barrier) Before you pour concrete, drench the soil in Fipronil. Don’t use cheap Chlorpyrifos (it smells bad and washes away). Fipronil kills the colony. It connects to them like a virus.

2. The Physical Barrier Termites can tunnel through concrete cracks. But they can’t tunnel through steel. Use Stainless Steel Mesh around pipes. Use metal frames instead of wood frames for doors.

3. The Material Choice Wood: Dangerous. Even “treated” wood. Marine Plywood: Still wood. They eat it slower, but they eat it. Fiber Cement Board (Hardiflex): Termite proof. PVC / WPC: Termite proof. Aluminum: Termite proof (and rust proof).

My Advice

Build your house as if the ground is made of lava. Don’t let wood touch the ground. Don’t plant gardens right next to the wall. And for the love of god, don’t use wooden trusses for your roof. Use steel. If termites eat your roof structure, the roof falls on your head.