TWO SPECIAL PROJECTS WERE COMPLETED this month on our sanctuary building: the upper side chambers project, and the perimeter walls project. Both involved treating for termites in normally inaccessible locations.
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| Looking eastward in an upper side chamber (click or tap to enlarge) |
Upper Side Chambers Project
Two long, narrow, enclosed chambers run high along the side walls between the sanctuary roof, ceiling, and walls. About 117’ long, their cross-section is approximately the shape of a triangle whose sides are each about 3’ long.
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| The upper side chambers are underneath the roof troughs that run along the long walls. |
Access Holes
We cut 6 access holes in the troughs along the long walls. These eventually enabled the termite inspector to crawl (often on his belly) the entire length of the chamber on each side.
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| Exposing the plank sheathing, after having removed the plywood |
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| Access hole after the sheathing was removed |
As the inspector crawled, he tapped on the wooden members and looked for telltale signs of termites. He found infestations on both sides.
Well, we were prepared for this eventuality! Within the hour, the inspector had received authorization (and a price was negotiated) to treat the affected areas.
Structural Damage?
Significant structural damage from the termites was quite limited and peripheral. To make repairs, I believe that it’s best that we wait the expected year or two until the roof membrane needs to be replaced (or covered over). At that time, we will need to pay the roofer to open up those sections of the chambers and then replace the bad lumber. Now we can plan ahead for that effort, as part of the re-roofing project cost.
Closing up and Sealing the Access Holes
The next day, the roofers closed and patched over the temporary access holes.
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Perimeter Treatment Project
This month, more than 250 holes were drilled and filled in the long outer walls of our sanctuary. And that was for the upper half of those walls only. Our termite contractor had told us that a perimeter treatment was the next best thing to fumigation (although it’s a distant second best). The purpose is to inject termite poison into the voids within the walls that form the perimeter of a building.
Even though a perimeter treatment is known not to be super effective, it still seemed worthwhile given the high likelihood of infestations in a 74-year-old building with a poor history of termite treatment, like ours.
The treatment consisted, first, of drilling small holes into the voids between the wall studs, 16" apart, at 3 different levels along the length of the wall.
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| Lowest level = just below the plaster divider |
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| Middle level |
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| Top level = at ceiling |
The second step was to inject the termiticide. It comes in a pressurized can with a nozzle.
The third step (not shown) was to patch the hole with caulk. And the final step (not yet done) will be to paint over the white patches.
We chose not to treat the area near the floor level, because we are expecting to do restoration work there. Once we open up the wall(s) for that reason, we can treat for termites more effectively at that time.
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