Treating borer

To treat borer in the ceiling cavity:

•  The insulation needs to be removed before treatment.

• Access to cavity needs to be arranged or holes may need to be drilled to obtain access. These will need to be plastered over later.

• The treatment may discolour the ceiling, in which case it would need repainting (with oil-based paint).

• The treatment may leak from the ceiling and damage anything not protected below.

To treat borer in the walls:

• Unless the wall linings have been removed (and they would need to be removed if the walls are insulated), small holes (approx. 10 mm) need to be drilled between each nog so that a 360 degree sprayer can be inserted to treat the framing timber.

• These holes need to be plugged and painted or papered over.

• Excess spray inside the wall is likely to run out from the base plate and could have an adverse effect on the flooring material e.g. soak into carpet.

• Also, you need to ensure that electrical wiring is protected from getting wet to prevent fuses shorting if spray was to interfere with wiring.

To treat borer in the floor, there’s nothing special needing to be done unless you want both sides of the floor treated:

• In which case, you need to have all the floor coverings removed and if the floor is sealed, you need to have it sanded as the treatment will not penetrate a painted or polyurethaned surface.

• If only the underside of the floor is able to be treated, the topside may still be susceptible to infestation until the boric treatment has time to soak through to it.

We use a boric treatment called disodium octaborate tetrahydrate.

It is safe to use, virtually odourless, and we can warranty the treatment for 10 years provided the timber is kept dry.

Hot water is needed for boric treatment.

This is what the boric treatment needs to be dissolved in just before it is sprayed onto the timber.